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Artists enjoying football club residency

Lilly-Mae MessengerWest of England
News imageBBC Jonathan Kelham, left, is a white man with brown hair. He is wearing a black cap, a blue raincoat and a black and red Brislington FC scarf. Ken Borg is wearing a blue coat and a black jumper. He has black hair and a short beard. They are both crossing their arms and facing the camera. They are standing on the grass football pitch with a colourful border and a white goal behind them in the distance.BBC
Johnathan Kelham (L) and Ken Borg are a year into their three-season stay

Two new signings at a football club are settling in well - but they are not who you would first expect.

Brislington FC were the first in the country to sign two artists to a voluntary residency at the club.

Ken Borg, a graphic designer, and Jonathan Kelham, an artist, go to the club once a week for free to design and create projects to enhance the area.

"It's a really beautiful and very engrossing project," Mr Kelham said. "Ken and I are both local residents, so helping out a club that has a lot of families and volunteers involved adds to the new history of it."

News imageMr Borg and Mr Kelham are wearing the same outfits as in the previous photo; however, they are off the pitch. They are standing next to a table with a large sign that reads 'Ironmould Lane' in white letters and are drilling the letters into a board.
The pair hope to complete 10,000 new projects to improve the club experience

Mr Borg added: "Football at this level has a really tight budget, so we always thought we wanted to create the highest impact with the lowest possible budget.

"I'm proud of the area I live in, and if you support it, you want it to have character and have a unique feel about it; we want to enhance that."

The residency called Briz x Borg x Kelham celebrates the 70 years of the club and its connection with the local community.

During their stay, the pair are running projects like refurbishing the 150 capacity Colin Arnold Grandstand and creating content for social media from match days.

News imageJohn Kelham and Ken Borg smiling at each other on the pitch.
Mr Kelham said they are hoping to achieve around 10,000 completed projects in their three years

They met in 2022 at one of Mr Kelham's shows about a fictitious football team, then they began watching Brislington together.

This led to the design of some new flags for the club, which were well received by members and fans.

They said when they first approached the club, people questioned why they did it for free, but after the first project, they said it "was obvious everyone was on board and could appreciate the value".

Fast-forward to now, they are a year into their three seasons, preparing new designs for an anniversary kit, hosting events and improving the stadium.

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