The Coventry Cultural Strategy is now being refreshed to produce an action plan for 2022-2025 that builds on the transformational success of Coventry UK City of Culture 2021 and we want your input into the final version.

Read a new blog by Professor Jackie Hodgson and Dr Rachel Lewis on their project researching the partnership between the West Midlands Police and Coventry City of Culture Trust, including how arts and culture can be used to help increase public confidence in policing and improve police-community relations.

£172.6m of investment has been secured by Coventry after being awarded UK City of Culture, new research involving the University of Warwick has found.

Detailed in the Performance Measurement and Evaluation Interim Report, the awarding of UK City of Culture to Coventry has also led to £500m city regeneration activity linked directly to the secured investment and over £5m being invested into the local arts sector – with cultural activities taking place in each of Coventry’s 18 local wards and participations from all 42 neighbourhoods.

This has been an amazing few weeks, during which we have showcased a huge variety of artist-researcher collaborations inspired by our research and engagement around City of Culture – in our major digital exhibition Coventry Creates 2021; through our collaboration with Warwick Arts Centre’s Feelings of Freedom festival; and our ongoing support for researchers working with artists in the Coventry Biennial.

Read the full blog by Professor Jackie Hodgson.

Coventry City of Culture Trust, in partnership with the University of Warwick and Coventry University and strongly supported by Coventry City Council made a clear commitment to the monitoring and evaluation of Coventry UK City of Culture 2021. This was established during the bidding period prior to the city winning the title. The evaluation programme has also been established in the context of a broader UK policy and organisational environment that has seen a step-change in expectations around evaluation, impact reporting and learning.

This month’s Resonate Festival theme is COVENTRY IN THE WORLD – Coventry is here, there, everywhere… a city which is enriched by the diverse communities that have made their home here. At Warwick, we have staff and students from all over the world and our research reaches all around the globe too. This month we will bring the world to Coventry and take Coventry out to the world. Resonate is celebrating this global diversity and highlighting a series of festivals and events that share a wealth of research, engagement and inclusivity.

This research asks how the police can use City of Culture as a platform to engage the public, whilst also managing crime and protecting event attendees. The project explores the potential for police partnerships around arts and culture, and how this can support crime reduction and protecting vulnerable people.

Discover highlights for this month’s City of Culture programme – including Coventry Moves and the Resonate Festival. Find out what's happening this month...