rise @ bluebird is our Acomb evening arts venue.
The space regularly plays host to live music, spoken word, art exhibitions, theatre, comedy, family- friendly nights and much more.
Rise aims to be a vibrant and independently-run creative hub, driven by love and support from the local community - and an ardent sense of adventure.
Pop down and check us out - we’re looking forward to you helping shape this place just as much as we do.
Gallery
What's on
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Rise Up! - June edition
Welcome back to our 2026 Rise Up! poetry series - with three wonderful poets kicking off a fantastic new year: Peter Sansom, Michael Schmidt and Shash Trevett.
Peter Sansom's Carcanet books include a Selected Poems and more recently Lanyard ('It is kind. It is strong. It is beautiful' -- MIR).Bloodaxe publish the best-selling Writing Poems. He received the Cholmondeley Award from the Society of Authors in 2016. Peter is co-director with Ann Sansom of The Poetry Business in Sheffield, and has been Company Poet with M&S and the Prudential, and Fellow in Poetry at both Leeds and Manchester universities. Michael Schmidt is co-founder of Carcanet Press (1969) and PN Review (1972). He is an editor, anthologist, literary historian, critic, one-time novelist, one-time academic, and poet. The Poetry Business has published – all edited by Peter Sansom – his Selected and Very Selected Poems, Talking to Stanley on the Telephone and other slim volumes. https://michaelschmidt.org.uk/ takes you to his website. Shash Trevett is a poet, critic and a translator of Tamil poetry into English. Her poetry has been recorded for the Poetry Archive and she is a winner of a Northern Writers’ Award. Her collection The Naming of Names (Smith|Doorstop 2024) was shortlisted for the Derek Walcott Prize 2025 and longlisted for the Michael Murphy Prize. Out of Sri Lanka: Tamil, Sinhala and English Poetry from Sri Lanka and its Diasporas (Bloodaxe 2023, Penguin India 2023) which she co-edited with Vidyan Ravinthiran and Seni Seneviratne, was one of the Times Literary Supplement’s Books of the Year for 2023. Shash has been a mentor for both New Writing North and the National Centre for Writing, and a panelist for awards run by the Singapore Book Council, the Gratien Trust (Sri Lanka) and English PEN. She is a Ledbury Critic, reviewing for The Poetry Book Society and a Trustee of Modern Poetry in Translation.
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Chechelele
Unique, colourful, dynamic, vibrant & entertaining. Complex rhythms, movement, percussion & ululation. Wide and diverse repertoire embracing themes of love, the environment, celebration, peace and freedom. Join us, (and join in!) for a brilliant evening from this York based world music a cappella choir.
- 26/06/2026
Doors 6.45pm
£10 plus booking fee
Chechelele World Music Choir
Unique, colourful, dynamic, vibrant & entertaining, complex rhythms, movement, percussion & ululation. Wide and diverse repertoire embracing themes of love, the environment, celebration, peace & freedom. Wow! Please join us (and join in!) for a real musical and vocal celebration with Chechelele, a world music a cappella choir.
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The Sunday Social Comedy Club
A great way to spend a Sunday evening, another Comedy Club returns to rise. Hosted by John Pease with laughs from another four hilarious acts, secure your tickets now!
- 01/07/2026
Doors 7.30pm, show from 8.30pm
Poetry & Spoken Word
£5, £10, £15 or £20 (+ booking fee). Choose whichever tier works for you.
BookFarah Chamma + Adderstone + Henry Raby
Farah Chamma is a Palestinian poet known for her vibrant and unique spoken-word performances. Her performances are full of vitality, energy and passion - speaking truth to power and filling spaces with hope. She’s participated in many different events and festivals around the world including France, Germany, Jordan, Portugal, Mexico and Holland. She holds a master’s degree in Performance and Culture from Goldsmiths, University of London and a BA in Philosophy and Sociology from the Sorbonne in Paris. She is one half of the international musical duo chamaeleon. Adderstone are Gemma McDermott and Cath Heinemeyer, storyteller-musicians with a leftfield take on life, love and climate. They weave a’cappella with alt-folk, myth with memories, hope with hysteria, and the corridors of power with the mysteries in a pond. They find that everything looks different through an adderstone! Henry Raby is a punk poet and gig promoter. His work has been described as playful, highly-charged, passionate and anarchic! He’s performed at music, arts and literature festivals across the UK, including Edinburgh Fringe, Deer Shed, Latitude, Greenbelt and Boomtown Fair. Henry co-runs York spoken word organisation Say Owt.
