Saturday 21 June will see various city centre venues come together to bring free musical performances and activities to the people of Bristol
09/06/2025
St George’s Bristol, along with multiple Bristol venues and support from Bristol City Centre BID and Visit West, have brought together a day-long programme of free pop-up activities and mass-participation musical events across Bristol’s city centre. This will take place on Make Music Day (Saturday 21 June), an annual celebration of music-making that takes place in communities worldwide. Make Music Day builds on a concept started in France in 1982 – that a day each year should be dedicated to music, with no barriers to people playing and enjoying live performance – and has spread to more than 125 countries.
Groups performing on the day include Dovetail Orchestra, Rising Voices, UHBW NHS Choir, and many more. Host venues are St George’s Bristol, Bristol Museum & Art Gallery, RWA, St Stephen’s Church, and St Mary Redcliffe, while pop-up, flash-mob style performances will also take place at St Augustine’s Parade, Bristol Hippodrome, and Arnolfini Art Gallery. The full schedule of events is available via the St George’s website.
In the spirit of Make Music Day, St George’s Bristol Café Bar and Pinkmans at Bristol Cathedral are running two fun free giveaways on the day. St George’s will be giving away 1000 free scoops of real dairy ice cream thanks to Marshfield Ice Cream – simply book a free ticket to any of St George’s free Make Music Day events, then ask at the Café Bar. Meanwhile, both St George’s Café Bar and Pinkmans at Bristol Cathedral will be running a first-come, first-served giveaway: free teas or coffees for anyone who comes in and sings their order on the day!
Musicians and ensemble leaders from across Bristol and the surrounding area have lent their support to the day, along with other local organisations…
St George’s Bristol is also running several projects investigating the importance of live music for people’s mental wellbeing, including the ground-breaking Sing for Happiness project. On Make Music Day, the Sing for Happiness singers will take part in a free, live flash-mob style event at 11.30am, singing Les Misérables’ ‘Do You Hear the People Sing’. The Sing for Happiness group is participating in the largest study of its kind, run by St George’s and UWE Bristol, into the links between singing and mental wellbeing.
Underscoring the importance of shared music events like Make Music Day, Kat Branch, Head of the Centre for Music at UWE Bristol and research lead for the Sing for Happiness project, said, “Men are on average scoring lower than women in terms of mental wellbeing at project start, but thankfully singing seems to improve mood and wellbeing for both genders in spite of the starting difference averages. The mood changes on performance days are especially intense, showing some of the magic of live music events in uniquely uplifting our singers as they share what they can do in front of an audience.”
For a full list of Make Music Day events and activities, head to the St George’s Bristol website.
