Spike Island is excited to announce Spike Green Futures Week: Big Dreaming, in partnership with the Hotwells and Cliftonwood Community Association (HCCA).
Taking place from Monday 2 to Friday 6 March 2026, Spike Green Futures Week is a programme of events, activities and interventions by, and for Spike Island’s community of artists and our neighbours, championing environmental sustainability and empowering our community to take action.
Spike Island is committed to tackling the climate crisis by aligning our activities, values, and operations with environmental responsibility. In 2024, Spike Island embarked upon Spike Green Futures, a campaign to become carbon neutral by 2030 in line with Bristol City Council’s ‘Mission Net Zero’. In 2025, we supported HCCA to develop a Community Climate Action Plan as part of Bristol Climate & Nature Partnership’s Community Climate Action Project. This ambitious, city-wide programme funded by the National Lottery’s Climate Action Fund, demonstrates the important role communities can play in achieving the city’s climate and nature ambitions.
Spike Green Futures Week builds upon these initiatives, encouraging the Spike Island community to think beyond raising awareness about climate change, focussing on the positive actions that we can take as a creative community to inspire a more sustainable, equitable future.
The week-long programme of events will centre around creative responses to environmental sustainability, including installations, knowledge exchange sessions, mending workshops, carbon literacy training and more, bringing together our hopes and dreams for the future of Spike Island as a sustainable neighbourhood.
ADMISSION
Our programme includes both drop-in events and events that require advance booking. To attend ticketed events, please head to the ticket page and select the events you’d like to book.
All of our events are free, with the option to donate what you can to support our work.
MONDAY 2 MARCH
CONSULTATION: SPIKE ISLAND PUBLIC REALM
with Bristol BID
10am–12pm, Emmeline Café
A public realm consultation event following the introduction of the Spike Island area into the BID boundary in November 2025. This will be an opportunity for local businesses to collaborate and share ideas for the future of Spike Island’s public realm. The discussion will help inform BID’s Green Infrastructure Plan. Also, an event to facilitate networking and B2B introductions, as well as an optional guided tour of Spike Island’s exhibitions.
Book your place
TALK: CONNECTED ACTIONS, SUSTAINABLE NEIGHBOURHOODS—HOTWELLS AND CLIFTONWOOD COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION
with Anna Haydock-Wilson and Emma Peddie
12–1pm, Emmeline Café
Did you know that Spike Island is part of a newly defined community nature reserve? Join Anna and Emma from the Hotwells and Cliftonwood Community Association to learn more about the work that local people are doing to improve the environment for people and nature, such as community gardening, active travel campaigning, litter picking and more. Aspirations for the future of our unique area include sustainable food growing, renewable energy production, and greener public space, making sure the harbour serves Bristol’s diverse communities in an affordable and welcoming way.
Drop-in, open to all.
READING GROUP: THE LONG WAY TO A SMALL, ANGRY PLANET BY BECKY CHAMBERS
with Utopian Book Collective
6–8pm, Associates Space
Join the Utopian Book Collective for a reading group on Becky Chambers’ The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (2015). This science fiction novel follows a multi-species crew on an algae-powered spaceship as they travel to a fictional universe. Grab a copy and join us for a discussion about utopian worlds and more-than-human connections.
Open to all, drinks and snacks provided.
Book your place
TUESDAY 3 MARCH
WORKSHOP: CARBON LITERACY IN THE ARTS
with Patricija Poikane
11am–1pm, Associates Space
Designed for artists and creative businesses based at Spike Island who want to better understand their environmental impact and how to reduce it, this session will delve into day-to-day working practices, shared responsibilities within a community, and realistic actions that can be embedded into creative work. We will also share the values that Spike Island holds around sustainability, collective care, and long-term responsibility, and how these inform decision-making across the organisation.
Book your place
WORKSHOP: MENDING SESSION
with Jo Ball and Sharne Tasney
2–4pm, Associates Space
Join artists and Spike Island Associates Jo Ball and Sharne Tasney to learn simple mending skills and give new life to your much-loved items. Bring along something to repair—small holes in knitted items and/ or rips in cotton fabric are especially suitable. Feel free to bring any preferred yarns or colours along. If you don’t have something to mend, there will be some pieces available to practise on.
