Joint venture to launch Coventry City of Culture festival.
Birmingham Hippodrome and Coventry City of Culture have announced that the Hippodrome’s annual hip-hop festival will launch Coventry City of Culture’s pioneering CVX Festival.
2021 marks six years of B-SIDE Hip-Hop Festival and for the first time the celebration of all things Hip-Hop will expand into another city. Running Saturday 14th to Sunday 15th August at Gosford Street and Grove Street car parks, CVX x B-Side feat OneWave will bring together extraordinary artists and breath-taking acts from across all four elements of Hip-Hop: breakin’, graffiti, DJing and MCing. Alongside the dance battles, OneWave will present a line-up of emerging and highly respected hip hop and grime artists from the city and across the UK curated by Coventry’s own, the legendary Jay1.
Commissioned as part of UK City of Culture 2021 and working in partnership with Positive Youth Foundation and organisations and artists across the city, CVX is a pioneering arts activism programme curated by young people around the themes of community, unity and social change.
Graham Callister, Director of Festivals for Birmingham Hippodrome said: “Birmingham Hippodrome and our partners are extremely proud to be taking B-SIDE Hip-Hop Festival to Coventry to be part of the year-long UK City of Culture celebrations. Working alongside our Coventry partners OneWave and In Paint We Trust, we can’t wait for more people in the West Midlands to experience the biggest festival of its kind in the UK presenting the finest in hip hop dance, grime and street art.”
Chenine Bhathena, Creative Director at Coventry City of Culture said: “CVX is a pioneering arts activism programme curated by young people living in the city exploring themes of community, unity and social change. I am thrilled that Jay1 is supporting young artists to take part and to develop their talent.
“Birmingham Hippodrome, B-SIDE Hip-Hop Festival, One Wave and Street Art Strategy will be working with the Trust to launch CVX in August with CVX x B-Side feat OneWave. We are really excited to be collaborating with B-SIDE on their first venture into another city, and to be creating more opportunities for young people and young artists from the city to be part of the City of Culture programme.
“From September there will be a year long CVX programme taking place in the city including talks, workshops and performances. Young people will explore some of the issues facing young people in the city, as they explore how the city can better support their futures, consider their role in positively influencing this, putting art, music, spoken word and performance at the heart of the work.”
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