£200,000 cash boost for City of Culture jobs
THE team behind Coventry being the UK City of Culture has received £200,000 to help fund new jobs.
The grant will fund four associate producer roles, as well as the training and development of four volunteer community evaluators.
The volunteer roles will begin the task of monitoring the progress and impact of the City of Culture year in Coventry.
The associate producers will be based in one of four local organisations.
They are: Grapevine, an advocacy and support service for those in need; the Coventry Refugee and Migrant Centre; Positive Youth Foundation, a service provider for young people; and the Central England Law Centre, based in Coventry.
Each producer will work with service users and leaders to develop communityled, inclusive artistic responses to Coventry’s City of Culture programme.
The £200,000 funding award comes from Spirit of 2012, the London 2012 legacy charity, with the aim of helping the Coventry City of Culture Trust deliver its programme during 2021 and beyond.
Spirit of 2012 chief executive Debbie Lye said: “We’re really excited by Coventry’s vision for 2021 - an arts and culture programme made for and by everyone in the city.
“Coventry’s drive to represent, include and excite a modern, diverse and youthful Britain chimes with our own funding mission, and we’re delighted to be on board from the start of what promises to be a thrilling journey.”
Ms Lye added: “We were also a principal funder of Hull City of Culture 2017, joining the programme in its earliest stages, and we learned a great deal about how City of Culture impacts on individuals, organisations and whole communities.
“The key is inclusion and this grant is designed to support the Coventry team as it puts that at the heart of all its plans.”
Martin Sutherland, chief executive for the Coventry City of Culture Trust, welcomed the funding. He said: “Receiving this grant from Spirit of 2012 will provide a fantastic boost to our ongoing work with our communities, and is a real endorsement of our vision and mission.”
Chenine Bhathena, creative director of the Coventry City of Culture Trust, added: “Coventry is a ‘Marmot City,’ committed to reducing health and wellbeing inequalities.
“We are a city of migrants, a city without walls, a city with a strong social conscience.
“This funding will support the City of Culture Trust to work with pioneering community organisations, leaders and activists for social change, to consider the role culture can have in highlighting and tackling the big issues being experienced across our global communities. “We’re delighted that Spirit are backing our movement for change.”
We are a city of migrants, a city without walls, a city with a strong social conscience