Arnolfini
Iconic gallery and venue on Bristol’s waterfront
Established 1961, Arnolfini is an internationally renowned contemporary arts centre on the city harbourside, offering a diverse programme of visual art, contemporary dance, film screenings and live music, as well as workshops, talks and lectures, and family events.
Its versatile facilities span multiple exhibition and performance spaces including five galleries and a 200-capacity auditorium, plus specialist bookshop, reading room, and cafe-bar. Part of the building is shared with The University of the West of England (UWE).
Alongside its own exhibitions and events, over the years Arnolfini has hosted events for many of Bristol’s key cultural institutions, including Mayfest, Bristol Palestine Film Festival, Bristol Artists Book Event, Lyrafest, and Encounters Film Festival alongside Watershed and the Bristol Beacon.
Level access into the building is available via Prince Street, with lift access to all floors. Accessible toilets are available throughout the building. Further access information can be found on the Arnolfini website: http://arnolfini.org.uk/plan-your-visit/accessibility
Its versatile facilities span multiple exhibition and performance spaces including five galleries and a 200-capacity auditorium, plus specialist bookshop, reading room, and cafe-bar. Part of the building is shared with The University of the West of England (UWE).
Alongside its own exhibitions and events, over the years Arnolfini has hosted events for many of Bristol’s key cultural institutions, including Mayfest, Bristol Palestine Film Festival, Bristol Artists Book Event, Lyrafest, and Encounters Film Festival alongside Watershed and the Bristol Beacon.
Level access into the building is available via Prince Street, with lift access to all floors. Accessible toilets are available throughout the building. Further access information can be found on the Arnolfini website: http://arnolfini.org.uk/plan-your-visit/accessibility
What's On At Arnolfini
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Our recent recommendations for Arnolfini
Massive Diaspora Fest x Raise the Bar crossover of globe-spanning poetry! A stacked line-up of lyrical heavyweights – including prize-winning writer and literature academic Daljit Nagra and two-time slam champ Maureen Onwunali – share intimate yet expansive explorations of diasporic memory, identity and resistance, alongside DJs spinning borderless cuts between sets.
Raise the Bar presents Poems of Diaspora! Featuring four incredible headline poets, representing four different continents: Daljit Nagra, Maureen Onwunali, Bohdan Piasecki and Chloe Tenesha.
Sell out warning! Mighty virtuosic troubadours, returning to Avonian lands! Following a string of sold-out shows at Strange Brew, Shovel Dance Collective carry their luminescent torch of radically-rooted avant-folk to Bristol Folk Festival. A truly life-affirming knees-up awaits!
"A singularly powerful, joyful experience"
Sell out warning! BNM have truly pulled it out the bag showcasing some of the most outré and forward-thinking music-makers around. Friday sees us diving deep into: KMRU’s dissonant noise and heavy synth drones; Saint Abdullah, Eomac & Rebecca Salvadori unleashing crunching illbient AV wonderment; and Yunis weaving a cosmic ritual of Egyptian street-fire experimentation. Serious!
Bristol New Music 2026 presents
Feed words to Inua Ellams for this one-of-a-kind collaborative experiment! Audience prompts stir his archival broth, sparking improvisational reflections and associative responses. Witness emergent lattices of wit and structural play, followed by a discussion where you can probe and explore his thinking up close…
Award-winning poet and playwright Inua Ellams (Barber Shop Chronicles, The Half-God of Rainfall) brings his chaotic, audience-led poetry event to Lyra Festival. Pick a word, any word. Prompted by audience suggestions, Inua Ellams will search through his extensive archive of work and perform a reactive and spontaneous selection. Each Search Party is unique and special. The show includes an audience Q&A.
Lyrafest kicks off with a cabaret bang, and it’s a homecoming for Bristol’s own decorated writer/stage star/general polymath of queer creativity Travis Alabanza – we missed ya baby! They take the Fini stage alongside performance poet champion Keith Jarret, experimental theatre-maker cum party girl Raina Greifer, dance-pop goddess RED and bequiffed Brizzle Boyz king Fluxx Wyldly.
Join hosts Aish Humphreys and Sam J. Grudgings for an exciting bill of local and national talent to kick off Lyra Fest 2026. A raucous and dynamic evening headlined by the sensational Travis Alabanza, featuring poetry from Keith Jarrett and Raina Greifer, plus drag artists RED and Fluxx Wlyldly. This event is dedicated to the memory of Andrea Gibson, beloved poet and activist.