For 12 days Birmingham 2022 Festival Sites created the city’s own front room to the Commonwealth Games. Residents and visitors alike were able to soak in the atmosphere of the Games, watch big screen sporting action, and sample Birmingham's outstanding cultural offer. The sites were free to access and included live performances as well as fitness and dance sessions, family discos, workshops, and an interactive digital game on big screens.
With a staggering 356 hours of celebration and performances from 1500+ artists, Festival Sites welcomed over 750.000 audience members across nine locations. These included two iconic city centre locations: Victoria Square and the former Smithfield market, which also hosted Beach Volleyball, Basketball 3x3 and Wheelchair Basketball 3x3 venues. Additionally, a new roadshow style Neighbourhood Festival Site brought the Games experience right to the doorsteps of Birmingham residents. Six of these Neighbourhood Sites were located in communal greenfield spaces, while the seventh was the first ever Relaxed Festival Site located at Touchbase Pears - Sense’s purpose-built facility for people with complex disabilities, supporting those who needed it to enjoy the Games experience in a more relaxed and supported environment. We put local talent centre stage throughout our programme - over 85% of our artists were resident in or from Birmingham and the West Midlands.
Outdoor Digital Productions (ODP), a collaborative enterprise between OPUS, ADI and JA Productions, were chosen to deliver the official Birmingham 2022 Festival Sites.
Commissioner
Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games //
Birmingham 2022 Festival
Created by
Outdoor Digital Productions, a collaboration between
OPUS - Programme Producers
JA Productions - Production
ADI - Technical
Take a look at the video for a snapshot of the Birmingham 2022 Festival Sites experience
Festival Feeling
OPUS were responsible for:
Overall creative and cultural design of the sites - from programming decisions, to site design, to identifying commissioning opportunities
Identifying and building key creative relationships with organisations and individual artists from across the region
Designing a cultural programme which best represents the vibrancy of the creative landscape in Birmingham and the West Midlands, and which reflects the diversity of the people who live here
Managing the development of 3 new public realm art commissions, including a major new floor art installation for Victoria Square, and 2 new performance commissions
Complex budget and financial management
Stakeholder management, building strong working relationships with landowners, council members, media partners, sponsors and, of course, our client
Integrating sports programming with cultural programme schedules across all sites with a considered methodological approach
In depth audience research and consultation, including building intentional and sustainable relationships with community leaders and organisations based around the Neighbourhood Sites
Developing and delivering the emPOWer Producing Programme, developing the skills of seven individuals through a series of workshops and training opportunities, and empowering them to lead on programming and event delivery for a Neighbourhood Site each in a supportive and meaningful way
On the day integration for production, technical, artist liaison and volunteer teams on site
Marketing and campaign support; including writing press releases for client approval, developing website brief, copywriting and developing considered briefs for our team of videographers and photographers
Access planning across all sites, including not only considering audience and artist journey, site design and accessibility of activities but also working with 19 BSL interpreters and offering 100 hours of Audio Description
Managing all aspects of artist liaison for over 1500 artists, including catering, sustainable travel planning and access provisions for artists who are disabled
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The Festival Sites brought engagement, excitement and inclusivity to some of the city's most iconic outdoor spaces and surrounding communities; and the footfall achieved during the Games was phenomenal.
Tim Hodgson
Senior Producer, Birmingham 2022 Festival
The planning, execution and artist liaison by OPUS was of the highest standard, which meant that the B:Music offer to artists and audience alike was able to transition seamlessly from venue to Victoria Square. The entire team were incredibly professional throughout the process, and adapted to any challenges that were faced along the way.