Edinburgh to host extraordinary cultural events as part of
Nationwide Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games Cultural Programme
To keep up to date with all the information and sign up to receive a newsletter visit www.glasgow2014.com/culture
EDINBURGH will provide the setting for cultural events taking place as part of the nationwide Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games Cultural Programme, which was unveiled today.
Big Big Sing
Big Big Sing is a nationwide celebration of singing produced by Glasgow UNESCO City of Music.
It will inspire thousands of people to sign up and get singing in the lead up to and during Games Time.
Kicking off this autumn, Big Big Sing will provide a wide range of opportunities to participate in the Cultural Programme.
A spokesperson explained: “With the Big Seven Community Choirs across Scotland, a range of live Song Stages in and around Glasgow, and a free Song Book of newly commissioned songs to be made available all over Scotland, why not to join in and get singing?”
The spokesperson continued: “There’ll also be a massed singing event in Glasgow, and an online choir combining singers and songs from around the Commonwealth.
No experience is required to take part. Simply register your interest in Big Big Sing via www.bigbigsing.org and learn about more opportunities at www.glasgow2014.com/culture throughout the coming months.”
A new national framework of information and training will underpin Big Big Sing.
Edinburgh Botanic Gardens
During summer 2014, Edinburgh Botanic Gardens will host Corroborree, as part of a six-week arts festival celebrating indigenous culture and ecological diversity among the Commonwealth Nations. A group of established artists from Commonwealth countries specialising in different artforms will work alongside Scottish artists to create a range of work during residencies at the gardens.
There will be lots of ways for the public to participate, through events, demonstrations and workshops.
A spokesperson for the project commented: “Corroboree aims to be a Green festival. Music will be unplugged, food will be local and healthy, transport will be sustainable and the plants and natural features of the gardens will be a prominent part of the celebrations.”
Collective Gallery
All Sided Games is a series of commissions by Collective Gallery, placing contemporary artists in venues built or used for the Edinburgh 1970 and 1986 Commonwealth Games and in venues to be used for Glasgow 2014.
Delivered in partnership with Edinburgh Leisure and Glasgow Life, the project builds on Collective Gallery’s pioneering work connecting communities, international and Scotland-based artists, and draws people together to make work that brings into focus our relationship with each other, with art and with sport.
In Edinburgh, artists, Mitch Miller and Jacob Dahlgren, will be working in and around Meadowbank Sports Centre, presenting work in October 2013, and Cristina Lucas will be developing a new project in December. In 2014, All Sided Games moves across Scotland to present projects in Glasgow.
Scottish Poetry Library in collaboration with BBC Scotland
Building on the success of Poetry 2012, the Scottish Poetry Library (SPL) in collaboration with BBC Scotland will present poetry from around the Commonwealth nations in Commonwealth Poets United.
Six Scottish poets and poets with links to Scotland from Canada, India, Jamaica, New Zealand, Nigeria and South Africa will give public readings in locations across Scotland and take part in school visits from March 2013.
They will record their experiences for BBC broadcast and record poems for SPL podcasts and website. The 12 poets will also be commissioned to create new work for the BBC’s Sonnets from Sunrise to Sunset project.
McLaren 2014
The McLaren 2014 Programme will celebrate the life and work of the pioneering, Scottish-born animator and filmmaker, Norman McLaren. McLaren 2014 will begin in Stirling on the centenary of McLaren’s birth, 11 April 2014, followed by special exhibitions and screenings in Stirling, Glasgow and Edinburgh, 25th anniversary celebrations of the McLaren Award at the 2014 Edinburgh International Film Festival, and a nationwide public engagement programme, seeking to get Scotland animating.
McLaren 2014 will conclude at the end of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games on the 3 August. The McLaren 2014 Programme is being produced by the Centre for the Moving Image, working with partners from across Scotland, the UK and Canada.
The Programme is being produced in collaboration with the National Film Board of Canada.
The Glasgow 2014 Cultural Programme is a key part of the Games experience for spectators and visitors.
