£12m arts feast set to showcase Games host
A£12 million feast of music and culture will showcase the creative might of Birmingham and the West Midlands in the run-up to the Commonwealth Games.
It will include a Brum-inspired album of new tunes, an immersive 3D tram ride, a magical city centre forest and a mass tap-dance. The Birmingham 2022 Festival, running over six months, is dubbed the biggest celebration of creativity ever seen in the region.
There will be over 200 events including a spectacular open-air show and huge photo exhibitions, designed to put the region’s artistry on a global stage. A brand-new album, On Record, features 11 original songs about Birmingham in a sonic love letter to the city. Featuring new songs by Birmingham artists - including SANITY, UB40 and Dapz on the Map - On Record has been created and produced by Jez Collins of Birmingham Music Archive and Grammy-nominated producer Simon Duggal. It will be available via a limited vinyl release and across all streaming platforms from Saturday, June 18. A new podcast and live event programme, In Conversations, will complement the album.
Passengers on board a West Midlands Metro tram between Wolverhampton and Birmingham will be taken back in time while experiencing the world’s first immersive digital art powered by 5G.
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. Running throughout the festival, from March 21 to September 30, Time Travel Tram will be accompanied by a contemporary soundtrack created by some of the West Midlands’ most exciting musicians and performers.
As the Commonwealth Games arrive in Birmingham, 10 festival commissions will celebrate and explore sport.
Events will take place right across the region including over 100 creative community projects will also take place across Birmingham.
The festival opens on March 17 with Wondrous Stories – a spectacular, large-scale open-air performance taking over Birmingham’s iconic Centenary Square. This free show, created by Leamington Spabased dance circus company Motionhouse, runs for seven performances from March 17-20 and
This is a festival made in theWest Midlands for the Commonwealth and everyone is invited Martin Green
features a cast of hundreds, combining dance, acrobatics and aweinspiring aerial displays.
In the final month of the festival, from September 2-18, giant fabricated trees and thousands of plants will take over Birmingham’s Victoria Square in celebration of the crosspollination which has shaped UK culture.
Martin Green, Chief Creative
Officer at Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, said: “It 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, added: “This will be a fantastic moment for Birmingham and the West Midlands.”
The £12 million 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.