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The Green Parcel - A poetry reading and book launch with John Challis
Join us for the launch of The Green Parcel, John Challis’ second collection of poetry from Bloodaxe Books. Written during the first years of his daughter’s life, the rural terrain of The Green Parcel provides a new lens for exploring history, class and work, our relationship to the natural world, and cycles of growth and decay.
Described by the Guardian as ‘poetry as archaeology, though with lyric alchemy’, much of Challis’ debut, The Resurrectionists, concerned working lives in the city: his father a London cabbie, his grandfather a market porter. Here we find ourselves beyond, in backyards, on motorways, in fields, searching for the green patch, where an East End family picked hops in the summer.
Challis’s pamphlets include The Black Cab (Poetry Salzburg, 2017), a New Writing North Read Regional Title, and Hallsong (New Writing North, 2022), written while he was writer-in-residence at the National Trust’s Seaton Delaval Hall. His poetry has appeared on BBC Radio 3 and 4, in Poetry Ireland Review, Poetry London, The Poetry Review, The Telegraph and elsewhere. He is the recipient of a Northern Writers’ Award, a Pushcart Prize, and an Author’s Foundation Grant from the Society of Authors. He is an editor for Poetry Salzburg Review and is a Lecturer in Creative Writing at York St John University.
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AcombFest: Artist Showcase & Whisky Tasting
AcombFest opening event - Art Talk with Art of Protest Curator and the Festival’s internationally renowned muralists discussing how art and nature collide and what influence they have
on each other. Followed by a Whisky Tasting by Spirit of Yorkshire.
artofprotest.co.uk • spiritofyorkshire.com - 03/07/2026
20:30
DJ Nights
Free
AcombFest: FlourPower Soundsystem with YeastieBoy - Free Entry
As part of the opening evening join our resident DJ for some party tunes to kick off AcombFest
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AcombFest: Groovetone & The Unknown Stuntman
As part of AcombFest we'll be welcoming back the five piece powerhouse Groovetone + The Unknown Stuntman onto the bakery stage! They will be shaking the room with jazz, blues, latin, funk and ska tunes. So don your dancing shoes and come hit the floor.
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AcombFest: Baps 'n' Bingo!
Dabbers at the ready, it’s the glitziest, glammest and silliest cabaret gameshow for all to partake in. We romp through the numbers with camp anthems, minigames, performances, conga lines, bum shake-offs, spot prizes, losers and winners with your loud and proud host, Dolly Trolley. Jam-packed, fun-filled and laughter guaranteed, you’ll be shouting 43 C’est La Vie and BINGO all day long… with the infamous MYSTERY PRIZES and of course BREAD!!!
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AcombFest: Guilty Pleasures Disco - Free Entry - book your ticket on Eventbrite!
Join us for the AcombFest closing party - a Guilty Pleasures Disco, where we'll be celebrating unashamedly fabulous, crowd-pleasing pop, disco, R&B, and power ballads from the 70s to the 00s
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The Ballad of Blea Wyke
A young woman wants to see the sea. A stranger stands on a cliff. The last grey seal swims
towards the shore. On her eighteenth birthday, Cerys, a tough care-leaver, breaks the city’s
lockdown and travels to the coastal cliffs that birthed her, the crumbling landscape drawing her back to her mythic past.
Evocative and lyrical spoken word storytelling that draws inspiration from the traditional
Selkie myth and reimagining it for a not-too-distant future. A haunting interweaving of
story, music, poetry and song, with a rich backdrop of harmonies.
‘Beautiful and heart-rending’ ‘Spell-binding and magical’ ‘Utterly transporting’
(Audience Feedback)
‘No York shaper of words captures a sense, meaning and memory of place so movingly, so evocatively...’
‘Elliot Smith-like nihilism contrasting with nimble, beautiful guitar playing.’
