Birmingham 2022 launches festival ahead of Commonwealth Games to celebrate city diversity

Midlands: The Birmingham 2022 Festival has announced a six-month long cultural programme taking place across Birmingham and the West Midlands.

Organisers have revealed it will be the biggest celebration of creativity ever seen in the region and one of the largest ever cultural programmes to surround the Commonwealth Games.

There will be over 200 events including a spectacular open-air show, a brand-new Birmingham inspired album, an immersive 3D experience on public transport and photography exhibitions across billboards.

Attractions will include a city centre forest of magical proportions is also expected to open while visitors can enjoy stunning visual arts including a mass tap-dancing extravaganza.

With events running from March to September, the festival will put Birmingham and the West Midlands’ creativity, ambition, heritage and diversity on a global stage.

Time Travel Tram, created by immersive storytellers Surfing Light Beams and Crossover Labs, launches living history into the 21st century by transforming the view from the tram windows into a 3D visual extravaganza of people and places from the region’s past.

A mass participation tap dancing and storytelling extravaganza will take to the streets of Birmingham on 18 June for the city’s biggest outdoor tap lesson and ‘shim-sham’.

A brand-new album, On Record, featuring eleven original songs about Birmingham is also being launched. Featuring new songs by Birmingham artists – including SANITY, UB40 and Dapz on the Map – the album has been created and produced by Jez Collins of Birmingham Music Archive and Grammy-nominated producer Simon Duggal.

As the Commonwealth Games arrive in Birmingham, 10 festival commissions celebrate and explore sport while many other events have a strong focus on the city’s diversity and heritage.

Over 100 creative community projects will also take place across Birmingham. The Creative City Grants, generously supported by Birmingham City Council, have enabled 107 community groups to stage their own festival events.

Highlights include a large-scale mural created by the residents of Druids Heath working with the award-winning Birmingham artist, Mohammed Ali and in Small Heath Muslim teenagers will gather stories from their family histories to create a theatre show.

Artist Jaskirt Boora explores the role of gender and ethnicity in sport through a series of photographic portraits and recorded conversations.

Community groups from across BIrmingham are being given opportunities to encourage local residents to participate and enjoy hundreds of free activities which will be held to make the Games.

As part of Birmingham 2022’s ‘United By’ programme, members of Aston-based social empowerment hub Saathi House will be embracing several sporting, artistic and cultural projects; and especially those promoting African-Caribbean and Asian communities.

Shamsun Choudhury, project coordinator at Saathi House said: “We’ve been working closely with the community engagement teams at Birmingham 2022 to celebrate the best of this city and its residents.

“Our members are mostly from migrant communities and being involved in these Games and benefitting from them is important to them. They’re an active part of this city and many have been living here for decades so we want to make sure they play an important role in this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Birmingham.

“Sport, culture and arts bring people together; this is what we’re about at Saathi House and ‘United By’ is a really good way for organisations like ours to showcase projects we’re working on, and ensure people in across often overlooked neighbourhoods can enjoy free events, entertainment and social activities.”

Community groups including Legacy WM and Black Heritage Walks are also part of the Birmingham 2022 ‘United By’ initiative, with cross-cultural events at the forefront of the festival calendar.

South Asian Arts organisation Sampad will be exhibiting archive photography at the Library of Birmingham in ‘From City of Empire to City of Diversity’, and renowned photographer Vanley Burke will be displaying photographs of the Caribbean community from the 1960s at an exhibition at Soho House titled ‘Blood and Fire’.

Additionally, Transforming Narratives are hosting a three-day online ‘Mela and Symposium’ celebration of contemporary arts and culture in Birmingham, Bangladesh and Pakistan between 19-21 March. This will tie-in with a host of activities championing inclusivity and fair representation to reflect Birmingham’s multicultural history and heritage.

The festival opens on 17 March with Wondrous Stories – a spectacular, large-scale open-air performance taking over Birmingham’s iconic Centenary Square. Created by dance circus company Motionhouse, the show runs for seven performances from 17 – 20 March and features a cast of hundreds, combining dance, acrobatics and awe-inspiring aerial displays.

In the final month of the festival from 2 – 18 September, giant fabricated trees and thousands of plants will take over Birmingham’s Victoria Square in celebration of the cross-pollination which has shaped UK culture.

Martin Green, Chief Creative Officer at Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games said: “The Birmingham 2022 Festival is one of the biggest cultural festivals ever associated with a Commonwealth Games and it’s absolutely central to Birmingham 2022 as a global event. The festival is an incredible opportunity to showcase the amazingly vivid cultural world that is reflected in Birmingham and the West Midlands.

“The festival brings together diverse artists from across the region who are working in a huge range of art forms and community participation and inclusion is crucial to so many of the events. Above all, this is a festival made in the West Midlands for the Commonwealth and everyone is invited.”

Raidene Carter, Executive Producer for the Birmingham 2022 Festival, adds: “This will be a fantastic moment for Birmingham and the West Midlands. The Birmingham 2022 Festival will throw a spotlight on the wonderful creativity of the region across many communities. The breadth of open, free and accessible work in the programme is so inspiring and exciting. I think the festival is going to bring so much joy and entertainment to audiences and participants alike.”

The £12million festival has been supported by a range of funders with the aim of animating the entire West Midlands with ambitious creative works, this includes major support dedicated by Arts Council England, The National Lottery Heritage Fund, Birmingham City Council and Spirit of 2012.