The Cov Lab
Our collaborative 4-year programme of work with Coventry-based organisations
Uncover/Discover
Coventry City of Culture 2021
March ’21 – April ’22
Open Theatre presents Uncover/Discover…
An ambitious programme of creative work for young people with learning disabilities, revealing the creativity rippling through Coventry.
Inspired by the rivers and waterways of Coventry, Uncover/Discover will run three streams of artistic work with groups of young people with learning disabilities, which will be showcased in April 2022, further details of which will follow.
It began with Rivers of the World & The Story of Water, a co-production between Coventry City of Culture Trust and the Thames Festival Trust, supported in its initial stages by Open Theatre to help form relationships and support artists to work with young people in Coventry special schools.
The first stream of Uncover/Discover has started flowing –Water, Water Everywhere is a programme of weekly workshops in special schools across Coventry, focusing on the theme of ‘water’ using Open Theatre’s non-verbal physical theatre practice.
The workshops will finish with in-school celebratory events, and the process will be documented and shared with a wider audience.
The other two streams of work are Frogs and Suchlike and River City Detectives.
Frogs and Suchlike is a programme of arts weeks, running once a term from Summer term 2021 – Spring term 2022. Artists will work with special schools in Coventry across a full week of creative activities in a range of artforms, exploring the theme of ‘What Lives in Water’.
River City Detectives takes young people out of schools to explore local rivers, canals, and other watery areas! The project will creatively respond to and make films about our adventures there. Local young filmmakers with learning disabilities will be integral to the film-making process.
Uncover/Discover: Frogs and Suchlike
The first of our Frogs and Suchlike Art Weeks across 4 of Coventry’s special schools have happened!
A team of 9 Coventry artists worked with over 200 young people across 3 weeks to try out different artforms. Young people have been getting stuck in and producing wonderful pieces of artwork too!
We’ve had sessions in music, drama, dance, animation, clay, paint and storytelling, all looking at the theme of ‘What Lives in Water?’
Watch our films from our ‘Frogs and Suchlike’ Arts Weeks in October and May 2021!
Featured in the films are Baginton Fields, Sherbourne Fields, Hereward College, Riverbank School, Woodfield Primary, and Castle Wood School.
Thank you to all the wonderful young people and staff involved!
Thanks to our funders for making Uncover/Discover a reality:
If you would like to find out more about us or the programmes we run, get in touch, or better still…