Team Love: 'We just wanted to put on a party'

Jazpa One and artist Laura Dia say they want to make the Bristol music scene more diverse

As Bristol prepares for another packed weekend of live music, established festival organisers reflect on how far they have come.

Team Love is well known for putting on popular music festivals in Bristol, from Love Saves the Day, which takes place this weekend, to Forwards, a festival that takes place in September on the Downs.

It has also supported local musicians and helped shape the city's music scene.

It started because "we just wanted to put on a party - now we feel responsible to promote young local talent", Tom Paine, co-founder of Team Love said.

In 2008, he and his friend Dave Harvey founded Team Love - just to be able to receive a paycheck for hosting a stage at Glastonbury.

"We set up a bank account and called it Team Love," Mr Paine said.

Later, in 2013, the pair wanted to do "bigger and bigger parties".

"We thought it was wild that Bristol didn't have a green field festival at the time, with all the musical talent coming from the city," Mr Paine said.

They started Love Saves the Day that attracts up to 30,000 people to Ashton Court each year. A few years ago, they also started Forwards that has similar visitor numbers.

"All these years later, we feel responsible as part of the Bristol music scene to promote as many people as we can," Mr Paine said.

They decided to support local talent by forming the Next Level programme together with Big Team and the Bristol Beacon.

They give young musicians in Bristol a platform by putting them on local stages and bringing them to Love Saves the Day and Glastonbury.

Ava Zarate, a musician from Bristol, will be performing at a festival for the first time

'Excited but nervous'

Ava Zarate, 22, will be performing on the main stage at Love Saves the Day despite never having played at a festival before.

Team Love made it possible, through the Next Level programme.

"It's crazy, I'm playing Love Saves and Glastonbury because of this programme," Ms Zarate said. "It also massively improved my creativity and collaboration with other artists. I live here but I'm not from here, so I struggled to get involved.

"There's such a good music scene in Bristol and this programme let me be part of it."

Ms Zarate describes her music as "pop, but with folk and psych influences".

She said she feels "excited", but nervous about performing this weekend.

"I looked up pictures of the main stage and it's insane. I'm used to playing on the side of a pavement, so I'm really excited but I'm really nervous too."

'Lead by example'

Jazpa One is an assistant producer and outreach manager for Big Team that runs the Next Level programme.

Mr One himself went through the scheme, and is now on the other side.

"I know what it's like from the outside looking in," he said. "We want to diversify the industry from inside out.

"We want to lead by example. We hope to inspire other young people who see themselves on stage.

"We also support the music ecosystem in Bristol. The city has always been rich in music, but we want it to be more diverse."

Laura Dia, who also went through the Next Level programme and will be performing at Love Saves the Day, said she never expected to play the main stage at the festival.

"What it's done for me as an artist in Bristol is I have this whole community of artists I can tap into now. I met artists who offered to collaborate and it's just lovely to have a community to support each other.

"It helped me to feel part of the Bristol music scene and contribute to it."