The Stage

Olympic organisers warn there’s little cash for culture

Published Tuesday 1 May 2007 at 16:15 by Nuala Calvi

Olympics organisers have admitted there is “very little money” available to pay for the Cultural Olympiad, the four-year festival intended to showcase British artistic talent in the run-up to the 2012 games.

Most of the available cash will go towards mandatory ceremonies such as the torch relay and medal ceremonies, according to the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games, with arts organisations largely expected to find their own sources of funding to stage events.

Fran Hegyi, cultural programme adviser at LOCOG, warned the list of compulsory events was “growing every day”, while the budget for the Cultural Olympiad had remained the same. The latest addition is an evening of entertainment to welcome International Olympic Committee officials when they arrive in London.

Speaking to arts leaders at a Voluntary Arts Network conference, she added: “At this point I think we have to be honest about funding. The vast majority of funding will go towards the ceremonies - it will go towards the opening and closing ceremonies and the torch relay ceremonies and the other ceremonies, so we’ve got to say there is very little funding for the other parts.

“But that doesn’t mean there are no opportunities whatsoever, and one of our jobs is to design a programme that enables everyone that wants to be part of the Cultural Olympiad to identify sources of funding.

“I think we’re going to all be much more successful in making something happen if we can work together to target funders with a coherent programme rather than going off in several different directions.

“I’m sorry to say it’s a stark message, but I think it would be wrong not to say it. It’s a position nobody wants to be in but we have to work with where we are now.”

Some of the budget for the Cultural Olympiad is expected to come from the £40 million Olympic Legacy Trust Fund, set up to support sporting and other initiatives around the UK associated with the games, although details of how the fund will be distributed have not yet been announced.

The latest development will come as a further blow to arts organisations, who warned little more than a week ago that plans to divert an extra £675 million from the Lottery to pay for the spiralling cost of staging the Olympic and Paralympic Games would effect their ability to deliver the Cultural Olympiad.

Mandatory ceremonies are just one of three strands that are expected to make up the four-year festival, alongside bid project and major events - including an Olympic Carnival, a World Culture Festival, an International Music Programme and an International Shakespeare Festival - and a UK Cultural Festival intended to involve arts institutions and community organisations across the country.

Keith Khan, a member of Arts Council England’s national council, was last week appointed head of culture for the 2012 Olympics with responsibility for implementing the Cultural Olympiad. He will report to Bill Morris and Jude Kelly, the director and chair of Culture, Ceremonies and Education.