Coventry – a host town
An increasingly attractive events destination , this year ’ s UK City of Culture , Coventry , is firmly on the map . Its local council and event professionals are now focused on cementing its reputation and enabling it to compete strongly with neighbouring Birmingham .
Words : Joe Gallop
The city that produced the 2 Tone label and acts including The Specials and The Selecter has in more recent years made significant progress in hosting major events .
In 2018 , Coventry was home to BBC ’ s The Biggest Weekend . Organised by Festival Republic , it took place at War Memorial Park , a venue described as the city ’ s “ jewel in the crown ” by Coventry City Council head of events Jon Hogan .
The park is also the venue for the city ’ s flagship music festival , Godiva . Organised by the council , the threeday event was free-to-attend until 2019 when the council began charging for tickets . Due to take place on 3-5 September , with headliners including
Craig David , it typically has a capacity of around 40,000 .
Coventry may have had a recent setback with the postponement of the Rugby League World Cup , which would have included a game in October at the Coventry Building Society Arena ( cap , 32,600 ) complex , but among the more positive developments have been the formation of the West Midlands Music Board by West Midlands sector support organisation Culture Central . Its goal is to drive the recovery and growth of the region ’ s music sector .
The city ’ s destination marketing organisation ( DMO ), Destination Coventry was set up just before the Covid-19 outbreak , but has only begun to take shape this year . The collaboration between Coventry Council and Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce is part of a two-year project designed to increase tourism and develop more commercial incomegenerating opportunities .
Destination Coventry is led by MD Paul Jones , while other members of the DMO ’ s oversight board include Coventry City of Culture Trust director of audience strategy Laura McMillan and CBS Arena commercial venue director Paul Michael .
Michael says , “ When Coventry won the City of Culture bid in 2017 , that acted as a catalyst for the city to look at its tourism strategy . City of Culture will bring a significant volume of additional visitors to Coventry during the year and it will leave a legacy .” Jones says the target for the City of Culture was to attract an additional 2.5 million visitors during the year : “ That will be affected by Covid because the City of Culture programme has had to change quite significantly , but we still anticipate a massive influx of new visitors .”
He says the city ’ s visitor economy grew significantly in 2019 as a result of it having the City of Culture status , and the organisation is now hard at work persuading event organisers , bookers and agencies to bring events to the city .
“ We work in an impartial way to find the right solution for anyone who wants to hold an event in the city ,” he says . “ Coventry hasn ’ t done the best job of positioning itself and speaking broadly about its assets and its ability to stage fantastic live events . We have incredible facilities and this is an opportunity to compete on a national level . Everything lines up – our infrastructure , accessibility and the will from the city and the pride from the wider region .”
He says a new campaign , funded by Destination Coventry in collaboration with Coventry-based PR firm Advent Communications , will spread the word about the city ’ s live event credentials .
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