Birmingham 2022 unveils plans for free Neighbourhood Festival Sites

Festival Sites are free to enter events planned for Birmingham City Centre and across the city’s neighbourhoods during the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. If approved they will provide a great opportunity for everyone to be part of the Games, even if they don’t have a ticket to watch the sporting action.

The Festival Sites will be fully accessible and will combine sport, culture, and food and drink, as audiences enjoy some of the key moments of sport on the big screen, alongside a programme of live performances from artists and community groups.

The proposals include each neighbourhood site being open for two days during the Games, and Birmingham 2022 is submitting licence applications for Festival Sites in the following locations:

• Castle Vale Festival Site, located in Farnborough Fields, Castle Vale
• Relaxed Festival Site, located at Sense Touchbase Pears, Selly Oak
• Sparkhill Festival Site, located in Sparkhill Park, Sparkhill
• Edgbaston Festival Site, located at Edgbaston Reservoir, Edgbaston
• Oaklands Festival Site, located in Oaklands Recreation Ground, Yardley
• Handsworth Festival Site, located in Handsworth Park, Handsworth
• Ward End Festival Site, located in Ward End Park, Ward End

In line with Birmingham 2022’s ‘Games for Everyone’ inclusive approach, a fully Relaxed Festival Site for people with complex disabilities is proposed at the Sense Touchbase Pears in Selly Oak.

The purpose-built facility, managed by the charity Sense, is hoping that, alongside the screening of sport, there will be specially adapted programming, including quiet spaces and activities for those that don’t want to or aren’t able to be in louder, more intense spaces.

Martin Green, Chief Creative Officer for Birmingham 2022, said: “It is really important to us that residents from across the city have the opportunity to celebrate and embrace the Games, even if they don’t have tickets for one of our competition venues. These Festival Sites would make that sure that this is possible.”

There are also plans for large scale city centre Festival Sites and further information will be released about these later in the year. A full programme for Festival Sites is also due to be announced in the spring.

For more information about the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, including ticket availability, details of the Birmingham 2022 Festival, which will start on 17 March, and advice for residents and local business on how to plan for the Games, go to birmingham2022.com.