The Stage

Cultural Olympiad to get a new ‘ringmaster’

Published Wednesday 25 March 2009 at 16:10 by Lalayn Baluch

Olympic officials have confirmed they are in the process of recruiting a new leader for the Cultural Olympiad, but have denied that it has come as a reaction to criticism over the handling of the 2012 arts offer.

Earlier this year, outgoing Arts Council England chair Christopher Frayling hit out at the way the Olympiad was run, claiming it had “too many front doors” and needed one “ringmaster” to oversee the event.

However, according to a spokesperson for the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games, the recruitment process for the new position, titled ‘head of Cultural Olympiad’ and responsible for leading and managing the London 2012 culture team and UK regional programmers - started well before Frayling’s comments were made.

The spokesperson added: “As with all organising committees, resourcing and staffing is constantly looked at. Roles change and evolve, as do the needs of organising committees. We are at a stage whereby we require someone to come in. The process started some months ago and we are progressing well.”

Up until now, a number of industry figures have held prominent roles heading up parts of the London 2012 bid and preparations for the Cultural Olympiad - Southbank Centre artistic director Jude Kelly holds the role of chair of Culture, Ceremonies and Education, while Keith Khan was appointed as LOCOG head of culture in 2007.

However, no one has overall control of the cultural element of the Olympics. The spokesperson said the new appointment would work alongside Kelly and Bill Morris, director of Culture, Ceremonies and Education. He added that Khan had last year elected to stand down as head of culture to take on the “specifically creative role”.

He said: “As artistic executive he [Khan] is specifically leading the creative work on two key aspects of the Cultural Olympiad - in carnival and in Creative Industries - both areas in which he has unique experience and passion.

“Keith has also taken on a small number of LOCOG-wide projects in areas of diversity and youth. Keith is still very much a part of the team and this switch will enable him to make a powerful creative contribution to the programme.”

Meanwhile, last week artists across the UK were invited to bid for commissions of up to £500,000 to create works celebrating the 2012 Olympic Games, through a £5.4 million competition entitled Artists Taking the Lead.