Celebrate 2022
With a huge offering of nationwide events and community partnerships, 2022 is a year of creativity. Check out this page throughout the year for updates on the latest events taking place.
What are the celebrations?
Following two years of uncertainty and challenge, 2022, a year of creativity, presents a huge offering of nationwide events and community partnerships. From the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee to the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games and Unboxed, this bumper year of celebrations demonstrates the power of collaboration and creativity to bring joy and excitement to people’s lives – whether in person or online:
Her Majesty the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee & Art Council England’s Let’s Create Jubilee Fund
Her Majesty the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations are a special moment in our collective history; one that gives us a chance to look back at what has been achieved over the last 70 years and also look forward to what is possible in the future.
Through Art Council England’s Let’s Create Jubilee Fund, we’re investing £5 million into a new programme distributed by UK Community Foundations. The focus of this fund is to empower community organisations to work collaboratively with artists and cultural organisations in a way they might not have before, to produce creative events that are driven by them and highlight their ideas and creativity.
Applications opened on 17 January 2022. Please refer to your local Community Foundation for details of the closing date in your area. Decisions will be announced in April.
Unboxed: Creativity in the UK
This year has a wave of spectacular creative events coming its way as part of the Government’s UNBOXED: Creativity in the UK – a once-in-a-lifetime celebration of creativity, taking place across England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and online from March to October 2022. It features 10 awe-inspiring new ideas, shaped across science, technology, engineering, the arts and mathematics by brilliant minds working in unexpected collaborations. Unmissable events and unforgettable experiences are hitting the UK; across coastal towns and city centres to breathtaking areas of natural beauty. It will be available to experience in person, on TV, on radio and online, all for free.
Unboxed is funded and supported by the four governments of the UK, and is co-commissioned with Belfast City Council, EventScotland and Creative Wales.
Coventry 2021 & City of Culture
Coventry 2021 aims to reimagine the place of culture in a diverse, modern Britain with three core programming principles: community-led, accessible and building legacy and capacity. Arts Council England has invested £5million directly into the City of Culture Trust and much more through National Lottery Project Grants. Coventry’s year started in May 2021 following a delay due to the Covid-19 pandemic. UK City of Culture is a competition run by the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) every four years.
Birmingham 2022
Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games runs from 28 July-8 August 2022 with venues across Birmingham and the West Midlands including Sandwell, Wolverhampton, Coventry, Warwick, Leamington Spa and Cannock Chase.
The Birmingham 2022 Festival is a six-month celebration of creativity in the West Midlands inspired by the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. From March through to September the Birmingham 2022 Festival will feature hundreds of creative commissions and events that will entertain, engage and embrace audiences.
Arts Council England has invested £3 million of National Lottery funding into the festival directly, and so far, another £2.4 million into individual projects that form part of the festival.
UEFA Women’s EURO 2022 & Arts Council England’s £800,000 National Lottery Funding
UEFA Women’s EURO is coming to England this summer! From 6 to 31 July, 15 other nations join the England hosts in stadiums spanning 9 host cities: Brighton & Hove, London, Manchester, Milton Keynes, Rotherham, Sheffield, Southampton, Trafford, Wigan & Leigh.
Celebrating the rich history of women’s football and harnessing culture to encourage more people, particularly women and girls, to be inspired by the tournament, Arts Council has awarded £800,000 to the tournament to run an exciting arts and cultural programme. Made possible through National Lottery Project Grants, the programme will coincide with the tournament and supports the delivery of three vibrant, specially commissioned projects, each led by artist Emma Smith, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Idle Women. Fans will even have the opportunity to create an original anthem to express their football passion through music.
What’s On
January
17 January | Arts Council England’s Let’s Create Jubilee Fund open for applications
Find out the key information here >>
February
24 February | UEFA Women’s EURO 2022 Arts Council England funding announced
Arts Council England announces £800,000 towards an arts and cultural programme running alongside the tournament. Made possible through National Lottery Project Grants, the programme will support the delivery of three vibrant specially commissioned projects led by artist Emma Smith. The public will also have the opportunity to create an original football anthem!
Late February | Let’s Create Jubilee Fund closes for applications
Please refer to your local Community Foundation for details of the closing date in your area.
March
1 March | Unboxed: About Us begins
About Us is a spectacular open-air event that combines live shows and multimedia installations exploring our infinite connections to our planet, the wider cosmos and each other. If you’ve ever looked up in awe at the night sky and wondered how you’re linked to the stars beyond, this is the show for you.
Taking place across Hull, Luton, Paisley, Derry Londonderry and Caernarfon, About Us is a collaborative event, supported by various organisations including Arts Council England-funded The Poetry Society and 59 Productions.
17 March | Birmingham 2022 Festival opening ceremony
Birmingham 2022 ‘s exciting cultural festival opens with Wonderous Stories – an incredible spectacle of dance, circus and aerial display from 17 to 20 March. Free to all, the show will also be livestreamed around the globe.
As major funding partners of the cultural festival, Arts Council England and National Lottery Heritage Fund have invested a total of £6 million to support Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Find out more about our investments here >>
Spring to Autumn 2022 | Unboxed: Dreamachine begins
Join Dreamachine for a journey into light, sound, colour and imagination. It invites you to take part in a once-in-a-lifetime immersive experience.
Taking place across London, Belfast, Edinburgh, Cardiff, and online, Dreamachine is a collaborative event, supported by organisations and individuals including Arts Council England-funded Assemble and Jennifer Crook.
