Random Article Summary #103

The 2012 Cultural Olympiad was a set of cultural events held across the United Kingdom to run alongside the 2012 Summer Olympics and the 2012 Summer Paralympics. It featured 500 events nationwide, taking place over four years and ending with the London 2012 Festival. The programme included a range of activities, from performances and festivals to film and music events. Some of the key projects were Artists Taking the Lead, Discovering Places, Film Nation: Shorts, and New Music 20x12. Other featured programmes included Stories of the World, the World Shakespeare Festival, and the BT River of Music. The Olympic Charter says the LOCOG must plan cultural events during the Olympic Games. These events should run for at least the whole time the Olympic Village is open. The London 2012 Festival was the final part of the Cultural Olympiad, which ran for four years and featured 500 arts events across the UK, costing over £97 million and supported by Arts Council England, Legacy Trust UK and the Olympic Lottery Distributor. It took place from 21 June to 9 September 2012 and included major figures such as Cate Blanchett, Mike Leigh, Damon Albarn, and Toni Morrison. The programme involved many public participation projects, commissioning work from British artists, and ending with the Bandstand Marathon on 9 September 2012, where live music was performed at more than 200 locations at the same time. Artists taking the lead brought together 12 major public art projects, with one project for each of the 12 UK regions. Each project was supported by Arts Council funding of £500,000. The Paralympic Cultural Festival (Unlimited) ran alongside the 2012 Summer Paralympics, bringing together hundreds of deaf and disabled artists and creating 29 new works, including Sue Austin’s underwater wheelchair film and Paul Cummins’ “English Flower Garden.” Ticketed events took place at the Southbank Centre and included the debut performance of the Paraorchestra. Much Wenlock also joined in with a May Day event, and the festival gained wide media attention, alongside the Paralympics’ opening ceremony “Enlightenment” with Stephen Hawking.