North West: We Play
WE PLAY is the Legacy Trust UK cultural programme in the North West which centres on digital innovation, excellence in outdoor arts and culture and sport participation.
Inspired by 2012 to send the statement of ‘WE PLAY’ around the North West and the UK, the programme is designed to elaborate on the way we think, to stimulate new experience and to provide opportunities for everyone to be a great ‘player’ through creative, physical, social and intellectual activity.
The programme reflects a North West output like never before and sets a standard for collaboration and the development of cultural activities.
Its series of annual programmes, collaborative projects and new commissions seek to leave a legacy of partnerships across different sectors, of a new cultural infrastructure in the North West and of artworks and events which have a life beyond 2012.
WE PLAY is made up of three main annual programmes: Abandon Normal Devices, Lakes Alive and Blaze. These three programmes have been gathering momentum and public interest over the last three years, ensuring that in the Olympic Year, our North West programme is outstanding. A WE PLAY Expo which will be the North West’s Closing Event for the Cultural Olympiad, is also in development for delivery in 2012 at Preston Guild 2012. This once-in-a-lifetime 2012 celebration invites everyone in the North West to come to Preston and connect for the closing weekend of the Paralympic Games.
Abandon Normal Devices is an annual festival of new cinema, digital culture and art at the frontier of new thought and research practice. It provokes reaction, creation and experimentation between and across different disciplines and geographical locations. Its programme in 2012 will see one of its life science projects, Pigs Bladder Football, by artist John O Shea, growing a football out of living cells and will feature the UK premier of Andrew Kotting’s film Swandown. Visit www.andfestival.org.uk for more information about the programme.
Blaze is a youth-led culture and sports programme involving young people from across Lancashire in creating new work which makes links between culture and sport. In 2012 Blaze will be part of a new regional partnership with Brighter Sounds to present Blaze Festival North West, the North West’s first youth inspired and produced festival of culture, sport, music and art. Visit www.blazeonline.org.uk for more information about the programme.
Lakes Alive is a festival of outdoor performance and street arts across Cumbria. It has already grown into a programme of national and international reputation and reach, establishing the North West as a centre of excellence in street arts. The North West is proud that Lakes Alive has been commissioned by the London 2012 Festival to produce a new large-scale show by the French street arts company Les Commandos Percu for the first night of its opening weekend. Visit www.lakesalive.org for more information about the programme.
On the final weekend of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games (Friday 7th – Sunday 9th September) Preston will host the WE PLAY Expo, a celebration of the diversity and quality of the North West’s extraordinary contribution to the legacy of London 2012. The programme will feature large scale new productions presented by Abandon Normal Devices, Blaze and Lakes Alive, coming together for the first time.
Full details of the programme will be announced on 19th May 2012. For information visit the Preston Guild 2012 website.