Materials, tools, tea and biscuits provided. Open to all and suitable for beginners. Children 8+ welcome (must be accompanied by an adult). Feel free to drop in and out, or stay for the full two-hour session.
Book your place
WEDNESDAY 4 MARCH
KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE: SUSTAINABLE ARTS PRACTICES
with Saphia Abrahamovitch-Venner and Patricija Poikane
11am–1pm, Associates Space
The Spike Island community is invited to join a knowledge exchange session where artists, creative freelancers and businesses based in our building are invited to share their projects, achievements and initiatives that question or celebrate environmental sustainability and ecologies. The discussion will be lightly chaired by Spike Island staff members Saphia Abrahamovitch-Venner and Patricija Poikane, and confirmed speakers include Katy Connor, Veronica Vickery and Vicky Smith. If you are a Spike Island building user and you are interested in sharing your work, please get in touch with Saphia or Patricija.
Book your place
ECOTONES: FOR THE BIRDS
with Florence Fitzgerald-Allsopp and Hermione Spriggs
6–8pm, Associates Space
A participatory evening led by curator and writer Florence Fitzgerald-Allsopp, reflecting on her year-long engagement programme, Ecotones: Where the Urban and Rural Embrace. Participants are invited to explore an exhibition composed of traces of the programme, as well as a participatory workshop led by returning Ecotones artist, Hermione Spriggs, exploring the local dialects of migratory birds returning to Bristol at this time of year.
Please note: tickets for this event are booked separately.
Book your place
THURSDAY 5 MARCH
TALK: WHAT COULD IT BE? ARTS AND ARCHITECTURE IN COMMUNITY CLIMATE ACTION
with Birmingham City University MA Architecture students, Professor Rachel Sara and Anna Haydock-Wilson
2.30–4.30pm, Associates Space
A showcase of creative work and participatory conversation between the audience, Birmingham City University (BCU) MA Architecture students Jordan Addy, Isobel Barrett, Charlotte Bebb, Jack Holt, Professor Rachel Sara, and socially engaged local artist Anna Haydock-Wilson. The BCU cohort present an assemblage of work inspired by Bristol Harbour and James Lovelock’s Gaia theories, highlighting the value of community arts projects in expanding the possibilities for climate engagement. With a focus on ‘conversation through collage’, participants are invited to join a discussion and collaborative activity, creating shared visions for a climate adaptive future. We hope participants will leave feeling more hopeful about the climate, our earth and our futures.
Book your place
FRIDAY 6 MARCH
COMMUNITY SOCIAL: SEEDLING SWAP AND GARDENING SESSION
with Patricija Poikane and the Spike Island gardening group
11am–1pm, Emmeline Café and outside Spike Island
This relaxed seedling swap and gardening session is an open invitation to spend time outdoors, share resources, and participate in a community gardening session. Bring seedlings to swap if you have them, or simply come along to learn, get involved with the Spike Island gardening team, contribute to the care of shared green spaces and exchange plant knowledge. All are welcome, whether you have green fingers, or you just want to get some fresh air and clear your mind.
Drop-in, open to all.
ALL WEEK: EXHIBITIONS
EXHIBITION: TIDAL BODIES
Ground floor corridor
Tidal Bodies is an exhibition of work from within Spike Island’s community of artists, curated by Ruby Taylor, exploring geo-personal exchange between artists making work at Spike Island and our neighbouring waterways: the River Avon and Bristol’s floating harbour.
Booking not required, open from 9am–5pm
DISPLAY: ARTS AND ARCHITECTURE IN COMMUNITY CLIMATE ACTION
with Birmingham City University MA Architecture students
Spike Island reception
A showcase of creative work by Birmingham City University (BCU) MA Architecture students Tom Barnes, Isobel Barrett, Charlotte Bebb and Jack Holt, inspired by Bristol Harbour and James Lovelock’s Gaia theory, highlighting the value of community arts projects in expanding the possibilities for climate engagement.
Booking not required, open from 9am–5pm
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