Scotland will begin its celebrations for the ‘one year to go’ countdown to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games with a raft of free family activities in and around Scotland, as part of Open Weekend 22nd-24th July – a UK wide programme of over 1,000 unique sporting and cultural initiatives announced today by Sebastian Coe, Chair of the London 2012 Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Saturday 23rd July, will see Edinburgh transformed to celebrate all things animation with Tate Movie Project’s ‘The Itch of the Golden Nit!’, as part of this year’s Open Weekend, July 22nd-24th. Created by thousands of children across the UK, this is the first opportunity for the public to see the film on the open-air big screen at the Edinburgh Live Site.

The Live Site screening in Edinburgh will be supported with a full weekend of participatory activities at the big screens which will include exclusive chances to try the mascot motion sensor game ‘Swim Wenlock Swim’, newly commissioned interactive games from artist Chris O’Shea which allow live inter-city competitive play, and a special screening of the Academy Award winning British film ‘Chariots of Fire’.

Open Weekend 2011, supported by BP, is set to be the biggest and best yet in Scotland and the rest of the UK, with thousands of people taking part in unique events and creative projects to celebrate the ‘One Year to Go’ countdown to the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Full listings can be found at www.london2012.com/openweekend.

In Aberdeen, the Culture Crush programme (www.culturecrush.co.uk ) will take to the streets of Aberdeen, with a theatre decathalon involving young people from the city’s twin city of Regernsburg; development of a new production of Robin Jenkin’s the Cone Gatherers; and a unique visit to The Hairdresser’s Salon with the National Theatre Scotland.

In Glasgow , Velocity has created two unique tours – a riverboat tour of the Clyde offers a rare perspective of the new Riverside Museum and the amazing Forgotten Island for youngsters, as well as a one-off bus tour revealing Glasgow in a new light during the lead up to the Commonwealth Games in 2014. Artists and city commentators will take passengers a journey east through Bridgeton Cross, culminating at the spectacular viewing point at the top of the Helenvale flats. The Surge Festival will bring theatre to the streets of Glasgow’s Merchant City and The Incredible Swimming Choir introduces musical performances for families and young children to swimming pools across South Lanarkshire.

In Dundee, Stirling and Inverness, the Human Race, explores what it takes to be a world-class athlete through Movies and Medals, a specially-commissioned screening of films about the drive and ambition of sports stars as they earn their Olympic medals.

Other highlights of Open Weekend 2011 activities in Scotland include:

· Country heritage sites nationwide will also open their doors for Open Weekend 2011 to help communities discover the hidden secrets of their local environments, with the North Face of Ben Nevis welcoming visitors from across the UK. Other Open Weekend 2011 highlights include a celebration of medieval sports in Conway and parkour demonstrations and art activities at the National Portrait Gallery, inspired by the BP Portrait Award.

* In Stirling, Bard in the Botanics will present Shakespeare

* In Dumfries and Galloway, specially-commissioned walks and talks through the regions forests

* Get Set, Glasgow: Specially commissioned series of dance performances culminating in a mass participation dance event as part of the Merchant City Festival and the opening programme for Glasgow’s Riverside Museum.

London 2012 Chair Sebastian Coe said: ‘For our fourth year Open Weekend is focussed on celebrating the ‘One Year to Go’ countdown to the London 2012 Games and helping communities across the country experience the best of British sporting, artistic and cultural talents up close. I’d encourage people to get involved at a local event as part of this nationwide celebration; it will be an amazing event.’

With the support of BP, Premier Partner of the Cultural Olympiad and long-standing supporter of arts and culture in the UK, the London 2012 Open Weekend is now in its fourth year. Open Weekend 2011 follows the success of the past three previous years, in which over 2.4 million people across the UK unleashed their creativity across a series of sporting, art and cultural activities in celebration of the countdown to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The 2011 weekend comes a year before the London 2012 Festival, of which BP is a Premier Partner, which from 21 June – 9 September 2012 will bring together leading artists from all over the world for a chance for everyone to celebrate London 2012 through dance, music, theatre, the visual arts, film and digital innovation in an outstanding summer of arts and creativity in the UK.

Andrew Dixon, Chief Executive, Creative Scotland, said: ‘During Open Weekend 2011 people across Scotland will be celebrating the one year countdown to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games in creative and innovative ways.

‘From Aberdeen to Glasgow, thousands of people will be actively involved in events ranging from the Incredible Swimming Choir, through Movies and Medals, film screenings of medal-winning sports heroes, open top bus and river-boat tours of Glasgow taking in a city in transition, while Aberdeen’s Academy Centre will host unique experiences to celebrate the greatest show on earth coming to the UK in only one year’s time.

‘This year’s Open Weekend is just a taste of what to expect in the summer of 2012, when the London 2012 Festival and the Olympic and Paralympic Games will bring a series of once in a lifetime moments and set us on our way to Glasgow 2014 .’