Running from the ‘One Year to Go’ milestone in July 2013 until the end of August 2014, it will showcase the best of Scottish culture alongside creative work from across the Commonwealth and be a nationwide celebration of the Games, reaching its peak as Glasgow bursts into life at Games time.
The programme features theatre, dance, music, visual arts, comedy and multi-media; intimate shows and outdoor spectaculars; work in theatres, community centres, on bicycles, by rivers, in botanic gardens, art galleries, cinemas, public spaces and much more.
Eileen Gallagher, independent director on the Glasgow 2014 Board and chair of the Ceremonies, Culture and Queen’s Baton Relay Committee, said: “With just over a year to go, Glasgow and Scotland are on a global stage – and our best artists and performers are about to showcase the very finest of Scottish and Commonwealth culture to the world.
“As we count down the days to Glasgow 2014, the entire nation can celebrate and be part of the Games, with an ambitious programme of performance and entertainment which will touch every corner of Scotland.
“Then as all eyes turn to Glasgow, the city will burst into life with a massive celebration which will provide an entertaining and memorable Games time experience, for citizens, spectators and visitors alike.”
There are two strands to the Glasgow 2014 Cultural Programme – itself a collaboration between the Organising Committee, Creative Scotland and Glasgow Life. These are:
- Culture 2014 will kick off this year and is the Scotland-wide cultural countdown to the Games, extending beyond the Closing Ceremony. Many events will happen from mid-June to tie-in with the Queen’s Baton Relay – the global precursor to the Games – as Scotland’s towns and communities celebrate as the baton passes through.
- Festival 2014 is the massive Games-time celebration in Glasgow running alongside the sporting action, transforming the city from 19 July to 3 August with an invigorating mix of entertainment, culture and enjoyment filling the streets, spaces and stages of Glasgow.
Over the coming weeks and months, more detail about the projects outlined in this press release and additional projects yet to be announced, will be revealed.
To keep up to date with all the information and sign up to receive a newsletter visit www.glasgow2014.com/culture
Notes to Editors
- The Commonwealth Games is an international, multi-sport event involving 71 teams of athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930 and takes place every four years. Glasgow 2014 will be the XX Commonwealth Games and will be held from 23 July to 3 August. It will feature 17 sports in 11 days of competition with 250 medal events on show. The Games will play host to 4500 athletes and sell 1,000,000 tickets with the event aided by an army of 15,000 volunteers. Glasgow 2014 Ltd is the official name for the Organising Committee tasked with delivering the Games in partnership with the Scottish Government, Glasgow City Council and Commonwealth Games Scotland.
- The Glasgow 2014 Cultural Programme, which is being developed both as a Scotland-wide Culture 2014 and Glasgow-focused Festival 2014, is a creative collaboration between the Organising Committee, Creative Scotland and Glasgow Life. As the organisation responsible for delivering the Games, Glasgow 2014 will oversee and provide the unifying brand for the Glasgow 2014 Cultural Programme which will be delivered by Glasgow Life in partnership with Creative Scotland.
- To keep up to date with all the information and sign up to receive a newsletter visit www.glasgow2014.com/culture
- Glasgow 2014 family of official sponsors is Longines, SSE, Emirates, Virgin Media, BP, Harper Macleod, Search Consultancy, Ernst & Young, Atos, Dell, Toshiba TEC, A.G. Barr, NVT Group, Cisco, RGS, Trespass, Riedel and Ticketmaster.
- For further information please contact Stephanie Todd at Glasgow 2014 on 030 2014 0611 or Stephanie.Todd@glasgow2014.com / Brian Maycock at Creative Scotland on 0131 523 0046 or Brian.Maycock@creativescotland.com / James Docherty at Glasgow Life on 0141 287 5970 or James.Doherty@glasgow.gov.uk
- Glasgow 2014, the Commonwealth Games Federation and UNICEF are working together in an exciting partnership that will transform the lives of children in Scotland and throughout the Commonwealth. Using the power of sport and culture this unique partnership aims to inspire, enable and empower the children of the Commonwealth to be the best they can be.
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