Sky
About Us

Culture

Inspired by the founder of the modern Olympic movement, Pierre de Coubertin’s idea of a marriage of sport and the arts, the Cultural Olympiad is designed to celebrate Olympic and Paralympic values in the cultural field. The London 2012 Cultural Olympiad is a four year celebration designed to encourage the widest range of people across the whole of the UK to get involved in the London 2012. This strong cultural offer helped to secure London as the winning host city. The London 2012 Cultural Olympiad has 3 core values:

  • 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.

The Cultural Olympiad will be delivered through:

The ceremonies delivered by LOCOG (London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games), are watched on television by one in three people around the world.  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
  • Opening and Closing Ceremonies in 2012
  • The Olympic Cauldron 

10 major projects are at the heart of the Cultural Olympiad. To date three projects have been launched:

  • Stories of the World
  • Artists Taking the Lead
  • Unlimited

In the South East of England we will:

  • Strive to deliver an exciting and inspiring programme of excellent cultural activity across the four year celebration of the Cultural Olympiad which capacity builds and profiles the cultural sector in its entirety. 
  • Develop the aspiration and skills of our cultural providers leading to more innovative excellent work beyond 2012. 
  • Develop a more challenging and knowledgeable market place.
  • Celebrate and profile the South East, enhancing sense of place for those who live and work here as well as attracting more visitors and business investment to the region. 
  • Encourage wide scale participation in milestone celebratory events (such as Open Weekends) and, working with SEESEL, in the 2012 Education programme.
  • In particular we will concentrate on outdoor arts and events and Deaf and disabled cultural activity.
  • There will also be excellent large-scale regional projects, such as Creative Campus

Cultural Olympiad highly welcomes participation in all programmes.