Coventry City of Culture: Our favourite moments
The year of celebrations is coming to an end
Last updated 29th May 2022
Coventry's year as the UK City of Culture is coming to an end in a few days time.
The twelve months of celebrations have seen a variety of different events, experiences and special performances.
The City of Culture title has brought significant amounts of investment as well, with over £170 million being directly invested into the city.
It all started with a new music video, inspired by the words of 19th century poet George Eliot.
Since then hundreds of events have taken place in Coventry, including the signature event 'Coventry Moves', the VR experience 'In Pursuit of Repetitive Beats' and the recent drone show in War Memorial Park 'Our Wilder Family.
Chenine Bhathena, Creative Director of the Coventry City of Culture Trust, said:
“It’s been an extraordinary year for the city, full of many wonderful memories.
“So many people have played a part in creating this memorable year and everyone will have lots of favourite moments."
As the year of culture comes to an end, we've picked out some of our favourite moments from the last 12 months.
Coventry City of Culture - The Highlights
Timeless Words
The year of celebrations kicked off on the 15th May, with a special video, created by music producer Coolie. The film takes inspiration from the words of George Eliot, who lived in the city
Coventry Moves
The signature event 'Coventry Moves' took place on the 5th June.
Tens of thousands of people saw at least one part of the show, which went from dawn til dusk.
Assembly Festival Garden
The Assembly Festival Garden opened last summer and sold over 80,000 tickets for events during it's first run.
It was so popular, it's returned in the city centre and will be open until September.
The Turner Art Prize
The winner of the Turner Art Prize was revealed at Coventry Cathedral in December.
The prize was won by Northern Ireland group, the Array Collective
Little Amal
Little Amal, the 3.5 metre-tall puppet and living artwork of a young Syrian refugee child came to Coventry as part of her 3 month journey, walking 8000 km from the boarder of Syria across Turkey, Greece, Italy, France, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium and the UK to focus attention on the urgent needs of young refugees.
Symphony of Us
Local artist Paul O'Donnell brought together six residents of Cov to tell their stories, supported by an epic score from the region's most established chamber orchestra, Orchestra of the Swan.
In Pursuit of Repetitive Beats
Coventry took a trip back to the 1980s at their virtual reality exhibition in Fargo village during the spring.
In Pursuit of Repetitive Beats is all about the rave scene that exploded in popularity in the city and takes you to a warehouse in 1989.
The Reel Store
The Reel Store is the UK's first permanent digital immersive art gallery, and it's opened here in Coventry.
Special exhibitions are expected to take place throughout the summer.
This Is The City
The streets of Coventry were taken over by a huge parade, celebrating the 12 months of celebrations.
Around 2,000 performers took part as they marched around the city centre.
Our Wilder Family
A special drone show took place in War Memorial Park, aiming to highlight the importance of nature and protecting the planet.
The 16-minute show, is the longest drone show to take place date in the UK.
If you want to look back at more highlights of Coventry's year as UK City of Culture, then you can click here
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