Coventry 2021 unveils programme highlights as lockdown eases

As the UK begins to emerge from lockdown, Coventry City of Culture Trust and partners have announced further details of the programme as the UK moves toward a phased recovery.

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

An opening city-wide moment, Coventry Moves will kick off a year of events on 15 May and promises a day full of extraordinary surprises from dawn to dusk, able to be experienced both in-person and remotely. Coventry Moves will provide a playful and engaging introduction to Coventry, its stories and its people. As restrictions ease further, a Summer of Surprises will allow the community and visitors to enjoy events, experiences and culture once again.

Coventry UK City of Culture will present new perspectives by giving voice to those seldom heard, encouraging action and engaging with new and innovative technologies. All events are being planned in a flexible and responsive way, to allow them to be presented throughout 2021-22 in line with the guidelines at the time they take place.

The list of events on the schedule includes Terry Hall presents Home Sessions (July 2021), curated by the lead singer of 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 (August 2021), these will be some of the first music festivals to take part in the UK under the Government’s roadmap out of lockdown.

In addition, 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. There will be a poignant and symbolic moment as Little Amal is welcomed into Coventry – a city of sanctuary and welcome – by a participatory event designed with and for the local community.

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