The Godiva Awakes Trust is delighted to be awarded National Portfolio Organisation status by the Arts Council for 2023-2026. The company, which is better known under its trading name of Imagineer Productions, specialises in large scale outdoor events with embedded community participation programmes and created ‘The Queen’s Favourites’ section for the Platinum Pageant earlier this year. Jane Hytch, CEO, said “This is a significant step forward for Imagineer and will allow us to deliver some spectacular projects over the next three years. We will be looking to focus much of our work on North Warwickshire following the great success of Sanctuary, the Covid memorial, in May.” John McGuigan, Chair of the Board of Directors, said “This is a huge vote of confidence in the company from the Arts Council. With our base securely established at the newly refurbished Daimler Powerhouse, we will be able to bring the benefits of engaging with cultural activity to many more people.”
NOTE TO EDITORS
The Godiva Awakes Trust was set up in 2010 to take on the legacy of the Godiva Awakes project which was part of the Cultural Olympiad in 2012, when 50 cyclists powered a 10m high puppet of Godiva from Coventry to London. Projects since then have included Festival of Imagineers, Bridge, FLOW, Transformations, Imagine Bamboo and Sanctuary.
The Daimler Powerhouse underwent a £2.5m refurbishment as part of the Coventry City of Culture Capital Programme. It is now home to six companies including Imagineer, Talking Birds, Highly Sprung and Media Mania. There are rehearsal and making spaces, studios and the only vertical dance wall in the Midlands.
In the last year over 37,000 people have attended Imagineer events and over 600,000 engaged digitally. The company has worked with over 200 freelance artists and over 2,000 people have participated in workshops and other activities. The company’s Transformations programmes helps disadvantaged young people into careers in the creative industries while TeachMake helps teachers use the arts to deliver the curriculum, particularly in STEM subjects. There have been over 70 residences at the Daimler Powerhouse. The Platinum Pageant was seen by over 13 million people on the BBC alone and achieved nationwide press and media coverage.
Projects planned for 2023-26 include Combustion, Imagine Bamboo, Milesians, TeachMake and Transformations. As well as performance elements, they include a significant amount of community participatory and artist development work as well as work with teachers.
National Portfolio Organisations receive a three year revenue funding commitment from Arts Council England to deliver against their ‘Let’s Create’ strategy. The annual budget is £446m which goes to 990 organisations across the country.
