is 2008-12 cultural olympiad a business opportunity?

The Cultural Olympiad – a programme of arts and cultural activities which is being set up to showcase British talent and innovation to the world - will run for the four years leading up to the 2012 Olympic Games. It starts next August, immediately after our athletes return from Beijing. For many local companies, the Cultural Olympiad will be first real chance to benefit from the preparations for 2012. But at the moment the plans are rather vague, the funds are in short supply, and there is not much focus on the involvement and opportunities for local businesses.

So far, very few Hackney firms have managed to become suppliers to the organisers of the Olympic games. McGrath Brothers in Hackney Wick, who are helping with demolition and rubble disposal, are a notable exception. A number of local businesses have actually shut down due to land purchases and road closures near the construction site, including nine out of thirty nine pubs that used to be in the E3 postcode near Bow. The Lighthouse pub in Wick Lane, near the now virtually unused Pudding Mill Lane station, says that it has lost 70 per cent of its trade this year.

So the Cultural Olympiad will be the first major Olympic business opportunity for local companies, and perhaps the only one for the many cultural and arts businesses in Hackney. The plans include regional celebrations and showcases of local talent, thousands of community events, contracts for film and video makers, a World Cultural Festival, an International Shakespeare Festival, and an international Museums Exhibition.

Last week the Hackney Enterprise Network took part in a discussion about the content and purpose of the Cultural Olympiad with Baroness Lola Young, a cross bench member of the House of Lords, and Keith Khan, the Head of Culture for London 2012.

“Barcelona and Sydney used the cultural events associated with the Olympic Games to reposition the host city and host country in the eyes of their own communities and of the world,” says Baroness Young. “The Cultural Olympiad is a chance to boost regeneration and employment in London, to develop skills, to widen participation in the arts, and to discuss Britishness. Perhaps we can come together for this one moment, healing our divisions and overcoming our lack of social cohesion. But to do that a clearer, more precise vision for the Cultural Olympiad is required.”

“These aims are important, but too many people see the Cultural Olympiad as an opportunity for handouts to minority arts,” says Marek Simon of Digital Sport, an online gaming company in Shoreditch. “If the benefits are to be long term, the arts and cultural sector will have to become more businesslike, setting up partnerships around the themes of the Cultural Olympiad with enterprises from the private sector. The funds for performances and exhibitions should come from satisfied paying customers, not government sponsors. The Cultural Olympiad should help the arts to pay their own way, not foot the bill.”

There does appear to be a gap between the aims of the scheme and its ability to pay. Arts organisations nationwide have pointed out that government and lottery cash for the arts has recently fallen by £300 million as funds have been reallocated to preparations for the Olympic Games.

“Financially, things will be very tough for the culture and arts sector,” Baroness Young admits. “But we can’t let this once in a lifetime opportunity to celebrate our diverse cultures pass, so we must do what we can with the funding available. Large scale projects are important, but I’d particularly like to see more small organisations helped to do local events with small amounts of money.”

“London is going to integrate the Cultural Olympiad with its plans to regenerate the East End, improving education, local life, skills and employment,” says 2012 Head of Culture Keith Khan. “The Cultural Olympiad is central to turning our communities around, and making London a world class city once again. It is a major opportunity for the cultural and creative sector, and for young people, and it will leave a strong legacy.”

In the division of tasks between the five Olympic boroughs, Hackney Council was given overall responsibility for cultural activity related to the Games.

The Cultural Olympiad will be discussed at a Hackney Enterprise Network Christmas event on Tuesday 11 December from 6-9pm at the Old Ship in Hackney. Cllr Guy Nicholson will be talking about the prospects for local business in 2008 and Mike Mulvey, the Chief Executive of the London Business Network, will be talking about Olympic opportunities. For further details email events@hackneyenterprise.net or call 020 7553 3024

two years of success for London Bites theatre business

The Hackney-based company London Bites, which brings writers, actors, and theatre directors together for informal public performances of new work every month, has a lot to celebrate on its second birthday, including a pat on the back from the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, a grant to help build the business over the year ahead, and a new franchise in South Wales.

A glitzy anniversary party was hosted by comedian Shazia Mirza – who has been described as the “Lenny Bruce of female stand-up” - at the Top Floor Bar @Turnmills in Clerkenwell. Talented actors performing new work on the night included Martin Miller, Esther McAuley, Karen Osenton and Andrew McGillan.

For the last two years London Bites has been helping scriptwriters to secure commissions, actors to get work, and London’s theatre directors to book the best new talent in the capital.

For one evening every month, up to twelve performers - who have been selected by audition - perform five minute sets of new drama and comedy onstage in front of directors, industry professionals and the public.

Organiser Claire-Louise English has exactly the right background and connections to make the gatherings succeed. The Hoxton-based manager of London Bytes is the daughter of the actor and comedian Arthur English, probably best known for his role as Mr Harman the maintenance man in the TV series Are You Being Served?

“We are always looking for new talent for our show,” she says. “We audition every month and we’re looking for five minute monologues and ten minute duologues. We welcome new writing. If you have a script that you would like to see performed, this is the place to do it.”

“I am doing great since my appearance in Superhero at London Bites,” says actor Dylan MacDonough. “I got a show from it, which led to an agent, which led to a job in television. It’s an approach that works.”

“London is a world centre for performance and composition, but the opportunities for professionals to meet and perform with other actors and writers are actually few and far between,” says the founder of London Bytes, Melissa Leigh. “We provide an informal atmosphere in which performers and writers can demonstrate their work, free from the normal constraints and pressures of a conventional showcase.”

The theatre world has begun to sit up and take notice. A report from the Edinburgh Fringe Festival recently praised London Bites for “introducing excellent new theatrical acting and writing talent to audiences and the media via high quality and compelling shows.”

London Bite’s networking and performance events have also won sponsorship by Spotlight, the main casting directory for stage and screen.

Work is now underway to franchise the pioneering arts business out to theatre professionals in other cities in the United Kingdom, with the support of a grant from the Hackney Enterprise Network.

The first of these new ventures, Cardiff Bites, is already up and running in South Wales, and holding auditions. Its first shows will be held in November.

“It is notoriously difficult for new writers and actors from east London to get onto the radar of the theatre establishment,” says Patrick Nicholson of the Hackney Enterprise Network. “London Bites opens doors and makes introductions that matter, as well as laying on a very good night out for everyone involved. It is a theatrical innovation that has begun in Hackney and I will believe it will be replicated across the country.”

To contact London Bites, email clare@standupdrama.com or call 02079232295.