Hi, I’m Kev, usually known as KP or Kev the Poet. I’m a writer, performer, promoter and a Bard of a Druid Order. As a regular attendee of ceremonies in highly energetic spaces as well as spending several months on the front-line of an anti-logging activist blockade in the Tasmanian rainforest, I have a lot of topics I can talk about that are way off mainstream thinking yet relevant to the new ‘credit crunch’ climate where we are all being forced to reassess our priorities.

Recently I have been facilitating meditation and healing sessions in the temporary autonomous zone I help to promote and maintain, The Magpie, with the Amitabha Buddhist Centre and the Renegade Healing Studios.

Prior to becoming a Temporary Autonomous Zone (with workshop space and art gallery) the building was a Salvation Army charity shop called The Magpie. It fit so well we kept the name. It has been described as a squat but there has been no request from the building’s owner for the people making use of his building to stop using it. Unfortunately it is rumoured that the owner plans to sell the land to Tesco’s to build a supermaket. Although the Tesco’s part is merely a rumour it is a fact that a demolition proposal has been submitted to the council to turn the space into a shop on the bottom floor with office spaces on the top floor. Officially according to the council website; “Proposal demolition of existing single and two storey retail buildings. Erection of a two storey building comprising retail area on ground floor and associated first floor office.” - That sounds like a supermarket.

The Magpie has been open for nearly 2 years providing a free active space for people who want to make an idea into reality:
- Artists Workshop
- Welding and Woodwork Workshop
- Sewing area and workshop
- The Know Alternative Collective, CIC community interest company with 12v solar powered soundsystem
- Film screenings
- Meditation and healing sessions (Wednesday afternoons, donation drop-in.)
- Various activist organisations have held meetings there (the powers that used to be know that already.)
- Pole-dance classes (yes, really.)
- The Picton Patio - an ongoing outdoor art installation and experiment with sculptures, paintings, flowers and poetry.

The Amitabha Buddhist Centre has been working in conjunction to bring introductory meditation classes to The Magpie weekly. Following the meditations we have healing sessions with the Renegade Healing Studios providing Reiki and Angelic healing from the residents and everything from acupuncture to shiatsu, from swedish massage to reflexology from professionally trained and experienced guest healers. The healings are drop-in and donation based but your gratitude will be appreciated.

The Magpie was transformed into an art gallery and opened to the public for a whole week showing graduation pieces, sculptures, canvasses, installations and performers. We are also making plans for another upcoming art exhibition with new local resident artists.

The Picton Patio has been mainly maintained by one artist, Jamie. It is an ongoing outdoor art installation and anyone is welcome to contribute, people have added sculptures, paintings, flowers and poems. The Magpie has provided a space to be creative for a diverse range of the community from festival organisers to artists of no fixed abode and it is an invaluable resource for Bristol’s community.

Although various activist organisations have held meetings there they are entirely independent of The Magpie, the people using the Magpie have no commonly held political view, religious views or agenda. We just need somewhere to be creative, there are not many big spaces that are available to use for free. There is no unified agenda apart from making the world a better place, and we sometimes disagree on what would achieve this. We sometimes disagree on exactly what The Magpie is! No one’s in charge, there are no leaders, there is no hierarchy and we have functioned as an autonomous collective of creative individuals. However, the core team who have been involved in the healing sessions, workshops and art gallery would like to continue to provide a space where people can be creative and are encouraged to provide contemporary art and culture for the community.

Please let us know if you have any suggestions for how this can be arranged amicably in a way that looks good for you and reflects the fact that we have provided Bristol with a much needed grass-roots community centre and there is likely to be a sizable number of skilled technicians, artists, and performers looking for ways to make themselves useful. However, we may not have a lot of time, if it is indeed Tesco that are planning to move in (apparently they wanted Jesters Comedy Club as well) I expect the entire community will fight against it regardless of how they feel about The Magpie because there are so many local and family-owned shops that would suffer from a supermarket at the top of Picton Street.

I am just grateful to have been able to spend time surrounded by creative people who have ignored the ‘rules’ and decided that time can be art as well as money. If we are moved on it leaves room for infinite potential, there is a Taoist proverb - “it is not the bowl that is useful, but the empty space inside.” We should all be grateful for the people who are brave enough to make positive and creative use of empty spaces, and in this case it’s the Magpirates.

Gratitude and appreciation ॐ
KP Kev the Poet aka Know Peace