The Cultural Olympiad in Wales

For a full description of the Cultural Olympiad throughout the UK please refer to the London 2012 web - site. This details the major ceremonies, the national major projects (of which there will be 10 including the Shakespeare Festival and 2012 Sounds) and gives broad details of the events being planned in the nations and regions.

The London 2012 Cultural Olympiad will be launched across the whole of UK on September 26, 27 and 28, 2008. By then plans will be well laid for a programme of events which will grow towards the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. There will be projects and events unique to Wales. During the four years of the Olympiad it is my hope that as many young people as possible in Wales will be able to take part in the celebrations. The main thrust of the Olympics is to leave a legacy for young people and it is therefore no co-incidence that all of the projects which will become part of the Olympiad itself will focus strongly on this group.

What then does the Cultural Olympiad in Wales mean?

Firstly - over the next four years Wales will have four major projects funded by the Legacy Trust UK. Legacy Trust UK supports a wide range of innovative cultural and sporting activities for all, which celebrate the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and which will leave a lasting legacy of them in communities throughout the United Kingdom. The Legacy Trust will apply a distinctive approach that is reflected by its fully-independent status. Its mission is to create a legacy of the London 2012 Games. It will operate a 'no frontiers' mentality: crossing the traditional boundaries between, for example, sport and the arts, to create genuinely joined-up initiatives. The Legacy Trust UK operates throughout the country by fully-representative Advisory Groups. In Wales the Legacy Trust Advisory Board is chaired by Dai Smith who is chair of the Arts Council of Wales - the Council is the Trust's Lead Partner.

Secondly - London 2012 is for the first time in the history of the Olympic Games planning to award an "Inspire" mark which will be an opportunity for non-commercial organisations in culture, as well as sport, education, volunteering and the environment throughout Wales and the rest of the UK to associate new and exciting projects with the Olympic brand.

Thirdly - Wales will make a major contribution to the UK Olympic signature project "Artists taking the Lead".

The Power of the Flame
Legacy Trust UK has agreed to release £1.67 million to allow Wales to develop four unique and wide-ranging projects. They are:

Kindling the Talent

This will be delivered through the youth organisations of Wales including the Urdd and Valley Kids. The project will encourage the development of ambitious individual projects inspired by the 2012 Games and will also encourage exchanges and joint projects. Both Valleys Kids and the Urdd embrace the three guiding principles of the Olympic Games, which are: ambition - excellence - achievement. The Urdd is the largest youth organisation in Europe (notwithstanding the scouts) and its activities embrace the arts, sports and residential camps. Its national eisteddfod travels annually, in turn, to all parts of Wales. Valley Kids is based in the Rhondda but its vision and ambition extend way beyond the walls of the South Wales valleys. It is changing lives as far afield as South Africa. This project as it expands will include many other youth organisations and touch the lives of children and young people in all parts of Wales.

Cauldrons and Furnaces

We are blessed with truly spectacular sites of historical and architectural significance in Wales. This will seek to develop community projects in many of the CADW sites situated around the country - from Harlech, Caernarfon and Fflint in the north to Blaenavon and Dinefwr in the south to Carreg Cennen and St David's in the West. These projects will be led by artists who will work with their communities over four years. The projects will be designed to grow into enormous installations over the course of the Olympiad to be aired finally, and in their totality, just before the 2012 Games in July 2010. Industrial cauldrons and furnaces combine, sometimes unexpected, elements transfiguring them by flame into something new and magical. So we hope with this project, which will also interpret the legends of the communities who live in Wales.

Following the Flame

This will be created by the team responsible for the John Charles and the Paul Robeson exhibitions. It will be an interpretation of the history of the 20th Century and the early 21st Century through the Olympic Games. A major touring exhibition will visit seven major Welsh venues with a community exhibition planned to visit twenty four smaller venues. Following the Flame will include an oral history project and workshops to accompany the touring exhibitions. Who from Wales has competed at the Olympics? Who from Wales were spectators and who raised money to send athletes to compete? All these stories will be told through this exhibition project.

Prometheus

This project takes its name from the Titan, Prometheus, the mortal who stole fire from the first Olympian, Zeus. He was imprisoned for his actions before being released from his chains by Heracles. This project will develop the science and technology that allows disabled people to control their creativity. It will allow young disabled people to interpret and create sounds and colours using the smallest movements of their bodies. It will allow the disabled and non-disabled to perform together and to learn from each other. It will allow people to escape from the physical chains that bind their imaginations.

These four projects are unique to Wales but we will also be able to share in UK-wide preparations for the 2012 Games.

The Inspire Mark is an entirely new scheme, not tried at previous Olympic or Paralympic Games, so we have to start with just a small number of projects or events. We will be selecting carefully to make sure we get a good balance across every nation and region of the UK.

The Cultural Olympiad values are to:

• welcome the world;
• inspire and involve young people; and
• leave a lasting and positive legacy.

If you think that your organisation can embrace these values with a new project, you could be part of the Olympiad. We want our programme to feature a mix of projects in which a whole range of communities are taking part. Large or small, we are looking for inspirational ideas from all sorts of people - surprising, exciting, brand new projects, events or activities inspired by 2012.

If your project is successful, it will be granted the right to use the 'Inspire mark' on various project materials, such as posters, brochures and website. (This will be subject to our standard licence agreement being signed and approval processes being followed.) The Inspire mark is part of the London 2012 brand family. It recognises that a project has been 'inspired by London 2012' and reflects the values of the Olympic and Paralympic Movements.

More information about on all the major projects including "Artists taking the Lead" will be publicised when it is available.

For more information about any of these projects and plans please send me an email:
gwyn.williams@artswales.org.uk

Gwyn L Williams,
Creative Programmer for Wales
London 2012