Cultural Olympiad / News / Sun 14 Sep 2008
The Cultural Olympiad - the story so far (UK wide)
Background Briefing Paper
London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games
The Cultural Olympiad
This paper offers background briefing material regarding the development of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad, including the new process to open up the programme to community and UK-wide participation which starts on March 11th 2008. By way of context it also summarises other key landmarks for the rest of the year including the Handover Ceremonies for this summer’s Beijing Games.
Contents
1. Cultural Olympiad
2. Background
3. Core Values
4. Themes
5. Structure
6. Timeline
7. Who’s Who
8. Creative Programmers
9. Funding
10. How to Participate
11. Frequently Asked Questions
1. Cultural Olympiad
The Olympic Games and Paralympic Games are about more than sport.
Host cities must also stage the Cultural Olympiad - a series of events to showcase the city's arts and culture to the rest of the world. For the first time ever, London has won the right for culture to play a central role in the 2012 Games.
The Cultural Olympiad will be launched on the weekend 26 – 28 September 2008. It will be a four-year celebration on a scale never before seen in Olympic and Paralympic history, designed to enable the widest range of people across the UK to take part.
London 2012 is opening up its culture programme as never before by inviting not-for-profit organisations throughout London and the UK to submit ideas and projects for the Cultural Olympiad.
Selected projects will be able to use a new official badge, the London 2012 Inspire mark which is a first for any Olympic Games and Paralympic Games. Details will be released on 11 March about how cultural organisations can apply to take part.
A team of Creative Programmers with people in every region of England and in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland has been appointed to manage the process.
The London 2012 Inspire mark will form a key part of the Games lasting legacy and will be awarded to innovative, non-commercial projects and events inspired by the Games across sport, culture, education, environment and volunteering . Each cultural organisation’s project will be evaluated and assessed, and can take place anytime between 25 August 2008 and 9 September 2012. Each project will be evaluated against three core values established last year for the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad (see section 3).
LOCOG and “Arts & Business” will be working together over the coming months to explain the opportunities offered by the new Inspire mark, as well as the guidelines for its use. A series of seminars and special meetings will be mounted in various parts of the UK.
The process of building up the programme will begin this year, with at least some events planned for this autumn, and then developing in pace and scale as 2012 becomes closer. Once established London 2012’s ambition is for the scheme to expand significantly over the four years towards 2012.
Culture will be at the heart of the London 2012 Games and the Cultural Olympiad will provide an opportunity to try something new, to encourage community involvement, to think differently about the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, and to showcase Britain’s creativity to the rest of the world.
2. Background
“The Olympics is the wedding of sport and art.”
Pierre de Coubertin (1863-1937)
At the heart of the Olympic Movement is the desire for world peace and unity between sports, culture and education. Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic Movement mirrored the classical Greeks in maintaining that the purpose of the Olympic Games was to celebrate mind, body and spirit.
A celebration known as the Cultural Olympiad was established to include all cultural events of the Olympic Movement. This Olympiad is a period when artists from around the world showcase their work in the lead up to the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Until 1948 medals were awarded for sculpture, music, literature and art. The role of the arts in the Olympic movement has increasing importance as young people seek to achieve excellence and explore their role in the world through all creative fields.
3. Core Values
The London 2012 Cultural Olympiad is for everyone. It will:
Celebrate London and the whole of the UK welcoming the world – our unique internationalism, cultural diversity, sharing and understanding
Inspire and involve young people
Generate a positive legacy – for example through cultural and sports participation, audience development, cultural skills, capacity building, urban regeneration, tourism and social cohesion and international links.
4. Themes
The Cultural Olympiad will focus on the following themes:
Bringing together culture and sport
Encouraging audiences to take part
Animating public spaces – through street theatre, public art, circus skills, live big screen sites
Using culture and sport to raise issues of environmental sustainability, health and wellbeing
Honouring and sharing the values of the Olympic and Paralympic Games
· Encouraging collaborations and innovation between communities and cultural sectors
· Enhancing the learning, skills and personal development of young people by linking with education
programmes
These themes emerged from discussions with the arts and cultural sector. It is expected that every project in the Cultural Olympiad will have to fully display the first three core values and adopt at least three of the themes. Focus in these areas provides a strong identity and coherent purpose for the 2012 culture programme.
5. Structure
The Cultural Olympiad is a four year celebration of culture and creativity across the UK. It includes:
Ceremonies
Delivered by the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG), these live spectacles are watched on television by one in three people around the world.
The Handover Ceremonies in summer 2008, mark the moment when the world’s focus moves to London as Host City.
The ceremonies and events for the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games will include:
• Handover Ceremonies at Beijing 2008
Torch Relays
Team Welcome Ceremonies
Medal Ceremonies
Closing Ceremonies in 2012
Handover Ceremonies Beijing 2008
The first major events for London 2012 are the Closing Ceremonies of the
Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games. During each of these, in a formal handover, the Olympic Flag is passed from the Mayor of Beijing to the Mayor of London. The Handover Ceremonies officially mark the start of the London 2012 Olympiad and are the first opportunity to invite the world to London for the 2012 Games.
