Generously funded by Birmingham City Council, Birmingham 2022 Festival’s Creative City Project Programme has been the heart of our cultural celebration over the last six months. Supported by Birmingham City Council, the Creative City Programme consisted of 106 events across the West Midlands featuring home-grown talent to showcase the vibrant diversity of the region. Celebrate the talent of Birmingham's local communities through our video below: 

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Culture flooded across the city over our six month celebration of creativity. Here are just a few highlights of how our Creative City Projects brought together local communities and artists.

Festival of Flying: Taking Flight

Produced by critically acclaimed Highly Sprung with Active Arts, Festival of Flying: Taking Flight took place in Castle Vale September 2022. The exciting and daring aerial theatre show harnessed the creativity and passion of communities in Castle Vale.

Told through high energy dance, music, smoke and aerial movement, Taking Flight took audiences on a circus style journey of local history and innovation.

For more events by Highly Sprung, visit their web page here.

Journeys of Hope

In Her Shoes brought together women who made the journey to Birmingham as refugees through newly created song. Telling their individual stories of arriving to Birmingham, the Journeys of Hope songs were proudly performed at the Queen’s Baton Relay Homecoming Celebration in Victoria Square.

Read more about In Her Shoes and upcoming projects here.

Boxer Beat

A performance consisting of five boxers from the Rectory Amateur Boxing Club and local musicians. Boxer Beat blended sport and culture through turning punches into music. Using the rhythm of the boxing, personalised tunes were synchronised into unique tempos in creating a dynamic film.

The film has since featured on the England Boxing website and was shared at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) before the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games Boxing Competitions.

To watch Boxer Beat, visit their YouTube here.

Drowning of Winter

At the beginning of the Festival, the Czech & Slovak Club UK CIC brought together seven Central and Eastern European communities to creatively celebrate the ancient Slavic tradition of Drowning of Winter.

The hour-long festival consisted of traditional song and dance performance by adults and children alike in Birmingham’s Cannon Hill Park.

Other Isles

The Midlands Greek and Cypriot Association championed the art and culture of the Cypriot and Maltese diaspora though two celebrations.

The events showcased music, poetry and art made by artists connected to Cyprus and Malta, the only European countries involved in the Commonwealth Games.

BPM – Rangoli – Reflecting Community’s Commonwealth Roots

Birmingham Pragati Mandal are bringing community members together in celebrating a range of beautiful co-created Rangoli artworks exhibited during Navrati; one of the most important festivals in the Hindu calendar.

Visit the Birmingham Pragati Mandal here.

Queering the City

Birmingham LGBT have dreamed, designed and realised three new phone booth sized queer spaces celebrating the different experiences of Birmingham’s diverse queer communities and the spaces they inhabit and create in the city.

The playful and intimate installation explored the nostalgia for lost LGBTQI+ scenes, the consumption of queer space as a novelty and what it means to be queer and alone.

For more information on Birmingham LGBT and their upcoming projects, visit their website here.

Coffee Beans Grow in my Head

Bangla Connection have worked with an ensemble from Birmingham’s Eritrean community to co-create a short film telling their stories in their own language and style. Maktul Chowdhury’s documentary blends the colour and tune of the community’s music and art.