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Arts fund to kickstart Olympic cultural events
By Ross Lydall, Evening Standard 17.04.07
On show: the Olympics cultural events fund follows last year's Chinese art fair in Battersea
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A new fund is being launched to kickstart five years of Olympics cultural events in the run-up to the 2012 Games.
London's 33 boroughs are to spend £300,000 on 12 projects ensuring the Olympics benefit every community across the capital and build "civic pride".
The fund, which starts this summer, will operate as a one-year pilot project but is likely to continue every year until the opening ceremony at the new 80,000-seat stadium in Stratford.
One of the grants will help fund a programme of events at the Serpentine Gallery next summer to tie in with the 2008 Beijing Games, following on from its successful exhibition of Chinese art in Battersea power station last year.
The gallery, in Kensington Gardens, may also commission a Chinese architect to design its summer pavilion next year.
Previous architects have included Rem Koolhaas - responsible for last year's egg-shaped design - Daniel Libeskind and Zaha Hadid, who has also designed the 2012 aquatics centre.
London Councils, which represents the 33 boroughs, is expected to rubber stamp a £13,480 grant to the Serpentine next week. A gallery spokesman said a programme of talks, events and film screenings was being prepared to mark the arrival in Beijing of its Battersea power station exhibition.
Other projects set to be funded include a young people's arts festival at the Battersea-Arts Centre, theatre and dance performances in south London parks and an " urban street band" of teenagers performing across the city.
A London Councils spokesman said: "This is the first time London Councils has used the pan-London grants budget to pay for a specific initiative towards the Olympics. This is to encourage as many people to get as much out of them as possible."
The boroughs also plan to invest a further £150,000 a year helping to attract 70,000 unpaid volunteer workers for the Olympics. At least 50,000 people are expected to be drawn from the capital but council chiefs believe more will be needed to assist with community activities and big-screen events.
The six organisations recommended for a volunteering grant include the Lea Rivers Trust - which will offer guided tours around waterways and canals surrounding the Olympic Park, training migrants and refugees as interpreters - and a London Wildlife Trust plan to improve cycle paths and walkways to the Games.
The new funding comes after the Arts Council was left with £112.5 million less to distribute as funding was diverted for the Olympics. Almost £2.2 billion from new and existing Lottery games is being used to help pay the £10 billion bill for the Games.
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