Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games

Handsworth Festival Site

Opening Hours
Friday 5 Aug 12PM-8PM
Saturday 6 Aug 11AM-7PM

Handsworth Park, Holly Rd, Handsworth, B20 2BY

On August 5 and 6, the theme for the beautiful award winning Handsworth Park will be ‘Balance’. Come and immerse yourself in our park’s unique, festival offering featuring creative sessions and wellbeing workshops. From live street art to captivating and inclusive workshops, the Handsworth festival site will offer high-energy and chilled vibes to visitors who can’t wait to engage with the Games at their local festival.

Plus joining us will be special guest star Luciano Messenjah! After reigning for over three decades as ‘King Of Conscious Reggae Music’, Luciano is still as current and as popular as ever on the music scene. August 6th 2022 marks Jamaica’s 60th Anniversary and as part of our celebrations, the iconic Reggae Royalty has been invited to bless the proceedings on the day. With all-time favourites such as ‘Lord Give Me Strength’, ‘Sweep Over My Soul’ and ‘It’s Me Again Jah’, we know the vibes will be high in Handsworth this Saturday.

Location and Travel Information

Bus Routes: 74, 101, 16, 11A/C

Nearest metro service: Winson Green Metro stop then

101 bus towards Leveretts

Friday 5 August

Main Stage Programme:

TIME	MAIN STAGE	INFO
12.30	Birmingham Commonwealth Orchestra	A culturally diverse collaboration and representation of music genres, instrumentation, and traditions from the various countries of the Commonwealth.
14.00	Aspire Bollywood	Aspire Bollywood Dance combines the latest Bollywood moves to energetic Bollywood songs for an energetic performance .
14.45	Muha	4 piece Ukrainian band producing contemporary Eastern European Music
16.15	Aayushi	Aayushi writes strikingly tender songs, pairing introspective poetry with intimate vocals to create a soulful blend of acoustic folk.
17.00	Mind, Music and Movement	Performance including Indian Classical, Western folk, Garba folk dance and Tai-Chi bringing together varied art forms promoting mental and physical well being for all
18.15-19.00	DJ Parm Panesar	A mixture of South Asian and contemporary, RnB and pop music

Workshops and Activities:

Throughout the day there will be fee wellbeing, arts, story, environmental, sensory and play workshops for visitors to enjoy.

Activities throughout the day:

Throughout the day there will be dance performances by Ascension Dance, The O’Driscoll Collective and performances from Birmingham rep. Black History Walks will be taking the visitors on a journey of the history of Handsworth with a fee walk around the beautiful park.

TIME	BY PLAY AREA/ ON THE GREEN WORKSHOPS	INFO
13.30 & 16.45	O’Driscoll Collective & Emily Labhart	ONE% is a 14 minute dance performance featuring the dynamic rawness of Breakin’. Performed by West Midlands based artists Jamaal O’Driscoll and Marius Mates.
12.30 & 14.00	Black Heritage Walks	Black Heritage Walks will take visitors on a cultural history of the events, people and heritage of the area as they walk through Handsworth Park
15.15, 17.45	Ascension Dance: Playground	Outdoor performance that takes movement from contemporary dance and parkour in an exciting 20-minute performance suitable for all ages.
15.45, 18.30	Ascension Dance: Parkour Workshop	Dance workshops for children and young people (7-14) aimed to get people moving, shaking & creating their own dances
16:30- 17:30, 17.30-18:30, 18:30- 19:30	Birmingham REP Storytelling	An interactive story interactive storytelling and relaxed performances aimed at children aged 3-5 and their families to encourage play and drama within a home setting using songs, stories and simple props.

Saturday 6 August

Main Stage Programme:

TIME	MAIN STAGE	INFO
11.15-11.45	Mighty Jamma	Steelpan player bringing the vibe and sounds of the Caribbean
12.00-12.15	Interview with Professor Black	The master of carnival costumes sharing his history of carnival in Handsworth
12.30-13.00	Celebrating Sanctuary: Nifeco Costa	Nifeco Costa, Singer and guitarist from Guinea Bissau, West Africa, brings beautiful melodies, a sweet voice and an infectious Latin groove!
13.15-13.45	African Acrobatics Circus-Bobo-Rawlings, Armah Adams	African Acrobatics Circus’ blend of acrobatics, street dance, circus skills & more is great fun to watch & even better to take part in!
14.00-14.30	Celebrating Sanctuary: Didier Kisala	CSB presents local favourite, Didier Kisala from Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for an soulful performance of Congolese music.
14.45-15.15	Mighty Jamma	Steelpan player with the vibe and sounds of the Caribbean
15.30	DJ Rena Sparks	A vibrant female DJ bringing a mix of RnB, Soul and reggae music
18.15	Luciano	World-renowned “King Of Conscious Reggae Music” Luciano brings the uplifting vibes of Jamaica to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Jamaican independence.

Workshops and Activities:

Play Area Activities:

Activities by the play area will be contemporary dance performances and workshops by Ascension Dance and on the green there will be an opportunity for visitors to meet Perry at 2pm!

TIME	WORKSHOP
All Day	Hatty Sutton: Flag Making workshops
All Day	How Were You? Friction Arts workshop
12.15-13.45	Black Heritage Street Art workshops with Canaan Brown
12.15-15.15	Handsworth Association of Schools: Seeds of Travel
12.30-13.00 16:30-17:00	Tai Chi Workshop with Josie
15.00-16.30	Black Heritage Street Art workshops with Canaan Brown
15.15-16.00	Mind, Music and Movement workshops
18.00-18.30	Aspire Bollywood Dance Fitness Workshop

TIME	WORKSHOPS
All day	Glue Collective Sensory, play and participatory workshops
All day	Nilupa Yasmin’s “On Our Way” collage workshop
All day	Back Home: Vanley Burke Photographic exhibition
11.00-13.30	DOR Romanian Diaspora: Faces of Birmingham Exhibition and Body Movement Workshop
14.45-16.45	Mixed Rage Workshop with Sevonah Golabi
17.00-19.00	Queen of Nothing’s Love Letters to Handsworth Workshop

TIME	WORKSHOPS	INFO
11.15-12.00	Kash Gill workshops	Martial arts fitness demo and session for you to join in
12.15-12.35 and 16.30- 16.50	Ascension Dance: Playground 1 & 2	Outdoor performance that takes movement from contemporary dance and parkour.
12.45-13.15, 15.15, 15.45	Ascension Dance: Parkour Workshop	Dance workshops for children and young people (7-14) aimed to get people moving, shaking & creating their own dances