4-6pm on the 5th September 2026
Starting at Fremantle House emtrance and visiting each mural.
Performances
Free food and refreshments
Meet the Lord Mayor and artists
Category: News
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Come and Celebrate our Mural Project on the 5th September
Bristol Lord Mayor Councillor Yassin Mohamud meeting kids from Dove Street at St Matthews Summer Fair in July 2026 -
Come and Paint Our Entrances!
Help make Dove Street beautiful!
It’s your chance to make your mark, so you can see your painting every time you come home!
No artistic experience necessary
All residents and friends welcome.
We’d love to see you there!
24th & 25th July
10am-12pm
Fremantle House entrance
With Eduard Rice
Barcelona artist Eduard works very closely with communities to express their needs and highlight important issues, using a loose painterly style, full of energy and flow.
26th & 27th July
10am-2pm
Carolina House entrance
With Juno Frenzel
Juno is an illustrator and mural painter with a love for colourful and vibrant illustrations. Their work has a joyful childlike wonder, with happy people and animals dancing across the walls
4 dates coming up where Dove street residents are invited to paint along side artists!
You don’t need particular skills to join in – just enthusiasm!
We will supply aprons, but we recommend wearing old clothes.
The muralists will guide us through it. The designs are based on art created in community workshops.
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Residents’ Ideas from the Creative Sessions
The Creative Sessions were designed to enable the residents to express what they feel about living in Dove Street, what their neighbourhood means to them, and what is important to them, to help the mural artists understand how to represent and empower the community.
- Three creative sessions were conducted as part of this process. Around 20 people attended in total, including adults, mainly women, and children.
- During the sessions, participants were invited to respond to a set of general prompts through drawing. These included what they liked most about the area, a story about a time when the area felt kind or welcoming, and how art could improve everyday life in the community.
- After completing their drawings, participants were invited to present their work and explain the meaning of the symbols, colours and ideas included in their drawings.
- The following section provides a summary of the main themes that emerged from the sessions. We hope these insights will be helpful in informing the design of the mural and reflecting the experiences, values and identity of the community.
1. Human connection and diversity
- One of the two strongest theme was the importance of human connection among people with different backgrounds.
- Participants highlighted the diversity of the Dove Street community as one of its greatest strengths and expressed a desire for this diversity to be reflected in the murals.
Sahuja said the shapes are abstract images representing connections between people from different backgrounds and races. In the messages, she highlighted “we are a diverse community” and “this is our community”.
“Party” represents different celebrations, including Ramadan, Christmas and others. Zagnabsaid that, at these celebrations, he can see his favourite people, including not only family members but also other members of the community. He also mentioned that these occasions make him feel at home.
Maryama’s drawing focused on written
messages about the Dove Street
community, including:- “Inspiring people who live
Diversity” - “Endangered species”
- “Peace in Dove Street”… “across the
world” - “Dove Street being with others”
- “With love”
- She also included shapes and
symbols such as two cats, a heart, a
sun with heart shapes, two people
together, and a flower.
Faram painted a blue sky over a Dove Street
building, including the phrase “love and
caring for our street”.The drawing also portrays a person with a
speech bubble saying “we love our street”,
and another with a message saying “thank
you”, although the full phrase cannot be
read.The drawing also includes some people
holding objects in their hands. When the
facilitator asked what these represented,
Faram said they were pieces of cardboard
with community messages on them, such
as banners.
2. Urban nature and sense of place
A second recurring theme was the connection between nature, identity and people’s cultural backgrounds. Participants identified a range of animals and natural elements that they felt
represented both the local area and their personal histories.Together, these themes suggest that residents see Dove Street as a place shaped by both human relationships and connections with the natural world. They provide a valuable foundation for
developing mural designs that reflect the experiences, identities and aspirations of the community
A second recurring theme was the connection between nature, identity and people’s cultural backgrounds. Participants identified a range of animals and natural elements that they felt
represented both the local area and their personal histories.Together, these themes suggest that residents see Dove Street as a place shaped by both human relationships and connections with the natural world. They provide a valuable foundation for
developing mural designs that reflect the experiences, identities and aspirations of the communityOne resident shared the story of a seagull that returns each year to their home to collect food for its family and is considered by many neighbours to be a member of the community.
