The Stage

Artists to compete for funding for 2012 Olympic Games arts showcase

Published Thursday 19 March 2009 at 13:15 by Lalayn Baluch

Artists across the UK are being invited to bid for commissions of up to £500,000 to create works celebrating the 2012 Olympic Games.

The £5.4 million competition, entitled Artists Taking the Lead, is the first major project of the Cultural Olympiad and has been hailed by arts chiefs and 2012 organisers as the “most ambitious and wide-ranging art prize in the UK”.

The scheme marks the first collaborative programme between the UK’s four arts councils, who will be looking to commission works from 12 artists or groups - one in each of the nine English regions, and one in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Arts Council England has invested £6 million in the competition, to cover the nine commissions and grants to support practitioners developing their ideas. In addition, £200,000 has come from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, £500,000 from the Scottish Arts Council and £250,000 from the Arts Council of Wales.

Speaking at the launch of Artists Taking the Lead, Moira Sinclair, executive director of ACE, London, said: “We absolutely want this to be a showcase for our artists on the world stage, reinforcing the stature of those artists at home and abroad. We are hoping to achieve a legacy of increased profile, and acceptance of the value of artists within the social and political landscape.

“We hope to see an amazing celebration of imagination and creativity, that inspires individuals and communities to take part, to go and see things that they usually don’t go and see.”

From today until May 29, artists will be able to submit their ideas for the competition at www.artiststakingthelead.com. Shortlisted practitioners will be announced in July, and the final 12 commissions will be revealed in October.

During the launch, Jude Kelly, the artistic director of the Southbank Centre who spearheaded the Olympics arts bid, announced that so far almost £50 million had been invested in the Olympiad - a figure she expects to increase vastly in the run up to the games.

Kelly also revealed the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games was in the process of appointing someone to head up the Olympiad.

Earlier this year, the organisation of the culture offer came under fire from outgoing ACE chairman Christopher Frayling, who claimed that it had “too many front doors” and needed one “ringmaster” to oversee the event.

For more on this story see next week’s edition of The Stage.