Executive summary
This year, Coventry celebrated its year in the spotlight as the UK City of Culture, which officially ran from May 2021 to May 2022. Early analysis of Coventry’s cultural mega-event saw 389,705 tickets issued for live events with a further estimated audience of 136,916 attending unticketed live events across the city; and over 516,000 online audiences to a cultural programme so far - especially important in a cultural event that took place during an unprecedented lockdown.
The City of Culture programme has seen some £172 million pounds invested into the city including major upgrades to the city’s public realm and cultural assets; and a total of 709 events delivered involving both professional artists and creatives as well as local artists and community organisations, bringing events to all 18 wards of the city, including art, music, dance, and theatre.
The ‘Story of Change’ underlying the City of Culture programme means that, in line with our One Coventry Plan priorities, the programme has been geared towards activities, events, and engagement that bring a long-lasting legacy to the city, from investments to sustain and grow our cultural sector, to involving, engaging, and enabling all communities, especially those who are least likely to access and benefit from publicly funded arts and culture.
The city’s year as the City of Culture, however, happened during a period of continued significant national and international challenges. In May 2021, as the City of Culture year got off to a start, COVID-19 pandemic-related restrictions remained in place. This created difficulties for a cultural mega-event seeking to bring people together. And as a result, plans have had to be rapidly adapted and changed in line with the rules and restrictions at the time.
Now, into 2022, the end of our year in the spotlight has coincided with the worst escalation in hostilities in Europe since 1991 with Russia’s War on Ukraine – which is one of the reasons behind the rapid rise in the cost of living – with UK annual inflation in April 2022 the highest it has been since April 1991. The impact of this cost-of-living crisis on communities across the city is yet to be fully realised, as people right across the city face rapidly rising energy, fuel, food, and housing costs.
The Council has had to respond to the twin challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis by being nimble and adaptable. This has included working with our partners and our communities in new ways. The direct impact has included additional duties for the Council, from supporting residents and businesses during pandemic-related lockdowns and restrictions, to the distribution of energy rebates and grants to Council taxpayers.
Additionally, there has been, and will continue to be, more indirect impacts as residents and communities who previously have never needed local authority support face difficulties which mean that they will find themselves in a position of requiring additional help and support from the Council.
Performance towards the One Coventry Plan 2016-2024
The One Coventry Plan 2016-2024 is measured using 75 metrics, of which 32 metrics improved; 8 stayed the same; 18 got worse; can’t say for 10 metrics; and progress is not available for the remaining 7 metrics. This means, 69% (40/58) of directional metrics (excluding cannot say or not available) improved or stayed the same.
Baseline towards the One Coventry Plan 2022-2030
This report also includes emerging metrics against the proposed new One Coventry Plan 2022-2030. This plan is currently out for public consultation. Where
available, this report sets out the current metric value and the direction of travel for those metrics over the past year. This is intended to establish a
baseline for comparison in future years.