Coventry’s vibrant Creative Quarter recorded its highest ever footfall for a single day during its tenth birthday celebrations and raised a significant sum for a local charity.
FarGo Village’s Big Birthday Weekender proved to be a tremendous success with 12,235 visitors joining in the fun on September 28 to mark a decade since the industrial site was converted into a haven for creative independent businesses and events by regeneration specialists Complex Development Projects (CDP).
Raising a total of £1,389 for birthday charity partner Coventry and Warwickshire Mind from ticket sales to all the music shows in The Box on September 28 and 29.
Singer-songwriter Tom Grennan’s busking gig kicked off the momentous occasion on September 27 which attracted hundreds of fans despite the rain before a wide programme of family-friendly activities and music across different genres took place over the following three days.
The anniversary celebrations included music from Special Brew, The Primitives, Drft RAVE, Batsch, Project Overload, Duck Thieves, The Bellows, Bobbie Dazzle, Coventry Poet Laureate John Bernard & Band, Dirt Road Band, Amit Dattani, Willow Taiwo, and The Swaps.
There were also a variety of activities for all the family including Highly Sprung – Professor Egg Street Performance, Stilt Man, Pop Bang Colour, Do Touch Monsters, The Bin Rats, Artventurers, and drumming workshops from Bakayoko Music.
Holly Hewitt, Manager at FarGo Village, said over 16,000 people had visited the site during the weekend alone to enjoy the Big Birthday Weekender.
“There were so many highlights from our fabulous Big Birthday Weekender,” she said. “It was fantastic to see so many people. There were lots of regular FarGo visitors who have supported us for many years and new visitors who haven’t been before – and we hope they will come back soon. “Ascension Dance’s flash performances really grabbed the attention and it was great to watch children of all ages and abilities enjoying themselves and their confidence really grew as they performed. “The children’s art room with Pop Bang Colour and Artventurers was busy throughout the weekend with parents spending quality time with their youngsters.
“The music programme was really popular particularly the headline acts The Primitives and Special Brew who got The Box jumping as well as raising such an incredible amount for our birthday charity partner Coventry and Warwickshire Mind.
“The whole occasion was unforgettable because it gave us an opportunity to celebrate everything that has been achieved over the last ten years – and look forward to the next decade at FarGo Village!”
Tania Miller, Head of Children and Young People’s Services for Coventry and Warwickshire Mind, said: “Well done to the team at FarGo Village for putting on such a fantastic and varied programme of events. We really welcomed the opportunity to be involved in the celebrations – this is such a great community and we’re really keen to promote and support good mental health for all.
“Thank you so much for raising money on our behalf – as a locally registered charity, fundraising is really important to Coventry and Warwickshire Mind as it helps to further our work with local people.”
Arts Council England’s National Lottery Project Grants scheme gave FarGo Village funding towards the community programme while Towergate Insurance and Zenith Contract Services Ltd, which looks after its insurance and cleaning services, provided sponsorship.
Notes to editors
About Arts Council England
Arts Council England is the national development agency for creativity and culture. We have set out our strategic vision in Let’s Create that by 2030 we want England to be a country in which the creativity of each of us is valued and given the chance to flourish and where every one of us has access to a remarkable range of high-quality cultural experiences. From 2023 to 2026 we will invest over £467 million of public money from Government and an estimated £250 million from The National Lottery each year to help support the sector and to deliver this vision.