Bringing the Games to your own backyard

As part of the Birmingham 2022 Festival Sites, seven Neighbourhood Sites located across the city and produced by and for local residents brought the Games to people’s doorsteps. This included the first ever Relaxed Festival Site held at Touchbase Pears, Sense's purpose built facility for people with complex disabilities. 

In each of the Neighbourhood Sites we worked with a Community Connector (a local CIC/Charity) to ensure that we were plugged in to hyper local issues. A bespoke development programme, emPOWer, was designed to support seven passionate Neighbourhood Producers that were recruited and supported to deliver events in their own areas - allowing communities to be involved in the design and delivery of the events on their terms. These were people from diverse backgrounds that wouldn't call themselves event managers or producers but wanted to make change in their community and were supported to do so. Each Producer was based within a short distance of the seven Neighbourhood Festival Sites, and led on the site closest to them, building sustainable relationships with community partners built on integrity and empowerment.

We created a call out for Birmingham and West Midlands artists which received 167 responses, of which approximately 45% were programmed at the Neighbourhood Festival Sites. We also collaborated with local company Ascension Dance to bring an exciting programme of outdoor performances and workshops to each site. Visitors were able to explore a number of have-a-go sporting activities, including rock climbing, sailing, skateboarding, judo and more. Craft activities, fitness sessions, food stalls and daily visits from Perry the mascot created a fun and welcoming atmosphere for audiences of all ages and backgrounds to enjoy.