Launching the Cultural Olympiad in the Northwest

The Northwest will be celebrating the launch of the Cultural Olympiad of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games from 26th - 28th September 2008 with 39 Open Weekend events taking place throughout the region.

Open Weekend will be a moment of mass participation, with organisations placing a spotlight on special cultural activities and events, involving and inspiring everyone in the UK. The Northwest has always reigned supreme at large-scale cultural celebrations, hosting events such as the Commonwealth Games, Manchester International Festival, Cheshire Year of Gardens, Kendal Mountain Film Festival, Liverpool Biennial, Blackpool Illuminations and Liverpool Capital of Culture 2008. The region sees the London 2012 Games as another significant celebration to shout about and will use this experience to host a spectacular Open Weekend – taking the London 2012 Games to the heart of the Northwest.

Specially curated by Culture Northwest for the Open Weekend in the Northwest, is a signature programme promoting four outdoor events, highlighting the region’s strengths in tourism, public and street art and heritage and which represent the London 2012 ethos of innovation, experiment, excellence and risk.

The signature programme includes:

Neon Attractors - a London 2012 Inspire mark project
26 - 28 September: Rabbit_Liverpool Biennial - St James Church, Toxteth, Liverpool and ThickSpace_FRED, National Trust woodland near Coniston, Cumbria.
Neon Attractors is the North West’s first project to be granted the London 2012 Inspire mark as part of the Cultural Olympiad. It was specially curated by Culture Northwest for the Olympiad and combines two light installations: Rabbit_Liverpool Biennial in Toxteth and ThickSpace_FRED near Coniston. The project connects the North and South of the region and establishes a presence for the communities living in outer neighbourhood areas of the Northwest.

Portable Pixel Playground
28 September: Solaris Centre, Blackpool, Lancashire.
Portable Pixel Playground is a new play experience for all age groups. It consists of unique artist commissions created especially for the playground including a playground artwork by Squid Soup - a sandpit where you create a landscape inhabited by virtual creatures. This project introduces digital art to new audiences in fun, physical and playful ways and is portable enough to be taken into a wide variety of locations.

Station/Stationary
25 - 29 September: Crewe Railway Station, Crewe.
Station/Stationary uses the Railway Station as a medium to make art - involving dance, live music and film. Over 150 performers including professional dancers, first time performers and local groups of young and older people from Crewe and the wider region will take part.

LuminoCity
26 - 28 September: various locations, Blackpool.
A weekend of illuminations with a firework and laser display visible from space to mark the start of the
Cultural Olympiad. Paralympian Shelly Woods and Olympic hopefuls will start the celebrations which will
feature Blackpool Tower being lit in the colours of the Olympic Rings as a one-off for the occasion.

Other regional highlights include:

• Manchester - go behind the scenes and handle real artefacts at the Imperial War Museum North, see a play about Dahl, attend The Best of Manchester exhibition and A Showreel of Northwest filmmaking talent and photography, take a tour of Architecture, go to BBC Manchester Open Day and Big Saturday Bling: Treasures of The Manchester Museum.

• Cumbria – attend FRED - a 16 day invasion of art with 60 artists from the UK and around the world creating art in unexpected places; take part in Zimbabwean dance and music with Dance Eden and Hohodza Dance and attend a walking festival with a difference at Coniston.

• Lancashire – see Blackpool Tower illuminated in the Olympic colours at LumioCity, attend a bike festival, with street entertainment and local arts at PrestON the Move and hear storytelling African style with opportunities to explore cultures and traditions in Blackburn.

• Liverpool – celebrate the best of Noise 2008 with a Second Life party, hear the Wally Fields Jazz Orchestra and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and see Liverpool Biennial's 'Winter Lights'. A Tribute to Bob Marley ion the Wirral and a writing festival featuring Pam Ayres, Will Self and Carol Ann Duffy, a play about Bill Shankly’s life, Sefton Open art exhibition and a celebration of Southport’s past area are all taking place in Southport.

• Cheshire – experience dance, music and film at Station/Stationary at Crewe Railway Station, see art at Tatton Park and visit artist’s studios as they open up for you to discover how and where they produce their work and give you opportunity to buy from them directly.

“In the North West we are developing a global programme for a global event. The Cultural Olympiad is an opportunity for disciplines and communities to connect. Our exciting plans explore the artistic and cultural capacities of young people in the region and develop new relationships across and beyond the region. Our ambitious and inspiring programme focussed on play will engage citizens in debate around the Body and Economy through film and digital culture, provide adventures in Play and Space through outdoor events and street arts and connect people, cultures and locations through a series of new Routes and Trails.”
Debbi Lander, Creative Programmer for the Northwest for London 2012.

For listings of all Open Weekend events in the Northwest, please visit the regional section of the London 2012. Go to www.london2012.com and see In Your Area.

Ends

For further information please contact Sarah Mcloughlin, Culture Northwest - 0161 8177406 sarah.mcloughlin@nwda.co.uk.

Notes for Editors:

• London 2012’s Cultural Olympiad is a four year UK-wide programme of culture which will welcome the world and inspire young people.

• London 2012 Inspire mark recognises outstanding projects and events helping deliver the Games' lasting legacy. Part of the London 2012 brand family, it is the badge of the wider Inspire programme which has sport at its heart and London at its centre, but it is more than London and more than sport. It is for London and the UK, for sport and culture, for education, volunteering and business opportunities.

• Open Weekend is the launch of the Cultural Olympiad in the UK and will be celebrated on 26th - 28th September 2008.

• The signature programme was curated by Debbi Lander, the Northwest Creative Programmer for the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad in the North West.

• Culture Northwest is a thinking, networking and advocacy organisation. Culture Northwest is the Cultural Consortium for England's Northwest, established in 1999 by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, and its role is to drive the Regional Cultural Strategy. Culture Northwest's core funding is predominantly provided by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Northwest Regional Development Agency.

• Neon Attractors was curated by Debbi Lander (as above) for Culture Northwest. Rabbit_Liverpool Biennial was created from a line drawing by Calvin - a pupil from St Vincent de Paul Primary School in Liverpool as part of Ron Haselden’s ‘Animal’ project. Rabbit_Liverpool Biennial will feature as part of a series of neon light installations throughout Liverpool named ‘Winter Lights’ as part of the 2008 Liverpool Biennial and will run from 26 September 2008 - February 2009.

ThickSpace_FRED was created by international artists Laura Belevica, Aaron J Robin and Feng Gouchaun from South China. Thickspace_FRED is part of the Cumbrian festival FRED which profiles visual artworks in the landscape across the sub-region and will run from 26 September - 12 October 2008. Find out more. The artwork is also a central feature of the Coniston Walking Festival in the Lake District, Cumbria - a new style walking festival which combines physical and cultural activity and will runs from 26-28 September 2008.

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