On Monday we began a Coventry City of Culture series which considers how the work we do in the city and wider county connects to the six energies chosen to represent Coventry’s personality over the next 12 months.
The energy of Sustainability turned our thoughts immediately to an online summit we hosted recently for local businesses and retailers from across Coventry and Warwickshire.
With Covid restrictions relaxing and high streets reopening, we saw an urgent need to reconnect people with places and in so doing, forge a different future. One founded on connection and belonging in our city and town centres and local high streets.
April’s summit brought business owners, franchisees and sector reps together to build this movement. Drawing together conversations, ideas and pledges for action into one place where they could take root and grow.
Our social diet is nourished by a variety of daily interactions with family, friends, acquaintances and strangers. We need them all to feel whole and move on to new ways of being alongside one another.
So if Coventry’s energy of sustainability is about connecting with our origins and living well with the land we come from, could we extend that energy to supporting local businesses and in turn, support our own recovery?
Click here to read our summit report and get in touch to take part.
The summit and movement building are part of our Sparking Community Action strand of work at Grapevine in Coventry and beyond.