April
14 - 20 April | Unboxed: About Us begins in Luton
Find out more here >>
22 April – 22 May | Unboxed: Our Place in Space begins in Derry-Londonderry
Our Place in Space brings our solar system down to Earth – and sends us soaring into the stars to find new perspectives on our planet. Created by artist Oliver Jeffers with scientist Professor Stephen Smartt and creative partners, this immense sculpture trail will be installed for everyone to explore in Northern Ireland and Cambridge – and will be supplemented with a huge programme of digital events and learning activities, open to everyone and entirely free.
Taking place across Cambridge, Derry-Londonderry, Belfast, Ulster, Our Place in Space is a collaborative event, supported by organisations including Arts Council England-funded University of Cambridge, Little Inventors and Live Music Now.
23 April | Unboxed: Green Space Dark Skies begins in Peak District, England
Green Space Dark Skies will see a series of mass gatherings take place in locations across the UK at dusk, between April and September 2022. It will celebrate our natural landscapes, our right to explore it and our responsibility to take care of it for future generations. Across the events, 20,000 people will become ‘Lumenators’, each carrying a low-impact light into the landscape. Be part of history in the making and volunteer to become part of this incredible outdoor art piece – either alone, with family and friends, or with an organisation. These powerful moments will be captured on camera before a closing countryside journey in September: a UK-wide finale, broadcast to millions.
Events will take place across England at Dartmoor National Park, Exmoor National Park, Dorset Area of Natural Beauty, Broads National Park, Noth York Moors National Park, and the Chilterns Area of Natural Beauty.
Find out when it’s happening near you here >>
Green Skies Dark Spaces is a collaborative event, supported by organisations including Arts Council England-funded Walk the Plank, Diverse City, National Association for Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and Cirque Bijou.
30 April - 6 May | Unboxed: About Us begins in Hull
Find out more here >>
May
Check back througout 2022 for the latest event updates
June
2 - 5 June | The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Central Weekend 2022
Summer 2022 | Unboxed: SEE MONSTER begins
Located in the Tropicana, Weston-super-Mare’s former 1930s lido and site of Banksy’s 2015 Dismaland, SEE MONSTER will transform a decommissioned North Sea offshore platform into a large-scale public art installation which will harness the power of renewable energy. Drawing on Weston-super-Mare’s unique locality, the project aims to shine a light on the resilience of our coast, creating opportunities and generating new possibilities for the life of this retired structure.
Check out the events taking place over the weekend here >>
Taking place in Weston-super-mare, SEEMONSTER is a collaborative project supported by organisations including Arts Council England-funded NEWSUBSTANCE Collective and North Somerset Council.
Unboxed: Storytrails begins
StoryTrails is a deep dive into our collective history. It’s a magical immersion in the lost and untold stories that shaped our towns, cities and communities – and a chance to start a conversation about who we are now and where we’re going next. It transforms the streets, squares, cinemas and libraries of 15 UK towns and cities into gateways into the past, using augmented reality and virtual reality to explore extraordinary hidden histories that changed where we live and who we are.
Taking place across Blackpool, Bradford, Bristol, Lincoln, London (Lambeth & Lewisham), Newport, Sheffield, Slough, Swindon, Wolverhampton, Dumfries, Dundee, Omagh and Swansea, Storytrails is a collaborative event, supported by organisations including Arts Council England-funded The Reading Agency.
Unboxed: Tour De Moon begins
Taking place across Leicester, Newcastle and Southampton, Tour de Moon is a two-month festival of performances, installations, interactive experiments and immersive experiences. It’s been created by a galaxy of nightlife artists, musicians, digital dreamers, writers, scientists, technologists and creative pioneers aged 18-25. Together, they’ll consider and challenge our current ways of living - and engage our imagination.
July
6 - 13 July | UEFA Women’s Euros, England 2022
15 other nations join the England hosts in stadiums spanning 9 host cities: Brighton & Hove, London, Manchester, Milton Keynes, Rotherham, Sheffield, Southampton, Trafford, Wigan & Leigh.
28 July – 9 August | Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony
Birmingham 2022’s opening ceremony is taking place at the Alexander Stadium to a live audience, and broadcast to 1.5 billion people around the Commonwealth.
Following an evening showcasing culture and creativity from across the region, the Commonwealth programme will host 286 sessions across 19 different sports in Birmingham and the West Midlands (including Sandwell, Wolverhampton, Coventry, Warwick, Leamington Spa and Cannock Chase).
Check out the full schedule here >>
30 July - 29 August | Unboxed: Our Place in Space begins in Cambridge
Find out more here >>
August
28 July – 9 August | Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games
Explore the full programme here >>
September
2 – 18 September | Unboxed: PoliNations begins in Birmingham
PoliNations is a city-centre forest garden of magical proportions: an epic array of colour and nature. Starting with a single large tree structure in Edinburgh, PoliNations will grow into an immersive forest in the heart of Birmingham filled with real and architectural trees – in an oasis of thousands of plants, grasses and flowers co-planted with the city’s residents.
Taking place across Edinburgh and Birmingham, PoliNations is a collaborative events supported by various organisations including Arts Council England-funded Trigger and Dock Street Events.
October
2 October | Unboxed ends
November
Check back througout 2022 for the latest event updates
December
Check back througout 2022 for the latest event updates
