The chief executive of the Royal Opera House was today appointed to the organising committee of the 2012 London Olympics and charged with delivering a “world class” Cultural Olympiad.
Since the bid was won in 2005, partly on a platform of London’s unique cultural offering, the arts world has become increasingly concerned that the Cultural Olympiad, an arts counterpart to the sporting main event, lacks leadership and money and that the event will fail to compensate for the government funding sucked away from culture and heritage to pay for the Games.
Sir Christopher Frayling, who recently stepped down as chairman of Arts Council England, has regularly claimed that the Olympiad lacks a “ringmaster”.
Tony Hall is now that ringmaster. The former head of BBC News, who joined the ROH in 2001 and has become widely respected throughout the sector for his work there, is the first figure from the arts world to gain a seat on the board of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG) and will also chair his own new Cultural Olympiad board as part of a new structure to oversee the programme.
He is expected to appoint national figures from the arts to that board, including Sir Nicholas Serota of the Tate and Vikki Heywood of the Royal Shakespeare Company.
He said that there was “enough time, not plenty of time” to organise a fitting celebration of the UK’s cultural vitality for the summer of 2012.
Already he has helped to persuade the Olympic Lottery Distributor to commit £16 million in badly needed funding to the programme, which will support six of London 2012’s major cultural projects, including an international Shakespeare festival, a UK-wide film project for young people, and plans for World River, a spectacular music festival in London just before the 2012 Games.
However, money will not be the main determinant of success, he said. “We don’t need zillions of extra pounds. We need to carry on what we are doing really well. The arts and culture in this country are absolutely world class and it is just the right moment to get a group of people together and see how we can make this spectacular.”
He worries that London will fail to deliver an event that “could be fabulous” by being insufficiently ambitious or by being “bogged down in all sorts of bureaucratic stuff”. He is determined to do everything he can to stop that happening.
The current head of culture, ceremonies and education at LOCOG, Jude Kelly (also the artistic director of Southbank Centre) will take a less prominent role on the new board with a particular focus on developing the Cultural Olympiad legacy with the next host city.
Lord Coe, the chairman of LOCOG, said: “Tony’s appointment reflects the importance of the Cultural Olympiad to us and we welcome him aboard. The programme is delivered not by us, but in partnership, and the creation of this new board will ensure that the vision we had during the bid will be delivered over the next three years, through those partnerships.”
Tessa Jowell, the Olympics Minister, said: “The investment from the Olympic Lottery Distributor, and the establishment of the new Cultural Olympiad board, under the leadership of Tony Hall, will drive the project using their talent and expertise to create a world-class festival which gives everybody the chance to celebrate Britain’s rich culture.”
Ben Bradshaw, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, said: “We want our Cultural Olympiad to be the best the world has ever seen, inspiring people up and down the country. It’s great that Tony Hall has come on board, bringing a wealth of experience in broadcasting, production and the arts, and I very much welcome today’s announcement of the funding boost from the Olympic Lottery Distributor.”
The chief executive of the Royal Opera House was today appointed to the organising committee of the 2012 London Olympics and charged with delivering a “world class” Cultural Olympiad.
Since the bid was won in 2005, partly on a platform of London’s unique cultural offering, the arts world has become increasingly concerned that the Cultural Olympiad, an arts counterpart to the sporting main event, lacks leadership and money and that the event will fail to compensate for the government funding sucked away from culture and heritage to pay for the Games.
Sir Christopher Frayling, who recently stepped down as chairman of Arts Council England, has regularly claimed that the Olympiad lacks a “ringmaster”.
Tony Hall is now that ringmaster. The former head of BBC News, who joined the ROH in 2001 and has become widely respected throughout the sector for his work there, is the first figure from the arts world to gain a seat on the board of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG) and will also chair his own new Cultural Olympiad board as part of a new structure to oversee the programme.
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