On the eve of the London 2012 Festival finale Creative Scotland and LOCOG are delighted to announce that audience, participation & engagement figures have surpassed all expectations.

Over 620,000 people experienced Scotland’s London 2012 Cultural Programme as audience members. The programme’s reach is deepened by a further 33,000 people being involved as participants, alongside 1000 artists, in roles ranging from football players, singers, dancers, runners, football strip designers to film relay runners. A further 520,000 people connected with Scotland’s London 2012 programme via television, radio and the internet.

Throughout the year, Scotland has hosted 50 projects and over 250 events taking place across the length and breadth of the country.

Fiona Hyslop, Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External Affairs, said: “The London 2012 Festival provided an ideal opportunity to further raise Scotland’s international profile as a cultural and creative nation during our Year of Creative Scotland.

“There can be no doubt that Scotland’s cultural programme has risen to the challenge, delivering a diverse range of high-quality and accessible work in every corner of the country.

“I am looking forward to Scotland’s cultural programme in 2014 when we welcome the world in our second Year of Homecoming and Glasgow hosts the 2014 Commonwealth Games.”

From Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh to the remotest beach cove on the western Isle of Lewis and a UK wide film relay starting, and ending at Scotland’s most northerly islands, from under the gaze of Stirling Castle to the shores of the Firth of Forth, to the dense forests of Scotland’s southerly Borders and right to the heart of Glasgow’s inner city, Scotland’s London 2012 Cultural Programme has celebrated the rich diversity, quality and accessibility of Scotland’s world-class culture.

Andrew Dixon, Chief Executive, Creative Scotland: “Scotland has enjoyed an amazing summer of celebration as part of the London 2012 Festival. Stretching from the Shetland Islands to Selkirk, there have been spectacular and unique events, showcasing our amazing creative talent. Almost a million people have enjoyed these experiences, either live or on radio and television, and I’d like to congratulate all the artists who’ve shown beyond doubt that Scotland is a creative nation.”

The programme has offered people across Scotland the opportunity to enjoy hundreds of extraordinary experiences in a celebration of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. It has represented the culmination of the Cultural Olympiad and has taken place as part of a wider programme cultural events and activities happening all across the UK.

Ruth Mackenzie, Director, London 2012 Festival & Cultural Olympiad, said: “Thanks to the inspiration of brilliant artists, the London 2012 Festival in Scotland has taken us on an exhilarating journey and has highlighted beautiful landscapes, cities and towns. The memories and partnerships will live long and I look forward to seeing Scotland take this momentum into Glasgow 2014, and continue to showcase the nation as a cultural leader when the eyes of the world are on the UK.”

As the London 2012 Festival draws to an end, the spotlight turns towards the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games when once again Scotland will present a cultural programme that inspires and illuminates the creativity across the nation.

David Grevemberg, Chief Executive, Glasgow 2014 (organising committee for the 2014 Commonwealth Games) said:

“Scotland has done a great job in contributing to the success of the London 2012 Festival and the Cultural Olympiad.

“As eyes now turn towards the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, we look forward to working with Scotland’s creative industries to deliver a cultural programme that distinctly engages all of Scotland and that celebrates and builds upon the historical and contemporary art and cultural connections with the Commonwealth.

Today’s announcement was made as five of the year’s events brought the Festival to a rousing finale. Iconic Scottish dancer choreographer and artist Michael Clark staged the final two of three sold out performances of his new, large scale, participatory dance event at Glasgow’s Barrowland Ballroom.

Taking over the revered music venue, with its history as Glasgow’s premier dance hall, The Barrowlands Project featured forty five local people as performers alongside Michael Clark company dancers. From all walks of life, aged between 18 and 80 years old and with no previous professional dance experience, community participants have shared their stories of this affecting communal dance experience at http://www.barrowlandsproject.com/ and the performance is available to view at www.thespace.org

The BBC broadcast the penultimate Poetry 2012: The Written World poem on 9th September. In all, 205 poems have been broadcast across BBC radio channels each day during the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Bringing poetry into people’s everyday lives, the poems which capture the spirit of every nation competing at the 2012 Games, offer brief, thought-provoking moments. All poems are available at http://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/about/projects-partners/written-world?dm_i=FES,XJ6N,6ZXO9F,2SCJZ,1. Audio and visual clips are are available at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01dtv8v?dm_i=FES,XJ6N,6ZXO9F,2SCJC,1

Looking forward to Glasgow 2014, The Scottish Poetry Library has specially commissioned Every Line Is Imaginary by Stirling based poet William Letford and which will go live on www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk on 10th September.