Flowers were also repeatedly represented in drawings and discussions, symbolising beauty, growth and nature.
Participants further highlighted the significance of henna patterns used by women in the community, seeing them as an artistic expression that connects culture, identity and the
natural forms often found in floral designs.Rob and Javied: Notes from the general discussion
and presentations of drawings
Some new contributions:
6th and 7th June Community FestivalThe Community Festival was created to celebrate the launch of the mural project, to introduce the artists to the residents, and to give more residents the opportunity to draw, write and share their ideas for the murals.
We had a pizza oven, hot drinks, and homemade cakes from the ladies of St. Matthew’s church. The artists really enjoyed meeting our community.
Residents drawing at the 6th and 7th June Community Festival
The artists meeting the residents at the Community Festival
Hazard One 
Dave Bain, Silent Hobo, Sepr and Inkie -
Meet The Artists!
We put out an open call for mural artists in April and got so many fantastic applications. It was very hard to make a selection, and we discussed and debated the artists many times, until we made our final choice.
The standard of all the artists who applied was fantastic, and we’re very excited to share the artists who will be working on their murals.
Dove Street will become an open-air art gallery this summer, filled with beautiful and vibrant art… we’re so thrilled!
Inkie
Tom “Inkie” Bingle is a local treasure who has been central to the development of the perception of Bristol as an artistic city. His work adorns many walls across different neighbourhoods and has helped to define the Bristol Style. His work can be seen on many walls across the world.
Hazard One
HazardOne is one of the Top female graffiti artists in the UK and internationally respected for her skillful, stylish and luminous artwork .
She recently came to national attention for her portrait honouring the 100th birthday of Sir David Attenborough.
Sepr
Bristol born and bred, Sepr is a prolific artist whose work can be seen in abundance all over the streets of Bristol and the UK. He has exhibited and painted all over the world, His strange dreamlike characters make you stop and wonder.
Silent Hobo
Silent Hobo is a busy and hard-working artist whose work can be seen across Bristol and the world. He recently completed an awe-inspiring, enormous piece for the Last Chance Saloon at the bottom of Ninetree Hill. His quirky characters and dreamy landscapes will bring smiles to Dove Street!
Marta Zubieta
Marta is a multitalented artist from Sevilla, Spain, who has lived in Bristol since 2015. Her art is highly influenced by 90s cartoons and pop culture, with some hints of dreamy psychedelia. Her disarmingly sweet colour palette hides mysterious stories.
Asmaa Jama
Asmaa is a multidisciplinary contemporary artist based in Bristol, whose work explores themes of myth and heritage. Asmaa is currently exhibiting at the inaugural National Somalia Pavilion at the 61st La Biennale Di Venezia, a huge artistic achievement.
Felix Braun
Felix has been a mainstay of Bristol’s graffiti and street art scene since the 80s. He is a passionate advocate for community and youth work, with years of experience working with schools and local residents. He has developed his own signature abstract style, which can be seen across the city.
Juno Frenzel
Juno Frenzel is a German illustrator and mural painter based in Bristol, with a love for colourful and vibrant illustrations. Their work has a joyful childlike wonder, with happy people and animals dancing across the walls.
Zase
Bristol-based Slovakian artist Zase is widely known for his large-scale, intricate nature-inspired murals, which are becoming iconic local landmarks across the city. We love his dreamlike landscapes and lively paintings of insects, birds and animals.
Dave Bain
Dave creates bold, energetic murals, with uplifting themes full of joyful characters in bright. flat colours. He has lots of experience working closely with communities and schools, and is very excited to work with Dove Street residents. We are very excited to work with him!
Sophie Higgins Wheeler
Sophie co-founded Graft with her partner Rob to work full-time creating beautiful murals with the community. Graft has years of experience working closely with schools and locals to inform their beautiful decorative designs.
