Coventry's success in being awarded City of Culture 2021 (launched during the challenging time of pandemic) has been marked by a programme of festivals, events, visual and live experiences, alongside cultural and social leadership programmes that have sought to create a new kind of city of culture. Coventry2021 has had a much greater focus on social capital, social inclusion, human rights and young people. Such an approach to producing a city of culture chimes with the research and ethical approach of the Centre for Cultural and Media Policy Studies. A number of our researchers have been involved in the development, delivery and evaluation of Coventry2021. Dr Vishalakshi Roy contributed to the development of the City of Culture bid and research included the production of a baseline report about the international profile of Coventry commissioned by the British Council. Dr Roy's project Coventry Made Me has involved research into the creative identity of creative workers related to Coventry. The project resulted in a new commissioned digital artwork.Dr Roy has also collaborated with Dr Heidi Ashton, Dr David Wright and Dr Jonathan Vickery on one the City of Culture Trust Monitoring and Evaluation Focus Studies examining the networks and partnerships across the city's civic, cultural and business life. Dr Roy's Evaluation of the Cultural Leadership Programme AD:Vantage (2020-2021) funded by the City Council investigates the impact of the pilot project Creative Leadership Programme AD:Vantage being delivered in Coventry. The programme placed the vantage point of d/Deaf, neuro-divergent and disabled creative practitioners at the heart of leadership. The research of a number of staff in our Centre will lead to articles in leading journals that will inform future urban cultural policy development.

Centre researchers have also approached City of Culture 2021 as an opportunity to share their research and public engagement with colleagues at Coventry University and collaborate on activities that supports the development of our local community. Dr Heidi Ashton's involvement in Urban Village: the Roma's Allotment Project which brought together the Roma and non-Roma people to co-create a short film, images and a digital scrapbook exhibition that focuses on the experiences, identity and voices of the Roma people to be shared with relevant stakeholders and the wider community to foster closer links and challenge stereotypes. Prof Joanne Garde-Hansen's Walk with Water 1 and Walk with Water 2 both focused on Resilience, Young People and Urban River Values and was a collaboration with Centre for Agro-Ecology and Water Resilience, Coventry University, with Talking Birds, 'found poetry' writer Liz Mytton and local production company Antitype Films. The second phase was a collaboration with artist Jo Gane. We explored the cultural values and sense of place related to Coventry’s River Sherbourne with our cultural partners and with younger people and local communities in Spon End, and explored their lived experience of the part of the river that is on the surface before it is canalised under the city.