Two day celebration of youth culture in Coventry

A two-day celebration of youth culture will unfold in Coventry at the end of this month, revealing undiscovered local talent and showcasing what can be achieved when young people take the lead in curating, collaborating and co-creating art and performance.

In a UK City of Culture event designed and produced by young people from Coventry, CVX Festival is a showcase of local talent as well as a programme of brilliant artists and musicians curated by young people from the city taking place on Friday, February 25 and Saturday, February 26. It follows a pilot held in August – CVX B-side – a two-day event that celebrated youth counter-culture and creativity.

All of the events will unfold at two city venues: the Box at FarGo Village and Square One at Coventry University over the two days, including headline performances from leading global circus act Circolombia, with the world premiere of their new show (created in Coventry during their time here in 2021) taking place at Square One.

A range of partners have teamed up with Coventry City of Culture Trust and Young Producers with Positive Youth Foundation to deliver new and experimental forms of art and entertainment and give the young people in the city the space to come together, see great events, share ideas and celebrate their own creativity.

Visitors will have the chance try their hand at calisthenics, the high energy arial gymnastic exercise, with ticketed workshops held by School of Larks, Team Instinct, and Bar Zillas at Wild Card Gym in FarGo Village.

Urban Jungle, a new augmented reality (AR) platform, will host a series of specially created virtual performances by established and up-and-coming talent, experienced via smartphones at locations around FarGo Village. Festival-goers will be able to download the app for free – enabling them to scan markers at the various locations to witness performers appear before them; from rap and spoken word to dance and circus.

Created by JellyBob and Rebel Creatives, Urban Jungle was originally developed over the course of 2021 in collaboration with young creatives at Positive Youth Foundation. The project is a result of ‘Positive Realities: XR for Youth Wellbeing’, an innovation programme run by the Trust in partnership with StoryFutures Academy and Create Central that challenged companies to come-up with an idea that used immersive story form (virtual or augmented reality) to positively impact on young people’s self-esteem. Delivered in partnership by Coventry City of Culture Trust, StoryFutures Academy and Create Central, with the support of the BFI, awarding funds from the National Lottery, Urban Jungle offers young talent a platform to perform, virtually, to audiences of their peers in locations around the city where they live.

Amrit Singh, Rebel Creatives, said: "As creative professionals who are new to the immersive technology world, we’re really excited to bring our AR experience to CVX festival. The whole process allowed us to further experiment and develop an innovative and co-curated experience produced with local talent, using our existing experience and knowledge of working in the content creation, creative and TV production industries."

Nigel P. Harris, JellyBob, said: “We’re looking forward to showcasing a whole variety of immersive performances as part of the Urban Jungle App, all of which have been co-curated with, and for young people from Coventry and the West Midlands, and accessed via smartphones in augmented reality. CVX Festival is the perfect place to experience AR.”

CVX festival will also showcase the creative outcomes of Barriers to Bridges, a ground-breaking artist in residence programme that has seen four artists – Kay Rufai, Joe Cook, Dom Fleming & Tarju Le’Sano – embedded within West Midlands Police, Extended Learning Centres in Coventry and Family Hubs across the city. The artists have worked with young people to respond to some of the challenges facing young people and their relationships with the organisations.

A host of artwork, music, theatre and film curated by the Young Producers from Positive Youth Foundation, who have also teamed up with the likes of Flatpack Cinema, We Are Parable, Graeae, Hereward College, Marshon, Fyah Camp, Fridays, Maokwo, Youthful Cities, Bunny Boiler, Psyches and Cov Music to plan and produce pop-up art galleries, hip hop jams, and exclusive spectacular performances, will also be showcased throughout the free festival.

Young Producer Syeda Bukhari said: “The CVX Festival is going to mean a lot to me; it gives me a chance to show off my creative ability of other artforms, rather than just music. I am really happy about this because this is a real-life experience, I like workshops but this is something that I can be a part of that’s more professional. As a young producer it’s been stressful but fun. From thinking about my own ideas and then seeing it all come together it’s a really nice experience and gives me a lot of hope.”

Chenine Bhathena, Creative Director of the Coventry City of Culture Trust, said: “Coventry is a youthful city with an average age of 32 and our bid to be City of Culture was won on this youthful energy and spirit. 

“Over the last three years many different young people have been creating and curating, in collaboration with our Honorary Partner PYF, as well as through Children’s Services, the Music Hub, schools & colleges and West Midlands Police.  Young people have been offered a range of local and international collaborations, opportunities and platforms across music, dance, art and digital and CVX will showcase many of these projects to highlight and express their rich creativity.”

We are excited to see the results of the many collaborations and to spotlight the incredible talent coming from the city, demonstrating how culture can move us all forwards.”

Coventry City of Culture Trust’s honorary partner Positive Youth Foundation have played a key role in CVX Festival, working alongside the trust to support young people as producers, creatives, performers and event managers.

Larna Andrews, Programme Producer, Changing Trax at the Positive Youth Foundation, said:

“It has been a pleasure watching the team of Young Producers grow into their roles. Each of them has been on their own unique journey, which we look forward to seeing the result of that at the festival.

“Importantly, the young people will be further supported to extend their learning and experiences through our Changing Trax programme, which is being delivered in partnership with a range of organisations including the Coventry City of Culture Trust.”

The full schedule for CVX Festival follows. Tickets for Cuidado by Circolombia and Calisthenics will need to be booked separately.

Friday 25th Feb

Hip Hop Jam – 5pm -8pm @ The Box, Fargo

Cuidado – Circolombia 7pm-8pm @ Square One, The Hub TICKET REQUIRED £5

Pop Up Art Gallery – Barriers to Bridges – 5pm-10pm @ The Box, Fargo

Urban Jungle AR – 5pm- 10pm @ The Box, Fargo

Sat 26th Feb

I Am A Real Person - Graeae & Hereward College 12 midday @ The Box, Fargo

Pop Up Art Gallery – 12pm-10pm @ The Box, Fargo

Urban Jungle AR – 12pm- 10pm @ The Box, Fargo

CineCov & We Are Parable Ignite: Screening Judas & The Black Messiah 1:30pm-5pm @ The Box, Fargo

Cuidado – Circolombia 2pm-3pm @ Square One, The Hub TICKET REQUIRED £5

Calisthenics, Acro & Ariel Workshop, School of Larks, Brixton Gym, Bar Zillas 3:30pm-5:30pm @ Wildcard Gym, Fargo TICKET REQUIRED

Cuidado – Circolombia 7pm-8pm @ Square One, TICKET REQUIRED £5

For more information about each event visit https://coventry2021.co.uk/what-s-on/cvx-festival/

CVX Festival has been produced by Coventry City of Culture with Positive Youth Foundation and Birmingham Hippodrome.