TODAY, the first tickets go on sale for events at this year’s Coventry UK City of Culture which starts on May 15.
And, Coventry City of Culture Trust’s vibrant new retail store, ticketing and information centre opens in the city centre at 10am.
The Trust has been working with partners to fit-out the unit at 31-35 Hertford Street over recent weeks to launch before the UK City of Culture year starts. It will remain open until May 2022.
It will be open seven-days-a-week from 10am to 6pm Monday to Saturday and 11am to 5pm each Sunday, offering Coventry City of Culture merchandise – from clothing and postcards to exclusive, bespoke and artisan items by local makers.
Laura McMillian, Director of Audience Strategy, said: “We are excited to open our shop today, and welcome the people of Coventry to what will be a central hub for our City of Culture year.
“It is great to see the city starting to open up again as we follow the roadmap out of restrictions, and to have a physical space where visitors can buy a ticket for City of Culture events, pick up a coffee and something to eat or buy merchandise.
“With just a couple of weeks to go until our year gets underway, this store will be a hive of activity and help put Coventry UK City of Culture at the heart of city.”
Tickets will be available form the venue, which will serve as a hub for all things City of Culture, along with a studio for media broadcasts, a meeting space for visiting delegates from across the UK and beyond, and a refreshments.
And there will be food and drink from Coventry and Warwickshire manufacturers.
Tickets
More than 55,000 tickets will be available to buy for 15 events via the Coventry City of Culture website coventry2021.co.uk.
The events take place at seven different venues across the city and represent around 3,500 individual admission times or shows. This is the first on sale date for UK City of Culture 2021 with further tickets being released throughout the year and into 2022.
Tickets are available for the following events –
- A limited number of pre-sale tickets for Faith (September 11, 2021), a celebration and exploration of the many faiths that guide our lives, in a powerful citywide theatre event. Faith is co-produced by the Coventry City of Culture Trust and the Royal Shakespeare Company in collaboration with Coventry’s diverse faith communities.
- The world’s best-known prize for visual arts, Turner Prize 2021 (September 29, 2021 to January 12, 2022), in the West Midlands for the first time this autumn, presenting its annual exhibition of shortlisted artists at Coventry’s Herbert Art Gallery and Museum.
- A major new commission by leading art and technology studio Marshmallow Laser Feast, Observations on Being (June 22 to August 15, 2021), previously called The Tides Within Us. An installation of music, voice, ground-breaking visual worlds, sensory effects and technologies located in Coventry’s London Road Cemetery and Charterhouse Heritage Park and is one of the first large-scale visual arts commissions to be unveiled as part Coventry’s year as UK City of Culture. Observations on Being was commissioned by Coventry City of Culture Trust and produced in partnership with York Mediale. Presented in partnership with Historic Coventry Trust, Warwickshire Wildlife Trust and Coventry City Council. Observations on Being is funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and supported by the Garfield Weston Foundation. The Tides Within Us was originally supported and presented by York Museums Trust.
Belgrade Theatre
- Productions from the Belgrade Theatre’s programme of modern and diverse theatre will also go on sale including Like There’s No Tomorrow (May 19 to June 13 June), a digital production of the youth climate change work originally devised by Belgrade’s Young Company and one of the first National Theatre Connections plays to be co-created by young people.
- Roundabout, a co-production with Paines Plough and the Belgrade Theatre for Coventry UK City of Culture will present a festival of new world-class plays and community-led activities in the world’s first plug-in, pop-up and play theatre (July 27 to August 8). The four plays that will be played in repertory are Hungry by Chris Bush (July 30 to August 8), Really Big and Really Loud by Phoebe Eclair-Powell (July 27 to August 8), May Queen by Frankie Meredith (July 29 to August 8) and Black Love by Chinonyerem Odimba, in association with Tiata Fahodzi, with music by Ben and Max Ringham (July 28 to August 8).
- As part of UK Asian Film Festival (May 27 to 29) the Belgrade Theatre will host five film premieres, socially distanced in their B2 auditorium, including the world premieres of The Beatles and India and Toofan Mail. The programme also includes Pakistani film Zindagi Tamasha and Indian films Khape and Fire of Teak and Flame of Chinar.
- Specially commissioned production The Allesley Silas (July 28 to August 1) a new, site specific largescale musical theatre production inspired by George Eliot’s Silas Marner, created with communities in Allesley, Coventry. The Allesley Silas is produced by From the Heart Theatre in association with Coventry City of Culture Trust with support from Arts Council England, Great Place and Trust funding.
- The Lost Lending Library (October 25 to November 6), the UK theatre premiere presented by Punchdrunk Enrichment for family audiences and school groups that invites children (aged four to 12) to discover a magical world, a celebration of books and the journeys they take us on.
- The Vanishing Land (8 October 2021), a new teacher-led adventure for years 5 and 6 encouraging students to learn about their local geography. This teacher-led project is conceived and designed by Punchdrunk Enrichment.
All events are being planned in a flexible and responsive way, to allow them to be presented throughout 2021-22 in line with the guidelines at the time they take place.
Visit coventry2021.co.uk for more on the UK City of Culture and events.