Meanwhile, on 7th September, the UK’s most northerly arts centre, Mareel, Shetland, celebrated the end of Hansel of Film – a three month film marathon – at the annual Shetland film festival: Screenplay.

A Hansel of Film, was a relay of screenings of short films made by the public in each of the nations and many of the regions of the UK. Launched in Shetland on 10th June with the arrival of the Olympic Torch in the isles, the films were then relayed between participating venues by ‘runners’; that is, creative and energetic individuals who employed whatever means of transport they could devise to get the right films to the right venue on time.

The project took films made by Shetlanders and others to twenty one venues around the country and forms a celebration of ‘home made’ short films

All the films are available to watch here: http://hansel2012.org/watch-films?dm_i=FES,XJ6N,6ZXO9F,2SE2C,1

On the 9th September, a ground-breaking programme celebrating arts and culture by disabled and deaf artists and featuring extraordinary new work by five Scottish choreographers, drew to a close at London’s Southbank Centre.

Unlimited encouraged collaborations and partnerships between disability arts organisations, disabled artists, producers, and mainstream organisations, to celebrate the inspiration of the Olympic and Paralympic Games through the creation of original and exciting works.

Ramesh Meyyappan’s Skewered Snails, Janice Parker’s Private Dancer, Caroline Bowditch’s Leaving Limbo Landing, Claire Cunningham’s Ménage à Trois and Marc Brew’s Fusional Fragments were presented at locations – indoor and out – across Scotland before being showcased at the Southbank Centre’s Festival of the World.

Scotland Can Make It! is an independent project to create six unique souvenirs inspired by the London Olympics in 2012 and the Commonwealth Games, Glasgow, in 2014. The souvenirs, designed and manufactured entirely in Scotland, offer a lasting material legacy of both major events whilst expressing a strong message about Scotland’s rich and imaginative cultural landscape.

The six souvenir designs were presented in an exhibition of ideas and prototypes on 7th September at Glasgow’s People’s Palace. Beyond 2012, the six prototypes will be put into production to be distributed and available for sale leading up to and coinciding with cultural activities planned for the Commonwealth Games. Accompanying the exhibition, a commissioned film documents the project, its key processes and relationships. The film will tour to venues across Scotland in 2013. www.scotlandcanmakeit.com

Scotland’s London 2012 Cultural programme began on 7th June 2012 with the arrival of the Olympic Torch Relay. The film, Keep Her Lit by artist, Roderick Buchanan chronicled the Olympic Flame as it was welcomed in Scottish communities with a song.

The community of Stirling’s Raploch hosted the inaugural London 2012 Festival event, the Big Concert, a dedicated 7000 strong audience turned out in the rain to watch the children of The Big Noise play alongside the Simon Bolivar Orchestra, conducted by the reveared Gustav Dudamel.

Scotland’s landscapes became the focus as artists used extraordinary places as their canvases, most notably with Peace Camp, Tall Tales from the Riverbank, Speed of Light, Forest Pitch all venturing off the beaten track by using river, canals, mountains, coasts and forests as their venues.

Big ideas were explored in projects like Human Race and the Unlimited commissions where we saw how art and sport enable us to continually strive to go beyond our personal best.

Scotland’s cities were the locations for numerous events as Big Dance and Get Scotland Dancing took to the streets of Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh Glasgow, Inverness and Stirling. Glasgow’s Merchant City Festival saw Surge spill out into the public spaces and streets during Scotland’s festival of street arts, physical theatre and circus.

Edinburgh played a starring role in the London 2012 cultural celebrations with seven of the city’s Festivals presenting their own London 2012 inspired programmes and projects.

Scotland connected with the rest of the UK by featuring in programmes such as New Music 20 x 12, Hansel of Film left Shetland in June and journeyed around the UK before returning to Shetland on 8th September. National moments like All the Bells Work No 1197 on 27th July saw over 300 people rise early to ring a bell on the Scotsman Steps in Edinburgh, Martin Creed’s Work No. 1059.

Creative Scotland has commissioned a consortium led by University of the West of Scotland to carry out an Impact Evaluation of the London 2012 cultural activity in Scotland. The evaluation will map the range and reach of Scotland’s London 2012 Cultural Programme, measuring its impact on public, cultural and wider sectors. A report will be released in spring 2013.

Source: Creative Scotland