Tech Events at Pervasive Media Studio, Bristol

with Tomasin Cuthbert Menes (Creative Producer, Soap Soup Arts)

Tomasin Cuthbert Menes, Creative Producer at Soap Soup Arts, on two decades of making a living as a creative practitioner in Britain - theatre design, puppetry, fine art, illustration, directing, community arts and festival programming - and on what has changed in the last few years, with funding scarce, live-art audiences thinner, arts teaching cut back in schools, and AI arriving on top of Brexit and COVID. Part of the Pervasive Media Studio's weekly Lunchtime Talks, 13:00 to 14:00 at the Watershed. Free, in the Studio event space and live-streamed on YouTube; booking is only needed for the in-person seats. Open Studio Friday runs 10:00 to 17:00 around it, so you can use a desk in the Studio either side.

A monthly peer-support meet-up at Pervasive Media Studio for 18-30(ish) creatives who are building a practice or starting out in the creative industries. It runs as a structured conversation rather than a talk: 18:00 what everyone is working on and stuck on, 19:00 goals for the next month and the support needed, 20:00 social and next steps. Hosted by the Watershed Make Shift team alongside Studio Residents and producers, with a route into the wider Pervasive Media Studio community and partners including Creative Youth Network, who run guest speakers and one-to-one mentoring across the programme. Free, and part of Watershed's Tuesday-evening Make Shift strand, supported by Arts Council England and Bristol City Council. Why go: Bristol's creative-tech scene runs on the Studio's network, and this is the cheapest way into it early in a career. Best for 18-30s making immersive, digital or creative work who want producers and residents to look at it; not a room for established practitioners.

Jessica Warren (Hoffmann) on a recent collaboration with Bristol City Council that used arts, culture and immersive technology to do neighbourhood visioning in South Bristol - asking residents what a place should become, and using immersive tools to let them see it rather than read about it in a consultation document. One of the Pervasive Media Studio's weekly Lunchtime Talks, 13:00 to 14:00 at the Watershed on the harbourside. Free, and part of Open Studio Friday, so you can take a hot desk in the Studio for the rest of the day either side of it. Why go: immersive tech in a civic setting is usually pitched rather than reported on, and this is a practitioner saying what actually happened with a real council and real residents. Best for people working in creative tech, civic tech, planning or public-sector innovation.

Pervasive Media Studio's weekly open day for producers and people in a producing role: grab a hot desk, meet other producers and get to know the Studio and its community. Runs 10:00 to 17:00 at the Studio inside Watershed on the harbourside. The companion session for everyone else is Open Studio Friday.

An hour on how interactive and spatial storytelling actually gets made with a community rather than about one. Judith Aston presents her ongoing collaborative work in Avonmouth, using the Stornaway.io platform to open up dialogue about the area's possible and preferred futures, and borrowing polyphony from music as a way of holding several independent voices at once. She also connects the project to the Three Horizons framework, pioneered by Pervasive Media Studio co-founder Bill Sharpe. Aston is Associate Professor in Film and Digital Arts at UWE Bristol, co-founder of the i-Docs interactive documentary research network, and a practising anthropologist. 13:00 to 14:00, with Q&A. Free and open to all, with donations invited. In person at the Pervasive Media Studio, Watershed, 1 Canon's Road, BS1 5TX, or on YouTube Live. The room is streamed and recorded. Why go: a rare look at the craft and ethics of participatory digital work, for designers and researchers building things people are meant to speak through.

Pervasive Media Studio's weekly open day. Grab a hot desk, stay for the Lunchtime Talk, and get to know the Studio and its resident community of artists, technologists and creative companies. Runs 10:00 to 17:00 at the Watershed.

Pervasive Media Studio's weekly open day for producers and people working in a producing role. Grab a hot desk in the Studio, meet other producers, and get to know the space and its resident community. Runs 10:00 to 17:00 at the Watershed on the harbourside.

A free lunchtime talk at Pervasive Media Studio about a multi-sensory installation built around the xeedho, the critically endangered Somali nomadic wedding basket, and what gets passed down through making and song. Fozia Ismail, a British Somali artist and researcher and a Studio resident, discusses A Song for the Xeedho - The Knot Makers, shown in the inaugural Backyard Biennale marking Whitechapel Gallery's 125 years. One hour from 13:00, talk then Q&A. The Studio is a partnership between Watershed, UWE Bristol and the University of Bristol. Free and hybrid: in the Studio event space at Watershed, 1 Canon's Road, and live streamed on YouTube, so people in the room appear in the recording. Donations are invited. Why go: a close look at how an artist turns inherited objects and endangered craft knowledge into collectively activated sensory work. Most useful if you design immersive or multi-sensory experiences, or want the research end of Bristol's creative-technology scene rather than a product demo.

with Teresa Dillon (Researcher, Repair Acts) · Felipe Schmidt Fonseca (Researcher, Repair Acts)

Teresa Dillon and Felipe Schmidt Fonseca of the artist-led research programme Repair Acts on their methods, and on co-writing local Repair Declarations with citizen bodies — the right-to-repair argument made at city scale.

A monthly meet-up for 18-30(ish) creatives at the start of building a practice or a career in the creative industries - a space to connect, compare notes and get unstuck. Runs at the Pervasive Media Studio.

The Pervasive Media Studio's monthly social and showcase evening, open to anyone: residents show what they are working on and the wider Bristol creative-technology community turns up to talk about it. First Friday of every month.

with Dominique Vyborna (Immersive Storyteller, Pervasive Media Studio)

Bristol-based immersive storyteller Dominique Vyborna on building believable characters for immersive work — how a character is written, performed and inhabited when the audience is inside the story.

Weekly open day in Pervasive Media Studio — grab a hot desk, catch the Lunchtime Talk and get to know the creative-technologies community built around Watershed, UWE and the University of Bristol.

Weekly open day in Pervasive Media Studio for producers and people in producing roles — a hot desk, the Studio community and other producers to compare notes with.

Artist, performer and creative practitioner Jonny Cotsen shares his journey as a Deaf artist, in the Pervasive Media Studio's free hybrid Lunchtime Talk series. Streamed on YouTube Live as well as in the Studio.