2025: A Year in Review
A YEAR LIVED IN EXPECTATION OF CHANGE
2025 is Euella and Jess’ last full calendar year as Co-Directors and as we launch recruitment for the next leaders of Rising we wanted to take a look back of what’s been a phenomenal year.
It’s easy to focus only on the transition as one of the biggest things we’re doing, it takes a lot of time to do this work well! And there have been various points of tension throughout the year as we prepare for that change, whilst it’s not technically actually quite here yet. Whilst holding that tension we’ve also delivered some incredible work for our partners and community, because the work doesn’t stop!
Below the team have gathered together some of our highlights from Rising’s 9th year so that in reflection we can celebrate together.
partnership highlights
Jessie Chiang’s artwork for the nature themed club night
It’s been a year of incredible partnerships. A big theme has been our expansion into the climate justice space in the city. Through our work with Bristol Climate and Nature Partnership we developed our own Climate Justice Action Plan with a group of consultants from our community, and we’re now a X to continue ensuring young people are at the table of the climate conversations in our city.
We also collaborated with Club SOL to put on a nature themed club night as part of the Festival of Nature, including commissions for the poster illustration (above) and a photographer and writer to document the event itself.
The Big Team Co-Directors at one of our Critical Friend sessions back in May
Another highlight has been the critical friend work we’ve been doing with Big Team as they transition their leadership to three Co-Directors and explore their evolving relationship with their parent organisation Team Love, using interactive workshops and coaching walks to support the development of their transition plan. As part of understanding their work more they also invited the team to our first Glastonbury festival where we saw the Big Teamers in action on stage.
We also launched the updated Invisible Doors report in collaboration with Channel 4’s 4Skills on the Barriers to (Re)-Entering the Cultural Sector. You can watch Tay’s video about the report above, read the whole thing here or read more about the reality of making long term partnerships like these come to life.
COMMUNITY HIGHLIGHTS
One of the first big milestones of 2025 was our exhibition in February marking the end of our Space to Dream programme and supporting recipients of the Rising Fund to share the work they’d created with Rising’s support, along with 2 brand new commissions. The exhibition was curated by Amber Bardell and over 193 people came to the opening night, taking up our invitation to find their own space to dream.
In our continued work with Freelands Foundation we also experimented with a new format for consulting with our community where we have conversations on particular themes whilst practically making something. Our first session focused on the leadership transition whilst the group played with textile art.
In response to a growing ask and need from the community at the beginning of the year we hosted a series of Money events focused on personal, professional and societal relationships to money supported by AFP’s Networks Fund.
At our 9th birthday party we had some glorious performances from the community. Sumaya performed songs about family, talked about how they’d decided to return to Rising after chatting to Sid at a birthday party 3 years before and between poems Carlo remembered thinking Rising was too cool for them before they joined but how many friendships they’d found here. Reece also did an epic job DJing the whole party and it couldn’t have been a cuter night honestly.
AGENCY HIGHLIGHTS
At the end of 2024 we recruited Ellayah Woodward-Lindsey to be our new Community Producer. Ellayah joined the Rising community in 2023 and it a talented illustrator and since starting with the team at the beginning of this year has welcomes 25 new community members and programmed a regular series of exclusive events for them!
We also welcomed Lindsey Allen, Tay Aziz Malik, Morayo Omogbenigun and Tyashia Patterson to our Advisory Board and oversee the leadership transition next year.
We also did some amazing Creative Evaluation training this year with Jane Willis using our Space to Dream exhibition as a case study to focus on.
One of the biggest elements of 2025 has been laying the groundwork for the next transition. In July we started working with a Steering Group of amazing people to begin the work of stepping away. In August they designed a process for open recruitment of Co-Directors and this December we started accepting applications.
Thank you to all of our community, partners and funders that have made this such an incredible year and we can’t wait to do it all again for Rising’s 10th year in 2026!
Love and rage,
The Rising Team x
