East Midlands: Igniting Ambition

Igniting Ambition is a five year cultural programme of summer festivals and events in the East Midlands, building up to the staging of the London 2012 Games. The programme aims to leave a lasting legacy for people across the region.

The £3.6 million programme’s mission is:

“to ignite ambition in the region and to celebrate the hosting of the Olympics and the Paralympic Games, by building capacity through a series of partnerships delivering a different showcase each year, culminating during 2012 in a unique, region-wide festival of cultural events.”

Beijing Handover events and Derby Feste
Celebratory events were held on 24 August 2008 to mark the handover of the Olympic flag to London 2012. Musical acts performed throughout the day in Derby, culminating in a performance by Gabriella Cilmi. Events in Leicester included urban sports zones, physical activities and healthy lifestyle initiatives.

Derby Festé ran over the weekend of the Cultural Olympiad Launch Weekend and included a range of performances, street entertainment and concerts.

UK Special Olympics Cultural Programme 24 July-2 August 2009
The Special Olympics GB National Summer Games was held in Leicester from 25-31 July 2009. Over 2700 athletes, 1200 coaches and 1500 volunteers took part, representing 19 Special Olympics regions across the UK. 

An exciting week-long cultural showcase, the Igniting Ambition Festival accompanied the staging of the Special Olympics. This reflected the theme of diversity and included a spectacular opening ceremony produced by Mahogany Arts, a new integrated dance commission One Night Only by Foot in Hand, and performances and participatory events taking place at venues and public spaces across the city.

Special Olympics Ceremony, 2009

Igniting Ambition Festival 2010, Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire
Igniting Ambition Festival 2010 was created through a partnership of six local authorities responsible for each of the three cities and counties. Igniting Ambition invested in a range of projects which developed innovative, high quality work, providing new opportunities for local communities to participate, engage in and enjoy world-class cultural events that celebrated their region and its relationship with the rest of the world. Projects within the festival included The Story Traders of Sichuan, a new children’s theatre production by Flying Panda, a collective of multi-disciplined artists.

Funding through Igniting Ambition enabled the artists to travel to China as part of the research and development of the piece. The final production clocked up 31 shows over 6 months, reaching an audience of 2682, mainly in small, unconventional performance spaces in rural communities, as part of the region’s Rural Touring Circuit. 

Igniting Ambition Festival 2011 Connecting Communities
A summer festival of cultural events which connect the counties of Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire and Rutland. The three counties are home to a diverse range of landscapes and communities, with a wealth of cultural practitioners and a growing number of creative companies, cultural institutions and festival activities. This year’s festival introduces several ambitious new partnerships, delivering projects that have been designed to engage young people and local communities in exceptional cultural events, celebrating their rich cultural heritage, outstanding natural environment and hidden gems. The Four Winds Festival (see video below) is one of the many events taking place across these counties over the summer.

Breath of Fresh Air
A series of participatory activities in the region’s forests and woodlands, delivered by Groundwork and partners such as the National Trust, the Heart of the National Forest, the Woodland Trust, and the Wildlife Trust. The proposals involve developing cultural activities linked to the Igniting Ambition programme to raise the issues of environmental sustainability, health and wellbeing.

Igniting Ambition Festival 2012 
The Igniting Ambition Festival 2012 will be a celebration of what has been achieved by Igniting Ambition in the past four years with high profile projects and celebratory events taking place across the region. Highlights will include World Event Young Artist, where 1,000 emerging artists from over 50 countries will come to Nottingham to exhibit and perform their new work, representing the best new talent from their country and After Gold, a series of new commissions from Radar by internationally recognised Japanese artists, including Akio Suzuki, MOMUS and Tatzu Nishi, to celebrate the presence of the Japanese Olympics team at Loughborough University.