The Beijing Olympic Games Closing Ceremony, which contains a section when London 2012 welcomes the world to the next Games, takes place on Sunday 24 August 2008. On that day, we hope that there will be major events in London and in many towns, cities and communities inspired by the Olympics coming to the UK.
The Beijing Paralympic Games Closing Ceremony takes place on Wednesday 17 September 2008 and will also contain a London 2012 segment. In the UK the Paralympic Handover will be marked in many schools and will also offer a launch pad for the main London 2012 Education Programme.
National Projects
A number of major cultural projects featured in the London 2012 bid. The following major projects and features will form the centrepiece of the Cultural Olympiad. All the project names given below are working titles:
Artists Taking the Lead – 12 cutting edge artists’ commissions across the UK
Stories of the World – a national network of exhibitions telling new stories in new ways
Sounds – a four-project (not sure of the sense of this) approach to celebrating music as a universal language
Somewhereto– a youth-led campaign for people to reclaim spaces for sport and creativity
Discovering Places – opening up the historic and built environment to new audiences
Film Nation – a programme designed to get young people behind the camera and explore their world and dreams
World Shakespeare Festival – a performing arts festival celebrating different aspects of (?) Shakespeare as a writer for the world
Festival of Carnivals – five linked and themed street Carnivals in the Olympic period
Unlimited – a sequence of local and national festivals and events devoted to work by disabled people in all art forms and all sports
World Cultural Festival – an international arts festivals as the culmination of the Cultural Olympiad in 2012
Some of the national projects will launch in the autumn of this year with others joining the programme over the next four years. LOCOG is working in partnership with many of the major cultural bodies in London and the rest of the UK to deliver the Signature projects.
Regional and other projects
The 2012 Games and the celebrations leading up to them will not just take place in the many communities of London, or the major national institutions. Supporting the Signature projects will be a raft of smaller or regional projects around the UK recognised within the Cultural Olympiad through the use of the London 2012 Inspire mark.
There is a commitment to spreading the benefits as far as possible across the UK over the four years from summer 2008 - the Cultural Olympiad will encompass myriad local and regional events as part of a nationwide celebration. It is the process for opening up this wider regional access to the Cultural Olympiad which is beginning on March 11th.
Live Sites
A further strand of activity is the development of a network of “Live Sites” in many major towns and cities around the UK – large outdoor video screens with linked performance spaces. Whilst providing a platform for a wide range of cultural events and performances, the Live Sites will also relay great sporting moments, support 2012 Education projects and offer a local focus for information and opportunities related to the 2012 games. Implementation of the first phase of the project has just begun with the ambition to have the first Live Sites up and running in time for the Beijing Games.
6. Timeline
Date
Activity
Tuesday 11 March 2008
Creative Programmers start to receive Proposals for the Cultural Olympiad
Sunday 24 August 2008
Handover Ceremony at the Closing of the Bejing Olympic Games
Wednesday 17 September 2008
Handover Ceremony at the Closing of the Bejing Paralympic Games
Friday 26 – Sunday 28 September 2008
Cultural Olympiad Launch Weekend
London will also welcome the Olympic Flame as part of Beijing’s Torch relay on Sunday 6 April 2008. This will include a number of boroughs, taking in diverse communities and historic and modern locations, creating the opportunity for a unique London celebration. There will be many opportunities for Londoners and visitors to view the Relay and participate in the occasion at different events along the route.
7. Who’s Who
LOCOG, the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, looks after the planning, preparation and staging of the 2012 Games. Headed by Sebastian Coe (Chair) and Paul Deighton (Chief Executive), LOCOG oversees the staging of the Games, recruitment and training of volunteers, staging of test events and the running of the Cultural Olympiad and Education programmes in the build-up to the Games.
The Culture Team will implement the overall vision, values and architecture of the Cultural Olympiad, starting after Beijing 2008.
The Ceremonies Team will oversee the design and creation of all the formal games ceremonies (Olympic & Paralympic Opening and Closing Ceremonies, the Torch Relay, Medal Ceremonies, Team Welcome Ceremonies).
The Education Team is responsible for inspiring young people across the UK and internationally through learning. Bringing together sport, culture, education and the environment, education will deliver a programme for all young people both inside and outside formal education
The key people:
Jude Kelly – Chair of Culture, Ceremonies and Education
Bill Morris – Director of Culture, Ceremonies and Education
Keith Khan – Head of Culture
Mike Gibbons - Head of Live Sites and UK Coordination
Martin Green – Head of Ceremonies
Nick Fuller – Head of Education
Fran Hegyi – Cultural Programme Adviser
Steve Mannix – Cultural Programme Adviser
Francesca Canty – Cultural Programme Adviser
Sarah Weir - Cultural Olympiad Launch Executive
Rebecca Miller – Media Adviser,Culture
The London Team
A small team has been established by the Greater London Authority to ensure that the 2012 culture programme engages the greatest breadth possible of London's rich cultural and creative sector and its diverse communities.
The DCMS Team
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport team also works closely with LOCOG on the Cultural Olympiad.
