Culture & Sport
Our region is home to a vibrant culture, from the heritage of Coventry to the diversity of Birmingham. We encourage our communities to support and engage in cultural and sporting activities, both on and off campus helping to make our region a healthy and vibrant place.
Warwick's Culture
Our new Cultural Strategy - Warwick's Culture - aims to inspire our engagement with local and regional communities and their aspirations, building on our active connections with key civic and regional cultural partners.
Our Cultural Strategy will play an active role in Coventry Culture Works, a new initiative between the University of Warwick, Coventry City Council and Coventry University, which will support the city’s cultural and creative economy and invest in a new Head Culture and Creative Economy at Coventry City Council.
Warwick Arts Centre
Warwick Arts Centre is the largest multi artform arts centre outside London with a concert hall, middle scale theatre, cinema, gallery and studio spaces. Uniquely, the Arts Centre is also home to a Music Centre which provides access to tuition and music making opportunities for students and anyone interested in making music with others. The Arts Centre has been working with some of the world’s most inspiring artists since 1974.
It is primarily a receiving venue but, it also commissions new work, supporting the development of new and emerging artists and investing in the realisation of new projects by established artists and creatives. They programme live events across art forms from Symphony Orchestra of India to Beverly Knight, Gecko Theatre, Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures and a diverse range of comedians, written and spoken word performances.
The Arts Centre makes exhibitions and have presented Turner Prize nominated and winning artists Richard Deacon, Ingrid Pollard, Jeremy Deller and Veronica Ryan. Their live events and exhibitions attract audiences from across the region and nationally.
In 2022, following a redevelopment programme the Arts Centre opened a new three screen cinema enabling the screening of a wider range of films from blockbuster to UK Independent films, opera, theatre and exhibitions.
As an arts centre, Warwick Arts Centre does more than provide a platform for artists to present their work. It offers opportunities for people to take part in new artist led experiences. Warwick Arts Centre works with artists and communities of people to create and deliver a year-round programme of events, workshops and projects designed to engage and inspire children, families, young people and adults of all backgrounds providing opportunities for people to make connections with the Arts Centre and others through the arts and cultural experiences.
In 2019-20,10,554 school-age children participated in Warwick Arts Centre creative learning activities.
Our Sports and Wellness Hub
Our world-class sports facility opened in 2019 with a mission to inspire and motivate our students, staff and the wider community to engage in an active lifestyle that supports physical and mental wellbeing. The hub houses a modern 230 station gym, a 25m 12-lane swimming pool, over 100 fitness classes and a climbing wall and is accessible to all.
We want to build the most active campus community in the UK, keeping our communities active.
“The gym has made a huge difference to my physical strength, and it’s even noticeable when I’m doing jobs at home or in the garden.” Read Tom's exercise story
Our Esports Centre
With Warwickshire’s Silicon Spa internationally recognised as a games cluster generating some of the best-known games titles and brands, our Esports Centre, located at the heart of the Warwick campus, is working closely with regional and national partners including CWLEP, Create Central, and the West Midlands Combined Authority to lead on esports. The Esports Centre is open to everyone.
Coventry City of Culture 2021
We were a principal partner of Coventry City of Culture 2021 along with Coventry University and Coventry City Council. We were proud to support our local city and be part of the celebrations.
We led the Core Monitoring and Evaluation, alongside Coventry University, in the evaluation of the Coventry UK City of Culture 2021. The evaluation programme has evolved 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.
Our Resonate Festival launched in May 2021 was a 12-month programme of inspiring and interactive events (many free) for people of all ages across Coventry and Warwickshire to spark ideas, curiosity and creativity. Resonate culminated in a grand finale – a three-day live festival on campus in April 2022. The Resonate Festival was such a huge success that we will be holding the festival again next year and welcoming our friends and neighbours back for another big celebration.
Cultural Change Coventry
We were commissioned to write a ten-year cultural strategy for Coventry which builds on the city's existing heritage and culture, funded by Coventry City Council and Arts Council England. We are also part of Culture Change Coventry, a coalition of partners who are motivated to act together to ensure that Coventry delivers fully on the potential for culture to drive long-term positive change.
University of Warwick PowerHouseGames 2025
We partnered for the third time with Power2Inspire to host their inclusive PowerHouseGames at our Sports and Wellness Hub on 27 February 2025. The games invite local schools to team-up with staff and students to compete in university-style sports, including boccia, new age Kurling and goalball. The games are designed to ensure everyone, of all abilities, can take part – and that nobody is “left on the bench”.
Mark Hyndman, Director of Sport and Active Lifestyles at Warwick Sport said:
“This year’s instalment of the PowerHouseGames provided an opportunity for us to strengthen our partnership with Power2Inspire, and continue playing our part in hosting events that celebrate accessibility, inclusivity and diversity at our Sports and Wellness Hub at the University of Warwick".
Flame of Friendship - Coventry schools torch relay 2024
In the run up to the 2024 Paris Olympic and Paralympic games, 62 Coventry primary, secondary and special educational needs schools participated in a torch relay, the Flame of Friendship, which left Coventry Cathedral on Thursday 22 February and finished on the University of Warwick campus on Monday 8 July. A Finham Park Academy student designed the winning friendship torch which was manufactured by WMG.
Over 700 school children and teachers from across Coventry came together for the grand finale of the Flame of Friendship project.
British Transplant Games 2023
The British Transplant Games took place from 27 - 31 July in Coventry and aimed to raise awareness of the life-saving benefits of organ donation while encouraging organ recipients to stay active afterwards.
We hosted events such as track and field, tennis, sports hall athletics and darts at several University of Warwick venues including the Westwood Campus Athletics Track, Tennis Centre, Sports and Wellbeing Hub and the Rootes Building.
UK Corporate Games 2023
We were proud to host the 30th UK Corporate Games in 2023 from 3-6 August on campus, with our world class sports facilities and award-winning hospitality venues.
From badminton to volleyball, over 150 sporting events took place over the weekend, including Esports for the first time.
Community holiday programmes
We supported the Coventry 2023 Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) Programme for Coventry pupils who are eligible for benefits related free school meals.
In Easter 2023, around 2800 Coventry children benefitted from 90 different clubs/activities through the Coventry HAF programme delivered by 34 directly funded providers.
We were also pleased to support the Coventry 2024 Summer HAF programme and the Easter 2025 HAF programme.
Strachan Football Foundation
The Strachan Football Foundation, a not for profit company, bases their academy at our world class sports facilities. Many of the young people on the programme come from the Coventry and North Warwickshire area.