(Charles Hutchinson Press)
Writer / Performer
Hannah Davies is a writer, theatre-maker and slam-winning poet from Yorkshire. She has
written for Royal Court Theatre, Ice&Fire, York Theatre Royal, Guild of Misrule and
performed at leading spoken word nights across the UK. She has held roles including co-
leader of the MA Playwriting at University of York, Artistic Director of Common Ground
Theatre and Executive Producer at ARCADE. hannahdavies.co.uk
Musician / Performer
Jack Woods is a Yorkshire based musician, and instrumentalist. He studied music at the
British and Irish Modern Music Institute, and plays mandolin, violin and guitar. He has played in many different bands across many different genres, writes and records as
Pascallion and has featured on BBC Introducing with Jericho Keys. pascallion.bandcamp.com
Director
Em Whitfield Brooks is a director, choral leader, creative facilitator, voice teacher and coach. She has directed large-scale community opera and small-scale touring theatre, she has produced/directed for Ryedale Festival Community Opera, was a choral director of Hull Freedom Chorus, Angus & Ross Theatre Company, Back to Ours in Hull and was Artistic Director at Helmsley Arts Centre 2012 - 2016. emwhitfieldbrooks.com
Sound Engineer: Jim Taylor - 17/07/2026
Doors and music from 7pm - 11pm
DJ Nights
Free
BYO - new style!
This month's theme is Summertime Special - Long Hot Summer, Club Tropicana, Boys of Summer - you get the drift! Let us know if you would like a half hour slot to play whatever you would like to bring - [email protected] Happy to provide some tuition for those new to decs!
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Lachlan Bryan & The Wildes
We are delighted to welcome back Lachlan and his band The Wildes to rise this July. His gig with us last year was a sell out, for good reason! His songs range from hard hitting social commentary to deeply personal musings, but each contains a unique turn of phrase, dark humour and an ever-present sense of romance. Lachlan brings a warmth and wisdom to the stage that wins over fans for life. Be sure to get your tickets and see for yourself!
- 30/07/2026
6-9pm
Exhibition
Free
Art Exhibition Preview: Mick Leach
Join us for an art preview to celebrate a new exhibition by Mick Leach. Nibbles and an open bar. 6-9pm.
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Gary Stewart Solo Album Tour
We are always thrilled to host Gary at rise, especially thrilled as this is the launch gig for his new solo album 'Use It or Lose It.' Tickets are selling fast!
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The Sunday Social Comedy Club
Join us again for a good giggle at rise with the very funny John Pease and laughs from four other hilarious acts.
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Lilith: The Other Side of the Story
A dramatic, uplifting one -woman spoken word show. An exploration and
celebration of female power through the mythological character of Lilith.
Shocking, seductive and entertaining. -
Brilliant Burlesque!
We are delighted to welcome back our resident Burlesque Queen, Freida Nipples! New performers, so much fun, more details to follow...
- 10/11/2026
Family Friendly Activities
Lino printining Workshop
Susan Bradley is leading this workshop where you can come along and print your own Christmas cards and tags, more details to follow...
- 17/11/2026
Family Friendly Activities
Paper Christmas Tree Workshop
Talented designer Susan Bradley, joins us again to host a workshop where you can come and make a free standing tree from crepe paper, simple idea, stunning effect! Mince pies available as standard! More details to follow....
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Christmas Pottery Power with The Wilson Sisters
Come and get festive with our second Wilson Sisters workshop this year. Create and glaze a family of three ceramic Christmas trees for a gift or a gift to self! All trees will be fired in kilns and ready for collection before Christmas. Mulled wine and Bluebird mince pies will of course be available!
- 26/11/2026
4.30pm - 8.30pm
Family Friendly Activities
Free
Christmas Makers' Fair Number One!
Our Christmas shopping evenings are back! We will, as usual, be host to an array of talented, local makers, have a choir, be raising awareness and money for a local charity and have mulled wine and frangipane mince pies on tap! All you need for your Christmas shopping needs!
- 10/12/2026
4.30pm - 8.30pm
Family Friendly Activities
Free
Christmas Makers' Fair Number Two!
Another evening of artists and makers', fund raising and frangipane mince pies! We can't wait already!
More events coming soon!