Birmingham Festival 23 has shared the full evaluation results that demonstrate the positive impact the 10-day free event had on the city.

The Festival was created to mark the one year anniversary of the Commonwealth Games and was a celebration of the wealth of talent and creativity that the city continues to platform, develop and nurture.

Taking place between 28 July - 6 August, the packed programme included 153 individual projects and performances, created by over 800 artists, creatives and performers. 185 organisations took part and over 40 events were created from scratch or performed to audiences for the first time.

Over 123,000 people came through the festival site on Centenary Square over the course of 10 days - despite the weather - 46.5 thousand of which were engaged audiences who stayed for an average of 3 hours, demonstrating a high level of participation. And audiences came back for more, with the average spending 2.2 days enjoying the free entertainment and activities, 36% of whom said they had never attended an outdoor festival before and 52% of whom came from areas of high deprivation. 96% of audiences felt that public spaces like Centenary Square should be used more frequently for cultural events.

A huge majority of audience members surveyed described the festival as different to anything they’d experienced before, saying it had helped them feel more connected to the community and a shared culture, and boosted their sense of pride.

The packed Festival programme catered for all ages and interests, with each day beginning with welcoming participatory activities, including a regular morning slot hosted by Games Mascot Perry, who took on the additional role of supporting community and family engagement in Perry’s Party Picnic. Back-to-back live and on-screen events and activities throughout each day included projects commissioned through the Made In Brum open call, proving the rich talent of the city’s amateur performers and community groups; and each evening a performance strand of Twilight Takeovers gave collectives and artists the opportunity to stage new, multi-artform, ideas to bring each day to a fabulous close.

The daily Power Hour, a range of fun easy-to-follow workouts, proved to be extremely popular (and sweaty!) with audiences grooving and moving to Bhangra, Drum n Bass, Afro-beats and Grime; this and daily sports activations including Wrestling, Boxing and Lawn Bowls kept well-being high on the festival agenda. On the main stage music, dance and performances filled each day with a dazzling array of talent that reflected the many cultures and interests of the city. All staged events were BLS interpreted and live audio description was available across the festival site, taking forward Access and Sustainability learnings and practices from 2022.

For more information, visit: birminghamfestival23.co.uk