Warwick helps boost Coventry’s City of Culture bid

Warwick has partnered up to help gift a £1.5 million boost to Coventry’s arts, culture and tourism as part of the city’s bid to be the 2021 City of Culture.
 
Coventry is one of just 16 cities to obtain the funding over three years in the Great Place Scheme, provided by the Heritage Lottery Fund and Arts Council England.
 
The city’s vision for a Place Partnership includes Warwick University with Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry University, Coventry City Council, the BBC and Coventry Telegraph amongst others partners. The funding will go towards projects including a new Coventry Cathedral arts commission for 2018, a piloting Shop Front Festival, and new theatre projects.
 
A full programme will be collated to celebrate Coventry’s heritage, also including a new tourist strategy, city trails, and projects to highlight the city’s medieval and modern architecture.
 
Local art groups such as Shop Front Theatre, Historic Coventry, and Photo Archive Miners, have helped Coventry strive for Great Place funding. The group ‘Photo Archive Miners’ even held an exhibition which inspired one of the initial projects in Great Places.
 
Warwick will lead a big project that examines Coventry as a ‘work place’ alongside partners Culture Coventry and the Belgrade Youth Theatre. The project will focus on Coventry’s manufacturing and engineering history including its oral histories, records, and how the city’s industry has shaped the place we live in.
 
Warwick Vice-Chancellor Stuart Croft has said: “Coventry has two great Universities that have each added significantly to the City’s international reputation and cultural offering.”
 
“In Warwick’s case this is most evident in Warwick Arts Centre and the widely acclaimed final report of the Warwick Commission on the Future of Cultural Value.”
 
He added: “We also have a wealth of arts research and activity across the campus that has led directly to partnerships such as the recent Ira Aldridge and Paul Robeson celebration at the Belgrade Theatre, and the hugely successful ‘The Story of Children’s Television’ exhibition held in the city’s Herbert Art Gallery and Museum.”
 
Laura McMillan, manager of the Coventry City of Culture Trust has commented: “Great Places is a massive vote of confidence in the Coventry City of Culture Trust and the 75 businesses who are backing us.”
 
“It will take time to develop the programme but from 2018 we will see some exceptional events and projects engaging all ages in the city’s heritage, architecture and cultural life.”
 
She added: “This award will also help build capacity and showcase the creativity of our independent cultural sector.”