Late March 2025
Dear Fellow Bristolian, friend, cultural supporter, arts facilitator, councillor, journalist, artist, community activist, photographer and all brothers and sisters connected to the unique city of Bristol,
We have put together a campaign in order to encourage Bristol members of Parliament to submit BRISTOL STREET ART to the UK’s National Inventory of Cultural Heritage.
YOUR SUPPORT
PRESERVING BRISTOL CULTURE FOR GENERATIONS
This message is reaching out to you to ask for your support, via filling out the form below, in order to secure Bristol Street Art inclusion in the UK’s National Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage. (External link to more details about UK’s National Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage.)
Your influence and support for this campaign could play a crucial role in ensuring that Bristol’s street art heritage is formally recognised as culturally significant.
UNESCO
Following the UK’s recent ratification of the UNESCO 2003 Convention (external link) for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage, there is an opportunity to have Bristol’s street art in all it’s forms, recognised globally.
As an example of how contemporary culture is recognised, recently techno music was accepted as part of the intangible cultural heritage of Berlin, Germany. (external link)
Once Bristol Street Art has been included on the UK’s National Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage, it is one more simple step to be recognised worldwide by UNESCO.
Bristol Street Art will be included on the UK’s National Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage through the support and lobbying by our elected members of parliament.
Currently these are:
This message is reaching out to you in your capacity as someone who believes in the value of culture in society, and the need for preserving it for future generations to enjoy.
Street art in all it’s forms has been a vital part of Bristol’s cultural identity for over four decades. It’s value as a democratic and accessible form of artistic expression, practised by people from diverse backgrounds and deeply embedded in local communities in Bristol is priceless and unique to the city.
This year, it is not only the 40 year anniversary of the Arnolfini’s seminal exhibition in recognition of graffiti art via their exhibition ‘’dasda” (external link), but also Bristol City Council are currently in the process of preparing their “strategy for art”, making this a timely and key opportunity to put street art heritage recognition onto their agenda.
We strongly believe that the UK’s National Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage would provide an excellent framework to coordinate, organise, and help street art thrive in Bristol, ensuring that it continues to flourish as a vital part of the city’s cultural landscape.
We are eager to participate and collaborate as residents of Bristol in any consultation and discussion spaces with the community during this process, however, given that locations central to this movemen are disappearing and may soon be irrecoverable, we strongly believe that recognition in the National Inventory is urgent and must be a priority for the city’s local agenda.
Together, we must act now. This year in 2025.
We would greatly appreciate your support in advocating for this initiative and would welcome the opportunity to discuss how we can work together. If you have any ideas to help further the campaign, please get intouch on the form below.
IMPORTANT ACTION FROM YOU
Most important at this stage is you signing the form linked here:
Please specify your role/job/interest in this so that the weight of this campaign can be recognised, and action prioritised, by those people who have access to the UK’s National Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Westminster.
SIGN THE FORM OF SUPPORT FOR BRISTOL STREET ART INTANGIBLE HERITAGE
(Privacy Notice: all details will only be used for the purpose of this campaign, and once successful, all data and database will be deleted).
Once we have support, the list of supporters will be passed to MP XXXX.
Thank you for your time and consideration. We look forward to your response.
Best regards,
Victoria Rivera – Ugarte
Robert James Dean
This message and campaign is promoted by myself,
Victoria Rivera-Ugarte, a resident of the King Square area in central Bristol for nearly five years. As an enthusiastic advocate for community development—both with my neighbours and in other areas of Bristol since making this vibrant city my home—I have seen first-hand how street art plays a crucial role in shaping local identity, fostering public engagement, and strengthening social cohesion, creativity, and community pride.
And additionally by,
Robert Dean, who is also promoting this campaign, and has been actively facilitating and educating about street art and its history for nearly 20 years, providing opportunities for cultural development and employment in the independent creative sector. Through his work, he has witnessed the global interest in Bristol’s street art while also observing how opportunities for artistic expression have become increasingly limited in recent years, as valuable spaces have been lost, restricting the presence of this living cultural heritage in the city.
We the undersigned, support the submitting Bristol Street Art to the UK’s National Inventory of Intangible Culture,