Councillor Gordon Matheson, Leader of Glasgow City Council and Chair Merchant City Festival said:’We are delighted to be part of the countdown celebrations to London 2012. Next July Glasgow will play its part in hosting some of the Olympic football competition at Hampden, and this year’s Merchant City Festival gives us the chance to build excitement and public engagement with London 2012 as we prepare to be an Olympic host city. We are particularly delighted to have been able to commission Get Set GlasGOw, with support from Creative Scotland as we mark this important milestone in the countdown to London 2012.”

Simon Sharkey, Associate Director (Learn), National Theatre of Scotland, said: “The National Theatre of Scotland is really looking forward to being back in Aberdeen as part of the London Olympic 2012 Open Weekend this July. It offers the perfect opportunity to celebrate the City’s amazing recent extreme community projects, Nothing to See Here, By Order of Me and the Extreme Ceilidh. To be able to present a selection of these unique events (plus events from our 99…100 project in Fife) to a wider audience as part of the London Olympic 2012 Open Weekend is truly thrilling.”

Ruth Mackenzie, Cultural Olympiad and London 2012 Festival Director, said: ‘With thanks to our partners BP, Open Weekend 2011 is set to be the biggest and best yet. People across the UK will be showing off their creative and sporting talents by actively participating in 1,000 events to celebrate the greatest show on earth coming to the UK in only one year’s time. The weekend will give people a taste for 2012, when the London 2012 Festival and the Olympic and Paralympic Games will bring summer of cultural and sporting celebration across the nation.’

Peter Mather, Regional Vice President, Europe, & Head of Country, UK, BP said: ‘BP is delighted to support Open Weekend again in 2011. Now in its fourth year and with over 1,000 arts, sports and cultural events across the UK, this year’s Open Weekend promises to be a truly memorable way to celebrate one year to go until the London 2012 Games. With a wealth of excellent events such as The Tate Movie Project in Trafalgar Square, it is also a fantastic prelude to the London 2012 Festival.’

Other highlight events for Open Weekend 2011, supported by BP around the UK include:

· Search Party, East London: For one adventurous afternoon, east London becomes an urban playground filled with intrigue and surprise

· Portavilion Floating Cinema, East London: The Floating Cinema: Outsider’s Guide to the Olympic park tours.

· DYSARTICULATE, Portsmouth, Canary Wharf and countrywide: A large-scale installation to ‘engage’ artists and audiences, creating and planting ‘paper flags’ recycled from book pages

· Jamaica RAW!, Birmingham: Celebration of Jamaican culture marking a year to go until the Jamaican Track and Field team are based in Birmingham

· The Tate Movie on Trafalgar Square, London: Celebrate all things animation and the launch of the Tate Movie: The Itch of the Golden Nit!, produced by Aardman Animations and created by thousands of children across the UK

· Barbican Weekender: Extraordinary Voices, London: Inviting all ages and everyone to come to the Barbican to take part in a free weekend of events at the centre

· ‘BP Portrait Award: Next Generation Taster Sessions’: A hands on art activity for 14 – 19 years olds inspired by the BP Portrait Award 2011 and exploring portraiture and experimenting with drawing in a range of media in a variety of art activities.

· BP Saturdays: Tate Britain, London: Look, create, relate and activate! Drop in artist-led activities, gallery workshops for all the family

· L.E.A.P Parkour, Westminster, London: Providing free Parkour/Freerunning training camps and sessions for young people aged 8 -19yrs

· One Year to go Open Weekend, Crystal Palace, London: A weekend of free activities at Crystal Palace National Sports Centre to celebrate the one year to go countdown to the Olympic and Paralympic Games

· ICCI360, Weymouth: A 360 multimedia experience at the Weymouth Arena

· Circus in the City, Birmingham: A colourful array of circus skill and talent for the community to participate in and enjoy

· The Great Train Dance, Birmingham: A day of dance on a preserved steam railway, involving hundreds of young people as participants and a professional dance company

· Dante’s Inferno, Leeds: A large scale outdoor youth (11-19 yrs) theatre production of a brand new contemporary adaptation of Dante’s divine comedy ‘Inferno’

· Beat Carnival, Belfast: A carnival picnic in the park with Circus actors and puppets on walk-about; singers on stage, music here and drumming there; twisting, tumbling gymnasts and, high above, aerial dancers on the wall

· The Medieval Games, Conwy: Celebration of medieval sports

· Blaze! Dance Relay, Northhamptonshire: An exciting dance project involving performances in five outdoor areas of Northamptonshire, culminating in a final extravaganza of performances for any age and background to take part

· TruckArt, Luton: An event inspired by Pakistani Folk Truck Art, where young people have worked with artists to transform a vintage Bedford truck into a colourful and fascinating work of art

· The Moment When….2011 Flashmobs, Cheshire: Cheshire Dance invites you to learn and perform a dance routine ‘The Moment When…’

· The Queue, Coventry: A celebration of the great British art of Queuing. The Queue is a surreal and funny outdoor performance which will appeal to anyone who has ever found themselves queuing up

· The Big Game, Lancashire: An alternative sporting event created by young people from Lancashire with New York artist Tom Russotti

Source: Creative Scotland