THE CITY of Culture’s warmly received ‘Love Coventry’ community project – which included Window Wanderland – is to expand after receiving £1.3million from The National Lottery Community Fund.
The funding will be used to set up new projects and build on the work of the newly-named ‘Love Coventry’ – previously called 21 Streets – which takes Coventry UK City of Culture 2021 to neighbourhoods and streets right across the city.
New projects will include GENERATE, an outdoor festival this August in collaboration with Coventry’s The Albany Theatre, celebrating and showcasing amateur theatre, youth groups, dance groups, and choirs from across Coventry and Warwickshire.
Chenine Bhathena, Coventry City of Culture Trust’s creative director, said: “One of our promises to the people of Coventry was to ensure that the stories and cultures of our people would be at the heart of our programme and that communities would be supported to shape and create activities and events for this special year.
“Love Coventry events will take place in all wards of the city, a partnership between our many different communities and artists, celebrating the creativity of all our citizens and using the landscape of our city as our stage.
“We are grateful for this fantastic support from The National Lottery Community Fund in helping us to continue to deliver on this promise through our Love Coventry programme.
“We have already seen amazing participation within our communities on projects such as Window Wanderland which helped to bring light and colour to so many areas of our city during the third lockdown. And we are excited to see so many more festivals, events and activities taking place in unexpected spaces and places in the next year.
“After the challenging times of the pandemic, we are excited to support citizens to develop and deliver a joyful celebration and to enable them to declare their love for their city.”
Other Love Coventry projects so far have included Abundance and Theatre Next Door, as well the appointment of eight ‘Community Connectors’ from different areas of the city to help local communities create projects and events of their own.
Nicola Thurbon, senior head of regional funding for the Midlands at The National Lottery Community Fund, said: “This past year has been incredibly difficult for communities across the UK, but projects such as ‘Love Coventry’ will play a vital role in supporting the people of Coventry to come together and showcase the incredible talent that exists within the city.”
