Creative Scotland’s London 2012 mandate 2.6
The mandate to lead on the development of a cultural programme for the London 2012 Games in Scotland was originally given to Creative Scotland’s predecessor organisation, the Scottish Arts Council, by the Scottish Government in 2009. Creative Scotland was tasked with providing strategic leadership and co-ordination across the cultural sector, and related sectors, to develop, facilitate and deliver a coherent and meaningful programme of national activity in the context of London 2012 (and leading towards the hosting of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014). Partnership funding was secured from the Scottish Government towards funding Scotland’s Creative Programmer post.
2.7
In taking this strategic mandate forward, Creative Scotland’s approach to the London 2012 Games was anchored by Scotland’s London 2012-Glasgow 2014 Cultural Plan3, which set out the overall vision and objectives for the cultural offering for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games. Five curatorial themes were identified in this framework document providing a focus for public communication and for the cultural sector to engage with. These were: - World Stage, headline events; - Commonwealth Collections, creative commissions in film, visual arts, performing art, creative industries, music, literature, comedy and photography; - Host, establishing and sustaining relationships between artists, organisations, communities and Olympic nations through notion of hosting and welcoming; - Practise/Practice, projects exploring common territories and values between art and sport and health; and, - Out of Place, projects that use buildings, cities, towns, villages and landscape in unexpected or innovative ways. These will also act as initial curatorial themes for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games Cultural Programme.
2.8
In developing, facilitating and delivering a coherent and meaningful programme of national activity for London 2012, Creative Scotland also intersected with the UK-wide cultural offer around the Games. Through its Creative Programmer and its wider 2012-2014 team, Creative Scotland worked across the London 2012 Festival, the Cultural Olympiad, the Torch Relay and Glasgow 2014-facing projects under the umbrella of Scotland’s London 2012 Cultural Programme (‘the Programme’).
2.9
The Programme was shaped through the following approaches, the aim being to create coherence across the: London 2012 Festival; Cultural Olympiad; Olympic and Paralympic Torch Relay; London 2012 Inspire Programme and projects that looked towards Glasgow 2014. Direct Commissioning:
Ǧ aximising opportunities arising through the platform of the London 2012 Festival such as The Big Concert, The Barrowlands Project and Sun Rings;
Ǧ cultural responses that enabled wider engagement across Scotland such as Summer of Song: Celebrating the Olympic Torch Relay in Scotland, Keep her Lit by Roderick Buchanan and Poetry 2012: The Written World; Ǧ Supporting and initiating responses that recognised London 2012 and Glasgow 2014 as one cultural programming opportunity such as Velocity: art for a changing city. Supporting the delivery of London 2012 UK wide initiatives in Scotland:
Ǧ ʬ ƽ Artists Taking the Lead, which commissioned a large scale public art project in each nation and region, including Forest Pitch in Scotland, and Unlimited, a significant programme with
Scotland’s London 2012-Glasgow 2014 Cultural Plan published by Creative Scotland can be found at http://www.creativescotland.co.uk/ explore/2012-2014 3
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