Community Celebrations
Community Celebrations is our latest national programme, which will create high-profile spectacular and innovative celebrations in communities across the UK. Legacy Trust UK has committed £4 million to this programme which aims to create a cultural legacy in each of the successful areas.
Earlier this year, Legacy Trust UK opened applications for funding for any organisation that was interested in producing a Community Celebration in their area. Applications closed on 5 March 2010, and the short-listing and selection process took place in July 2010, with the final development stage now underway. The Trust plans to announce the final decision in early 2011.
Many people associate the Olympics with sport alone. However, the Olympic values look to blend sport with culture and education, and a sense of celebration. Successful projects will allow communities to come together to host large scale outdoor celebrations at moments of local significance. This could mean celebrating moments of national importance, media relevance, Olympic inspiration or of sporting or cultural significance.
The intention is for these projects, after premiering in their home areas, will be given the opportunity to make their way, along with their many participants, to the five London Host Boroughs in July 2012 to join with the premiere of the Major Outdoor Arts Commission for 2012 to create a spectacular event which will involve thousands of people from the five Host Borough communities and from around the UK.
The Major Outdoor Arts Commission for 2012 is one of the major projects of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad. This programme is currently under development, but it could encompass a broad range of outdoor practice that spans street theatre, spectacle, circus, music, dance and the many forms of carnival. There are few precedents for projects of this scale and ambition in the UK and this presents a unique opportunity to do something on the streets of the UK like never before.
The successful Community Celebrations will be announced in early 2011, when further information on the selected programmes will be available.