Eduard Rice
Barcelona artist Eduard has been living and working in Bristol and London for several years. He works very closely with communities to express their needs and highlight important issues, using a loose painterly style, full of energy and flow.
Fowsachi
Fowsachi is a resident of Dove Street. His bold stylised work takes inspiration from 80’s action and sci-fi movies, rap music, video games and day-to-day experiences living life in the inner city. You can see an example of his mural work on the walls of Armada House.
Mike Stuart
Mike lives in Dove Street and is one of the co-founders of Dove Street Community Forum. His murals can be found by Carolina Park and at the top of the steps above Francis House, created in collaboration with Camille Libby and the residents. He is a firm believer in improving the area to benefit the whole community.
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Dove Street Community Festival – 6th and 7th June 2026 – 4-6pm
Exciting news about the Dove Street community murals project! After a fantastic response from Bristol’s artistic community, we now have 14 incredible Bristol mural artists signed up to paint murals on garage blocks and lower entrance ways of Armada, Fremantle and Carolina House!
Meanwhile, three creative sessions have taken place with lots of people of all ages attending to share their ideas, memories and hopes for the estate. This great work will be used to inspire the artists to design murals.
On Saturday 6th and Sunday 7th June 4-6pm, the mural artists are coming to meet residents and everyone is welcome to attend and be part of this. There will be an exhibition of art produced so far, more opportunities to get creative and share ideas with the artists, and lots of free pizza!
Find out more about Bristol Community Festival here: candobristol.co.uk/bristol-community-festival-2026
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How we created the Let Us Breathe mural
In March of last year, we painted the ‘Let us Breathe’ mural outside Fremantle House, bringing together dozens of residents and passersby. It started off with a group of us organising design sessions in Carolina House community room. We made drawings in response to prompts about climate change, nature, and community. Chatting about green spaces really highlighted their importance, and how keeping them safe, especially for children, is essential.
‘Let Us Breathe’ became the central idea, potentially referring to the problem of air pollution in Bristol, the desire for more freedom and autonomy, and the need for moments of calm. The left side focused on problems, showing the threat of extreme weather events exacerbated by climate change, that are a reality for many people in the world. Problems of litter and air pollution are also represented. The right side focused on nature and community, focusing on urban nature and depicting people planting trees together with the Dove Street tower blocks in the background. This grounded the design in the area, which was important for residents, as well as representing the multicultural community of Dove Street.
Mike and Camille worked together to produce the final mural design using ideas from the design sessions. Victoria worked hard to organise the community painting days, coordinating help from St Matthew’s Church and pizzas for the evening. Maddie offered face painting to excited kids on the first painting day.
The combination of this, the painting, food, and chats brought a bubbly and joyful community atmosphere. There were many stages of the process including getting permission, priming the wall, and tracing projections of the design with charcoal. After all this work, it really came together when people of all ages started painting the walls.
To celebrate the completion of the mural, we hosted a celebration event where we had drumming from Kabbo to lead up to the unveiling of the mural. It was amazing to celebrate what we had achieved. The Mayor of Bristol even made an appearance and we were interviewed by Bristol 24/7! People commented that the mural brightened up the area, that the painting days brought joy to their children, and that it was lovely seeing people gathered together talking to each other. What made it really special were the creative ideas that residents had, the enthusiasm and ambition from everyone, and the fact that we followed through even when challenges arose. We’re excited for more community events to continue, and for more walls to be brightened and green spaces to be enriched.
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Artist Call – Community Murals in Dove Street
Dove Street Community Forum is looking for artists to work with our residents to create a series of community-led murals in Bristol City Centre this summer.
This project celebrates the multicultural life of Dove Street — our everyday connections, urban nature, and shared sense of belonging. Residents will take part in shaping the designs, and some murals will even be painted together with the community.
We welcome artists who are excited about collaboration, creativity, and working with people. Previous mural experience is not essential. What matters most is your interest in engaging with the community.
