New events added to Coventry City of Culture programme

For the first time, we can reveal more details about the events which will be taking place during Coventry's years as City of Culture.

As the first major cultural programme of its scale, breadth and length to commence since the arrival of the pandemic in March 2020, it will start under restricted conditions and phase its events as the loosening of restrictions in the UK takes place.

It's be reconfirmed that the opening event 'Coventry Moves', will take place on the 15th May as planned.

It'll be a day long event, and it will be experienced in the city and around the UK from home, from dawn to dusk.

All events are being planned in a flexible way, to allow them to be presented throughout 2021-22 in line with the guidelines at the time they take place.

Highlights will include:

• The Show Windows introduces audiences to Coventry’s post-war precincts and other areas of the city-centre (from May 2021).

• In Paint We Trust (from May 2021), a citywide street art festival, will feature local, regional and national street artists, with 20 extraordinary new artworks transforming vertical and horizontal spaces across the city centre.

• Coventry Welcomes (14 – 20 June 2021) will present a week-long programme of music, dance, drama, food, literature, poetry, workshops, storytelling and more to mark national Refugee Week. It is being created with Coventry Refugee and Migrant Centre, Counterpoint Arts, the Belgrade Theatre, and over 20 community partners.

16 events had already been announced last year, including the opening event, and the Turner Prize coming to Coventry for the first time.

It's been announced today that the Booker Prize is going to announce it's winner in Coventry this year, the first time this has been done outside of London.

In today’s announcement the Trust, and partners involved, reaffirmed their commitment to delivering on their promise, to present several major and ambitious undertakings, previously announced last year.

These include Terry Hall presents Home Sessions (July 2021), curated by the lead singer of the iconic Coventry band The Specials, in a weekend of music and arts that blends international legends with contemporary pioneers.

Along with CVX, a radical three-day arts activism festival curated by young people in the city with Positive Youth Foundation and the rapper JAY1 (Aug 2021), these will be some of the first music festivals presented in the UK under the government’s roadmap out of lockdown.

The Walk (27 October) will see a 3.5-metre-tall puppet of a young refugee called Little Amal voyage 8,000km from the Syria/Turkey border, across Europe and into the UK.

Later in the year:

• Broken Angel (from Autumn 2021) is a series of specially commissioned artworks which will reimagine a broken pane from Coventry Cathedral’s John Hutton West Screen window.

The original window was smashed in an act of vandalism in early 2020. The new interpretations of the ‘The Angel with the Eternal Gospel’ will be created by leading contemporary artists working alongside community groups to explore themes of brokenness and reconstruction.

• Providing collaborations between Coventry’s creative communities, Random String Festival (November 2021), is a two-week digital arts festival in partnership with artists locally and nationally to create a series of workshops, events and installations with a focus on the Coventry Canal.

A year-long season at Warwick Arts Centre opens in May 2021 with a programme of music, visual art, theatre and more supported by Coventry City of Culture Trust.

The Belgrade Theatre is launching their own programme too. It'll include a showcase of young diverse voices in a unique version of Like There’s No Tomorrow (May-June 2021), a National Theatre Connections play that gives voice to young people’s climate concerns

Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, The Rt Hon Oliver Dowden CBE MP, said:

‘Coventry UK City of Culture is shaping up to be truly spectacular. The festival will catapult this fantastic city onto the world stage and offers a fantastic chance to bring people together both in the city and across the UK through innovative events and installations.

I look forward to witnessing it first hand as we build back better from the impact of the pandemic.’

Chenine Bhathena, Creative Director of Coventry UK City of Culture, said:

‘Coventry was once the capital of England, and this year we’re the city of culture. After the year our citizens and communities around the world have had, our people-powered programme is a much-needed celebration and show of hope for the future. Locally driven, socially resonant and globally connected. Tune in, take part, and when you can come and visit.’

Councillor George Duggins, Leader of Coventry City Council, said:

‘Four years ago we were awarded the title of UK City of Culture 2021, and that exciting programme of events is due to start in the spring.

“We have all been through a very difficult time, but as you look around the city and see the transformations including new features and art and the plans beginning to take shape, you can feel the anticipation growing.

"Coventry is a wonderful vibrant city with a fascinating past and a brilliant future and we can’t wait to open our doors to the rest of the UK and share the exciting events announced today and so much more. This is a year Coventry has been waiting for and we are ready."

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