The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG) has handed over responsibility for the Cultural Olympiad to a new board, which is a joint initiative of LOCOG, the Government and the Mayor of London. Tony Hall, Chief Executive of the Royal Opera House, has been appointed to Chair the Cultural Olympiad board, which will form part of a new structure to oversee the programme going forward. Jude Kelly, Artistic Director at the Southbank Centre, who has thus far held the post of Chair of Culture, Ceremonies and Education at LOCOG, will be a member of the new board (see p2) and will focus on developing the Cultural Olympiad legacy with the next host city. The re-structuring of the cultural Olympiad’s leadership coincides with an announcement by the Olympic Lottery Distributor that six of London 2012’s Major Cultural Projects are to receive grant funding of £15.6m: the Lottery is now the biggest single source of funding for the Cultural Olympiad. The projects include an international Shakespeare Festival, a UK-wide film project for young people, World River, a music festival taking place in London just before the Games, and Unlimited, the UK’s largest ever celebration of arts and disability culture and sport, incorporating a series of major commissions for disabled artists and organisations. According to Sebastian Coe, Chairman of LOCOG, “all our Major Cultural Projects can now begin to plan for delivery with the vast majority of funding in place”. Some elements of the Cultural Olympiad programme are already underway, and the Voluntary Arts Network has just published a new briefing giving details of the range of ways that voluntary artists and arts groups can take part.

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