The West Midlands is celebrating the diversity of its achievements with a special  festival called the‘Footsteps of Giants’.  The idea is to explore the impact made by ‘giants’ in a range of disciplines.

Organised by five leading museums and supported by ICONS,  the West Midlands will highlight achievements in the fields of science, art, technology, culture and sport, and will stage a mixture of cultural and educational events.

Footsteps of Giants Canal Festival

The five local museums (Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust, Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery, The Herbert (Coventry), Stoke-on-Trent Museums and Wolverhampton Arts and Museums) organising the festival, will be reaching out into the community to encourage greater awareness of the regions’  heritage and culture, celebrating famous figures like JRR Tolkein and football hero Stanley Matthews.

With organisations as diverse as Wolverhampton Wanderers and Walsall Leather Museum involved the festival promises to be as educational as it is fun. Activities planned include a science sleep over, bangra dancing, discovery trails, historical renactments and regular performances by Hamfisted! an experimental arts group.
There will also be free entry to the Etruria Museum’s 13th annual Canals festival.

Arts group Hamfisted!

Later in July visitors are invited to participate in the final phase of the festivals’ Guinness World Record attempt to create the longest line of footsteps in the world.

Does this celebration remind you of an icon from the West Midlands? Why not nominate your own or look at the related items.

Lord of the Rings (Nomination)
Wedgwood China (Nomination)
Birmingham’s Canals (Nomination)
Stephenson’s Rocket (Nomination)
Iron Bridge (Nomination)