Member Article

North East Cultural Olympiad is young at heart

With one month to go until the start of the London 2012 Olympics, young people in North East England are launching a summer programme of free public events, festivals and exhibitions as part of the official London 2012 Festival and Cultural Olympiad celebrations.

The work of 15 youth arts projects will go on show across the region this summer, including a derelict police station transformed into an art gallery, a festival of Urban sport and arts, a travelling book museum, youth circus shows and a groundbreaking concert featuring DJ’s and classical musicians at The Sage Gateshead.

More than 4,000 young people from across our region have taken part in the London 2012 Festival and Cultural Olympiad over the past three years thanks to NE-Generation, an independent programme based at the Regional Youth Work Unit in Gateshead.

NE-Generation is the Legacy Trust UK programme for the North East; creating a lasting impact from the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games by funding ideas and local talent to inspire creativity across theUK.

Anna Spencer, project and information officer for NE-Generation, said: “We believe that young people are artists in their own right with so much to offer in terms of their ideas, creativity and energy.

This programme is all about using the inspiration and funding of the London 2012 Olympics to enable young people to be part of the Cultural Olympiad and create a legacy of a youth-focused cultural sector that lasts long after the final medal is handed out in London.“

Since 2009, NE-Generation has worked with around 25 young leaders to allocate £1m of funding for 15 projects spread across the region from Teesside to the Northumberland Coast.

There are more than 20 opportunities for the public to attend NE-Generation events this summer and several projects are still seeking young people interested in taking part in arts workshops and skills training sessions.

UMT (Urban Music Training) is led by North East music development agency Generator and is running courses for aspiring DJ’s and vocalists starting this week.

A new exhibition revealing the 80-year forgotten history of the Morpeth Olympic Games also opened at Woodhorn Museum, Northumberland. ‘Time Vault: the Morpeth Olympics Reimagined,’ was created in partnership with NE-Generation’s award-winning Time Travel Northumberland project which reconnects young people with local history through creative activities inspired by the Northumberland Archives at Woodhorn Museum.

Ben Ayrton, programme leader for NE-Generation, said: “This summer’s programme is the culmination of years of hard work and creativity from thousands of young people in this region.

From circus performers to singer songwriters, turntable DJ’s, actors, artists, rappers, film makers, animators, graffiti artists and storytellers, our youth are set to deliver inspiring spectacles, performances and showcases marking the biggest cultural celebration in our nation’s recent history.“

The London 2012 Cultural Olympiad is the largest cultural celebration in the history of the modern Olympic and Paralympic Movements and has been created so that everyone in the UK can be part of London 2012 and be inspired by creativity across all forms of culture.

The programme of projects has been delivered in partnership with cultural organisations, local authorities, youth work agencies, charities and independent arts practitioners across North East England, including The Sage Gateshead, Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums, Woodhorn Museum and Northumberland Archive, Tyneside Cinema, Killhope Lead Mining Museum and the North East Circus Development Trust.

“Several of our major projects have already secured funding and a future for themselves beyond the London Games, including The Urban Games and Five Ring Circus, which will continue to provide young people with great opportunities.

Other established cultural organisations including Tyneside Cinema and Woodhorn Museum in Northumberland have made strong commitments that working with young people will remain a major part of their educational and community outreach work in future.“

NE-Generation is currently working on a Youth Charter for the region which will ask North East venues, practitioners and organisations to sign up and commit to offering deeper levels of participation in the arts and culture for young people.

The London 2012 Festival and Cultural Olympiad started on June 21, with 12,000 events across 900 venues across the UK. The Cultural Olympiad finishes on September 9.

To find out more about where you can see the NE-Generation project events, exhibitions, performances and showcases, visit: www.ne-generation.org.uk/events/

A major collective showcase celebrating the work of all 15 NE-Generation projects is planned for September 1-2 and will take place at The Stephenson Works, Forth Street, Newcastle, behind Central Station.

The NE-Generation events and collective showcase will be open to the public and free to view.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Matthew Moore .