St Mary’s Guildhall Community Engagement

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St Mary’s Guildhall has been an important community space for over 700 years and continues to be so today.

In 2020, The National Lottery Heritage Fund generously awarded Coventry City Council a grant in support of the transformation of St Mary’s Guildhall, which has enabled much needed enhancements to the historic site including greater accessibility, the conservation and redisplay of the magnificent tapestry, and the development of state-of-the-art interpretation facilities. A further key objective of this funding was to increase opportunities for local communities to experience St Mary’s Guildhall, and to benefit from greater contact with heritage.

We are also happy to work with you to see if we can deliver an individualised programme for your group or tour.

For more information or to discuss the application process please contact smgh@noordinaryhospitality.com.

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Stories that Made Us : Protest and Identity

‘Protest & Identity’ is inspired by the archive ‘Stories That Made Us’, which includes thousands of artefacts documenting the South Asian experience in Coventry and beyond managed by artist, activist and curator Hardish Virk in partnership with Coventry Artspace.

This exhibition and associated programming addresses these themes whilst exploring different types of protest – identity can also be a form of protest. What you wear, music you listen to, relationships that are developed, groups you belong to and movements you follow can become a part of ones’ identity which can also act as a protest – challenging the status quo, societal rules and stereotypes – carving out an identity based on the individuals heritage, experience and relationships. Photos, leaflets, artworks, books, magazines, objects, artefacts alongside sound and video in the exhibition are designed to ignite a conversation about the role of protest and identity in history as well as today.

‘Stories That Made Us: Protest & Identity’ is part of St Mary’s Guildhall community engagement programme, which is funded by the Heritage Fund thanks to National Lottery players.

Book your tickets now for the “Pyaare Saathiyon: Cultural & Creative Revolutions” workshop taking place on Saturday 31st August at 2pm, as delivered by the Indian Workers Asscoiation as part of the Protest and Identity programming.

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Listen to the story of

Frederick Douglass

St Mary’s Guildhall Community Grant Project, funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, was designed to hand over the reins of the programme to the community, and fund projects that were designed for and by the communities in Coventry. Digital Douglass is one of those projects.

The project reached out to young people of African origin, and invited them to research, write and perform a script for an audio track telling the story of Frederick Douglass. Douglass was a formerly enslaved person who used his hard-won freedom to campaign for the abolition of slavery. He was a talented orator and used his skills to tour Britain and Ireland to raise funds and support for the abolition movement. This is the product of their work.

Credited participants: Lead Producer: Taylor Renee Cottrel. Denzel-Reagan Kira, Jude Avery, Deborah Paul-Enahoro, Hiten Vara, Takudzwa Mudiwa. This project, designed and run by House of Emanuel I&1 C.I.C.