A new round of projects led by community leaders in Coventry is being put into action as part of Coventry City of Culture 2021.
A group of 10 new Community Connectors will be co-creating cultural projects within their communities, developing and collaborating on projects which create meaningful participation opportunities for community members, following the success of the first cohort launched last year.
The programme, which is being delivered by Coventry City of Culture Trust and 64 Million Artists, gives community leaders the platform to engage with their local area by improving and using community spaces, putting on a community event, or creating a piece of art.
It is part of the Love Coventry programme, funded by the National Lottery Community Fund, which takes Coventry UK City of Culture 2021 to neighbourhoods and streets across the city.
The latest round of projects aims to work directly with people living in Wyken, Foleshill, Longford, Bablake, Upper Stoke, Canal Basin, Binley, Willenhall, Stoke Aldermoor, Whitley, Cheylesmore and other city communities.
The first group of participants delivered projects in Foleshill, Henley Green, Finham and Stivichall, Earlsdon, Stoke Aldermoor, Holbrooks and the city centre
The new Community Connectors, which follow the group of eight original Connectors established last year, include Dan De Feo, a local scout leader and SEN teaching assistant hoping to teach young people to grow their own vegetables before hosting a food festival celebrating a range of cultures.
Dan said: “Community Connectors will allow us to gain links with other groups to develop our project over the next couple of years, not just during City of Culture, but to leave a legacy and spread our message amongst families and communities over time.”
Curtis Liburd, who reaches out to young people in Coventry as a youth worker for the Guiding Young Minds Intervention charity; Viktoria Sesi, who has created a series of workshops to support women with health and wellbeing; and Steve Jones, who is aiming to combat loneliness felt by the over 50s by creating songs and performing them live through the Good Neighbours Project, are also part of the second cohort.
They are joined by Daniel Messenger, who is launching a ‘stay and play’ to allow parents to share ideas and work with local nurseries and schools to help support children through transitional periods; Anna Crockatt, who is hoping to create a new music venue on an old narrow boat as a platform for local artists; Olugbemi Moronfolu, who is aiming to tackle barriers around integration by hosting workshops for people from Black backgrounds to express their creativity; and Mark Gibbins, who will launch a cooking project for men with mild mental health issues to build confidence and make friends whilst learning about global cultures and cuisines.
Chloe Deakin joins the programme to create a book documenting the hidden heroes of Coventry. She will facilitate training for young people in photography, journalism, and marketing and connect them with local people over the age of 60 to encourage intergenerational learning.
Fareed Siddiqui, a world music specialist and band leader of Impact Steelband, will be working with a range of underrepresented communities across Coventry, teaching them to play the steelpan with the ultimate goal of performing at the BBC Radio 1 Big Weekend 2022.
As well as a £4,000 budget to deliver their projects, the Community Connectors will receive specialist training, mentoring, and networking opportunities delivered by 64 Million Artists to help them develop their ideas, as well as support from the Project Manager and Area Producers at the City of Culture Trust.
Previous projects have included improving the community garden at Foleshill Community Centre to supply more vegetables for the members of its Social Supermarket, making a short film as an artistic platform for women who are refugees, asylum seekers or migrants in Coventry, and staging a one-day festival celebrating Bulgarian culture, food and traditions by and for people from Coventry.
Chenine Bhathena, creative director of Coventry City of Culture Trust, said: “After the success of the initial projects in 2021, our new group of Community Connectors will build on the fantastic work of our first cohort to enhance their community or celebrate it by creating collective moments.
“The leaders will have the full support of our team members here at Coventry City of Culture Trust, who will help them to deliver their projects, engage with other local people, to have a positive impact across the city.
“When the UK City of Culture judges visited the city recently, they were surprised and delighted to see how communities have been coming together to shape and create cultural programmes across our year. Our Community Connectors are a great example of how City of Culture is enabling more of our citizens to connect with each other across the whole of the city.”
For more information about the Community Connectors programme visit coventry2021.co.uk/community-connectors