Shift Bristol CIC is a not-for-profit Community Interest Company. We provide affordable and accessible training to people wanting to create positive change in their lives and communities. Our style of education emphasises empowerment and connection and students learn not only how to understand and do useful things but also how to collaborate effectively to take action.
Our courses and training are delivered by an ever-evolving cracking team of over 40 tutors and practitioners. Who bring with them their passion, expertise, knowledge and pioneering spirit. All tutors apply their knowledge on the ground, so their information is fresh, dynamic and adaptive. They believe in working collaboratively and with and/or for meeting the needs of communities. We visit many of them in their natural environment, so we get to see the successes, challenges and results of their work as we tour their projects.
The groundbreaking Practical Sustainability Course launched in 2010, and runs from Sept to July each year. It covers a wide variety of modules including Permaculture Design, Soil and Ecology, Organic Horticulture, Green Energy, Group Dynamics, Creating Change, Woodland Management, Green Building, Re-localisation and Community Engagement. The year is packed with information, challenging questions, innovative solutions, bold ideas and collaborative experiences. The curriculum is taught through workshops, talks, activities, field trips, design projects, discussions and group work by tutors actively engaged with their subject.
The PSC is deliberately not accredited. We choose to teach for the love of learning; enabling students to engage with the curriculum from all angles and develop diverse skills within a collaborative culture. Permaculture is in the doing. Past students have appreciated the non-pressured learning environment and the opportunities to discover, explore and be curious. We value the strengths and individuality of each student to manifest positive change in the world in their own style.
We are a nomadic organisation, which means we don't teach from a permaculture 'Hogwarts' centre. Instead we choose to hire community spaces for theoretical teaching, and visit community/entrepreneurial green spaces to teach practical work. This ensures the impact of our teaching e.g. building infrastructure, mending & fixing, design work, growing erc stays within the community. We also get the added benefit of meeting many, many hardworking and passionate movers and skakers, which builds beneficial relationships within the network. Those relationship connections enable students to find support and opportunities after training with us. It also ensures the teaching remains fresh, relevant and grounded in real-life challenges and ecosystem.
Since 2010 we approximate that £1,000,000 of student course fees have been invested in the community via paying tutors/practitioners, hiring community space and building infrastructure. We have a four year plan to begin a social research project to investigate the effectiveness of our activities in building network, and supporting people to find nourishways personal pathways to rewarding livelihoods and lifestyles. As well as positive developments for the wider community and network.
The start of this work will begin with the launch of an annual Sustainability Careers Fair in Oct. Where we hope to invite inspirational panel speakers, who are leading the way in nourishing and rewarding livelihoods and lifestyles, to share their stories, and help us identify opportunities and signposting for personal pathway development. As well as holding open space discussions to highlight the challenges and gaps that stand in our way, and how collectively we may be able to sipport each other to overcome and bridge the gaps.
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