The Frederick Douglass Project is a VR/AR re-enactment of a speech given by one of the most famous slavery abolitionist campaigners, who had himself been enslaved and became a world renowned orator, In 1847 Frederick Douglass, gave a lecture about the evils of slavery, from St Mary’s Guildhall, Coventry. He was welcomed by ordinary people in Coventry, the symbolism of this historically welcoming and diverse city will be clear and celebrated. GOLH will create a VR interactive experience inviting local descendants of the original Coventrians as well as people more recently arrived in Coventry as members of the filmed audience to a real live actor’s rendition of Frederick Douglass’s passionate speech and explanation of his life and aims for freedom for enslaved people. This re-enactment brings this important piece of local history to life for the people of the West Midlands, Coventry and its visitors.

The Black Sound exhibition will herald an advertising campaign to a celebratory weekend long event, that will open with a panel led by journalist and Music Professor Lloyd Bradley with the participants bringing their favourite object with a music legacy theme for submission into the digital archive.

The participants will include well known figures such as Jazzie B or Courtney Pine, alongside local Coventry music luminaries.

They present their chosen artefact to the audience and then discuss its significance with Lloyd and the rest of the panel.

This opens the way to a fabulous Exhibition of music artefacts that music professionals Scott Leonard and Lloyd Bradley have amassed over the years.

The digital mapping experience focuses on developing ambitious interactive experiences that build on the work we have undertaken using statues as a framework for exploring history and bringing together communities. ​

GoLH has worked with students from Coventry University to develop a database of statues across the Midlands. The next step is to develop a physical space where participants move across a map of the UK and use augmented reality experiences to bring the histories and stories from each statue to life.

We imagine a space that participants walk into to view a map on the floor with a code upon it to indicate where statues are across the UK. Walking across this floor, and using AR, participants will be able to view and walk around the statues located across the map.