What’s offered:
• £2,500 per artist for ground-level murals
• Additional commissions for larger walls
• Community engagement sessions organised by DSCF
• Painting period: June–August 2026📅 Application deadline:
5th of April 2026 at 23.59.
If you’re interested in creating art with and for the community, we would love to hear from you.
Artists Brief:
We are Dove Street Community Forum (DSCF), a small resident-led community group based in Bristol City Centre.
We work to strengthen community connections and improve shared public spaces in our neighbourhood.
We are commissioning artists to design and deliver a series of murals in the Dove Street area. This is a community-led project funded by the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) from Bristol City Council. The murals will celebrate the multicultural character of Dove Street, reflecting our everyday life, connection, urban nature, and shared sense of belonging. Residents will play an active role in shaping the ideas behind the designs.
1. What we are looking for
About the artists:
- Enjoy working in a community-led and collaborative way
- Are genuinely excited to work with local residents and are open to co-creating ideas rather than working independently
- Previous mural experience is not essential.
- We particularly welcome applications from artists from under-represented backgrounds, including but not limited to artists from Black, Asian and minoritised ethnic communities, disabled artists, LGBTQ+ artists, and artists from lower socio-economic backgrounds.
About the process:
Community participation is central to this project. All selected artists must:
- Attend at least one of the following in-person community sessions:
- Saturday 2nd of May 2026 (afternoon)
- Sunday 7th of June 2026 (afternoon)
- Use the ideas gathered in the session to inform their design
- Agree on the final design with the community, with support from DSCF
- For ground-level murals, artists will be expected to paint alongside community members, including children. This is an essential part of those commissions. For this reason, artists selected for ground-level walls must hold, or be willing to obtain, an appropriate DBS check.
- Artists should hold their own public liability insurance
Application process
Please complete the short application form and include:
- A brief statement outlining your interest in the project, your experience, and your proposed approach to community-based work
- Your availability within the proposed timeline
- Examples of relevant previous work
Application form: https://forms.gle/LHNSqrTbE6Av1dbP9
DSCF will pre-select artists based on the information submitted. Shortlisted artists will be invited to a short online conversation to discuss the proposal and practical details before final selection.
2. What we offer
- £2,500 per artist (total fee) for ground-level murals of approximately 25 m². This fee includes artist labour, participation in one in-person community session organised by DSCF, design development, painting, and all materials.
- Proportional payment for larger-scale murals requiring scaffolding, depending on wall size
- Scaffolding costs covered and hired directly by DSCF
- Coordination between artists to ensure visual coherence across the murals
- Organisation and coordination of the community engagement sessions
- Logistics for workshops (venue, invitations, refreshments)
3. Timeline and key information
- Community sessions (in person – artists must attend one): Saturday 2nd of May 2026 (afternoon) and Sunday 7th of June 2026 (afternoon)
- Painting period begins: June 2026
- Each artist will have up to one month to complete their mural
- All murals must be completed by the 30th of August 2026.
- Exact painting dates will be agreed individually with selected artists.
4. Deadline to apply: 5th of April 2026 23.59 hrs.
If you have any questions, please contact: info@dovestreetcommunityforum.co.uk
📄 See this artist brief as a PDF: Artist Call for Dove Street Murals
📄 Direct link to the application form: forms.gle/LHNSqrTbE6Av1dbP9
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Come and celebrate Dove Street with us!
Join us for a welcoming afternoon to celebrate our community.
We’ll share recent achievements, including the creation of the new Dove Street Community Forum, and the upcoming projects and developments in the area.There will be refreshments, hot drinks, nibbles, and cakes. You’re very welcome to bring and share food, or simply pop in, say hello, and enjoy the afternoon with neighbours. Everyone is welcome.
- Where: Fremantle Community Room
- When: Saturday 14th of February, 4 pm to 6 pm
- What: We’ll present the new Dove Street Community Forum and two upcoming exciting projects redesigning one of our local parks and creating new community murals.
