The 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 were released on 11 March 2008 about how cultural organisations can apply to take part. Further information can be found at www.london2012.com/beinspired

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 Core values, below).

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.

Background

“The Olympic Games 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.

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.

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.

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.

Contact details for the Creative Programmers are available at www.london2012.com/beinspired

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 who 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.

LOCOG cannot fund projects which want to apply to be part of the Cultural Olympiad. If you are looking for funding for your project, you might find the following documents useful:

Full information on how to apply to be part of the Cultural Olympiad is on the London 2012 website: www.london2012.com/beinspired

After a modest start, the aim is that the number of projects joining the programme could grow significantly towards 2012.