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On Friday 4 November the largest cultural celebration alongside any Games ever was announced.  

Officially launched in London by actor Mark Rylance, choreographer Arlene Philips and artist Martin Creed, The festival will give people throughout the UK the opportunity to welcome the 205 participating nations to the Games in a a spectacular 12-week nationwide celebration bringing together leading artists from across the world with the very best from the UK, opening on Midsummer’s Day 21 June and running until 9 September 2012.

The line-up - now available for the public to view on the London 2012 Festival website -features some of the incredible work from the four year Cultural Olympiad and new commissions to world leading artists, including Simon Rattle, David Hockney, Damon Albarn, Mark Rylance, Mike Leigh, Meera Syal and Vivienne Westwood. More programming announcements will be made in 2012 when comedy and pop artists are confirmed.  

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Essex County Council showed their excitement as they joined in the launch of the ‘All The Bell’s’ arts project at Hadleigh Old Fire Station.  Read more>>

The London 2012 Festival is the finale of the Cultural Olympiad. So far the Cultural Olympiad has reached over a million people in the East of England through more than 40 projects, equivalent in value to over £2 million worth of cultural activity. This has provided in excess of 500 workshops, involving over 20,000 people in activity and skills development programmes. These have included dance workshops, film and animation training, international exchanges and opportunities for young people to become curators. Open Weekend has also provided over 400 events which have given people new opportunities to experience culture across Essex and the East of England.

Essex highlights of the programme for London 2012 Festival include:

Sparks will Fly.....Internationally acclaimed outdoor performance specialists Walk the Plank will present a free spectacular in Chelmsford. A county-wide spectacle will run in Essex from May to July in 2012. Engaging over 100,000 people, it will culminate in a large scale pyrotechnic performance in Hylands Park on 6 July 2012. Walk the Plank, a highly experienced outdoor performance and pyrotechnic company, will be designing and orchestrating Sparks Will Fly. Sparks will Fly will be delivered by Essex County Council’s Arts Development and 2012 Legacy Teams, Chelmsford Borough Council Cultural Events Team, local authorities and communities across Essex. 

Carnival Crossroads East Bound will bring together the East of England’s local carnival artists, community groups and schools to create a carnival showcase of our history and celebrating local pride for the festival on 8 July 2012. The UK Centre for Carnival Arts will be connecting 100 people from each of Cambridge, Ipswich, Norwich, Southend on Sea and Luton, with renowned national carnival artists to exchange techniques and design. Local artists will lead community workshops, where everyone’s invited, to share and explore our story through carnival. Pop-up Mas Camps will arrive in May to start to create carnival designs, costumes, music and dance. The creations will be exhibited and open days will enable everyone to get together and participate in carnival. The project will culminate in an extravaganza parade, bringing together 500 people from across the East of England to perform in Luton’s International Carnival on 8 July 2012.

Click here for more information about Essex Legacy 2012 celebrations>>