imove has awarded £855,000 to three groups of leading Yorkshire-based organisations for the creation of an ambitious series of activities. The new projects will take place across the region and link art and sport in exciting new ways in the run up to London 2012.
All of the projects will also apply for the Inspire Mark to become part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad.
Inspired by the forthcoming Olympics, the imove Programme aims to transform the relationship between people in Yorkshire and their moving bodies through unique crossovers between culture, sport and physical education.
imove, which is funded by Legacy Trust UK, Yorkshire Forward and Arts Council England, Yorkshire, will work closely with the successful consortiums to develop and deliver the following three major projects over the next two to three years.
Don’t Just Sit There
Northern Ballet Theatre, with Education Leeds, College of Chinese Physical Culture, Open Minds Theatre Company, Phoenix Dance Theatre, Marketing Leeds and the Rugby Football League will harness their resources to tackle issues arising from sedentary lifestyles in Don’t Just Sit There.
The project aims to teach people about their bodies and increase participation in sport and physical activity using dance, physical theatre, music, sport and alternative movement forms.
Planned activities include:
- Spirit Alive, a child-led mini-Olympics
- Energisers, mass participation events aimed at adults and students, at the centre of which will be a rugby-pitch sized immersive, light-filled Colourscape structure.
- Work in schools across the region with artists in classical and contemporary dance, physical theatre, Chinese movement, music, Indian and African dance, West Indian Carnival and new Zealand Haka
An additional 20 delivery and subsidiary partners including Universities, City Councils and Primary Care Trusts, in Hull, York and Rotherham will be involved.
Extraordinary Moves
Sheffield Hallam University will join forces with Huddersfield-based Chol Theatre to challenge perceptions of disability in sport at all levels in Extraordinary Moves.
The specialised Movement Capture facilities at Sheffield Hallam University will be used in a participatory dance and sport programme looking at how our bodies achieve physical and creative expression in everyday life.
Other plans include a touring production for theatre venues, exhibitions in galleries and interactive elements, all dovetailing with the UK School Games in Sheffield in 2011.
Subsidiary partners include: visual artist Jason Minsky; the Federation of Disability Sports Organisations; photographer Paul Floyd Blake; disability dance specialist Laura Haughey; Museums Sheffield; and Sheffield City Council.
People Moves (New Worlds)
The National Media Museum, cultural enterprise company Alchemy, National Centre for Early Music, Bradford Council, Northern School of Contemporary Dance, and Harewood House unite for People Move (New Worlds) to celebrate the region’s identities and communities, and explore how they have been shaped by the movement of people, the landscape, and Yorkshire’s place in the world.
Planned activities include:
- Games in the Park, an exploration of traditional games from different cultures played in public spaces in urban and rural communities, which require physical movement, speed, aim and ingenuity
- Three major music programmes
- Dance performances and commissions
- Films, festivals, and workshops
- A comprehensive volunteering training programme
There will be a range of other subsidiary partners including the Humber and North Yorkshire Music Action Zones.
Professor Adam Carey, Chair of the imove Board, said: “I am very pleased that we have been able to award the three major contract strands as part of imove Legacy Trust funding. These strands will work with large numbers of people in the region to encourage us to think about how we move and live our lives – supporting everyone, young and old, to become more active with a diverse range of activities encompassing culture, learning and sport. The innovation that comes from the partnerships which form the delivery groups in each of the three strands is an important dimension of the programme. Thanks to Yorkshire Forward's funding, we are able to invest in the process of collaborative working with partners who have not worked together before, to deliver something very special. We believe that there will be a real legacy and impact from getting these new partnerships off the ground on a positive and dynamic footing from day one.”
Dr David James, Senior Sports Engineer, Centre for Sports and Exercise Science, Sheffield Hallam University, said: "We are excited to have been chosen to deliver the Extraordinary Moves strand of the Yorkshire Legacy Trust programme. Our project represents a truly innovative partnership between the arts, sport and science and will deliver a host of different activities that challenge perceptions of disability. London 2012 will create incredible opportunities for all of us in Yorkshire and we feel very honoured to be able to take a leading role in delivering Olympic legacy."
Jon Ingham, Director of Fundraising, Northern Ballet Theatre, said: “We are delighted to be chosen for this project which will be put forward to be part of the Cultural Olympiad in Yorkshire. The project will use dance, physical theatre, sport, carnival and music to share the Olympic experience and create a sense of excitement about the approaching Games. We will encourage people to get involved in cultural and sporting activities and become active participants, rather than merely observers.
“Activities will reach across Yorkshire culminating with a major Festival in 2012, which will see participating schools, youth and community groups come together with the general public for a spectacular mass-participation sporting and cultural Festival. At the centre of the Festival will be an immersive light-filled Colourscape structure which, at the size of a rugby pitch, allows performance and sport to take place inside as well as around it, and transforms every member of the public from an observer to an active participant.
“The artistic vision for the programme centres on the passing of the Olympic flame from China to the UK and anticipates its onward journey, seeing the London 2012 cultural Olympiad as part of a continuum where we use the flame to light up Yorkshire.”
The three projects will lever a further half a million pounds in value in total, and engage around 1.5 million participants over the next three years.
For more information visit http://www.culturalolympiadinyorkshire.com/