8. Creative Programmers
The Creative Programmers are the regional representatives of the London 2012 Culture team and will lead on bringing the Cultural Olympiad to life in each region and nation.
Creative Programmers are the first point of contact for people outside London, giving information and advice on how to join in with the Cultural Olympiad. They will work alongside cultural agencies, producers and individuals and brokering partnerships.
The Creative Programmer for the South West is Richard Crowe.
Richard.crowe@culturesouthwest.org.uk
9. Funding
LOCOG’s own funding will be needed, in large measure, to deliver the Games Ceremonies (Opening and Closing Ceremonies, Torch Relay etc). It was always designed that the Signature projects would be delivered in partnership with the existing cultural funding bodies and with approaches to the London 2012 commercial partners. So far, The Legacy Trust has earmarked over £30 million towards London 2012 cultural projects, Youth Music, Arts Council England and the BBC are also significant investors, and many other major arts bodies and local authorities are prioritising London 2012 for their future projects. Already, six months before the programme starts, between £60 and £70 million has been earmarked for Cultural Olympiad projects – significantly more than previous games. A number of London 2012 Commercial Partners have also expressed interest in supporting the cultural programme.
The final budget will depend on the programme which is still being finalised and because of the open structure will continue to evolve over the next four years.
10. How to Participate
Anyone with an idea or a project, which they believe fits the values of the Cultural Olympiad, should first approach the Creative Programmer in their region. National or UK wide projects should go directly to the LOCOG Culture team.
The London 2012 Culture team, a London team based with the Mayor of London’s office, and the network of Creative Programmers across the UK will be able to advise on whether a project is likely to fit with the values, the supporting themes and creative vision of the Cultural Olympiad. Starting modestly, the aim is that the number of projects joining the programme could grow significantly towards 2012.
Full information on how to apply is on the London 2012 website: www.london2012.com/beinspired
11. Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is the budget for the Cultural Olympiad?
LOCOG is not the budget holder for the Cultural Olympiad and has never claimed to be. We have always been very clear that the structure of the Culture Programme was designed so that LOCOG would be the catalyst rather than the funding source for the Cultural Olympiad and LOCOG would open up opportunities for the cultural sector to exploit – and to do so in a far more open way than perhaps has been possible in previous Games.
2. Where is the money coming from?
£60-£70 million has already been earmarked for the Cultural Olympiad which is more than for any previously. There is start up funding from LOCOG and a number of partners including the Legacy Trust, Youth Music, Arts Council, MLA, Film Council and BBC are investing significantly in projects for the Cultural Olympiad. In addition, the GLA is also investing in cultural projects.
3. What is the ‘Inspire’ mark?
The London 2012 Inspire mark, which sits within our brand family, is a badge of recognition which will be awarded to innovative non-commercial projects and events inspired by the Games across sport, culture, education, environment, volunteering and business opportunities. These projects and events will form a key part of the Games’ lasting legacy, touching the lives of the whole nation.
4. Can organisations apply for the Inspire mark without funding in place?
Projects must be fully or largely funded already and must be due to start no sooner than 3 months after and no later than 12 months before the application. London 2012 cannot recognise an organisation to aid them with their fundraising. Being part of the Cultural Olympiad and using the Inspire mark cannot be exploited for commercial fundraising purposes.
5. Can not-for-profit organisations with commercial sponsors apply for the Inspire mark?
The programme is aimed at not for profit projects without commercial funding. However, in exceptional circumstances where commercial funders are receiving no or minimal recognition for their contribution to the proposal, London 2012 may be able to consider this on a case-by-case basis. There needs to be a clear degree of separation between any sponsor’s branding and any reference to the 2012 games, so that any commercial branding is neither dominant nor extensive.
Any proposals should be discussed with your local Creative Programmer.
6. Can commercial companies apply even if it is for a not-for-profit event?
London 2012 will only accept applications from not-for-profit organisations.
7. What are the criteria you will apply?
Editorially the criteria are based on the published values and themes for the Cultural Olympiad. The project has to be not-for-profit and you also have to comply with the rules for using the new Inspire Mark. This said it is not just about an administrative process – the Creative Programmers have to curate a cultural programme and that sometimes means balancing themes, art forms and projects from different communities. This is an entirely new scheme, not tried at previous Olympic or Paralympic Games, so it has to start modestly with just a small number of projects or events.
8. When is London 2012 going to announce the main programme?
The opening programme will begin in September 2008 and more details will be announced in due course. It should be remembered that this is a four year programme and therefore there will be a number of announcements about the programme over the coming years.
9. You refer to science as being one aspect of the Cultural Olympiad. How is this being supported in your plans?
A number of major science bodies, including The Science Museum, have expressed interest in developing contributions to the programme and London 2012 would welcome such proposals. There are clearly many ways in which science and technology can contribute to the coming together of sport and art.
10. We’ve heard a lot about the Olympics, but is there a culture programme for the Paralympics?
The London 2012 Culture Programme is integrated and every participant is invited to celebrate Paralympic as well as Olympic values. There are one to two projects which will specifically focus on disability arts and their relationship to Paralympic athletes but overall we see just one Culture Programme.