Cultural_OlympiadJanuary 24 - Unlimited, the ground-breaking programme that celebrates arts and culture by disabled and deaf artists on an unprecedented scale, has been awarded £820,000 ($1.3 million) in the latest round of funding by the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad, the UK Arts Councils and the British Council.


Ranging widely in artform - including choreography, live arts, visual arts and theatre - the 13 new commissions include a circus show exploring the ups and downs of bipolar disorder and thousands of ceramic flowers planted at historic sites across the country.

The works will take place across the UK.

With support from the British Council many of the commissions will feature collaboration between the artists in the UK and other countries including Brazil, China, Germany and South Africa.

Unlimited encourages collaborations and partnerships between disability-lead arts organisations, disabled and deaf artists, producers, and mainstream organisations to celebrate the inspiration of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, and produce work like never before.

The programme, with a total fund of £3 million ($4.7 million), is principally funded by the National Lottery through the Olympic Lottery Distributor, and is delivered in partnership between London 2012, Arts Council England, Creative Scotland, Arts Council of Wales, Arts Council of Northern Ireland and the British Council.

The first round of Unlimited commissions was announced in March 2010, and awarded ten artists funds totalling £400,000 ($638,000).

These projects are now being developed and are demonstrating the significant talent of disabled artists at festivals and events across the country including DaDaFest 2010, International Network for Contemporary Performing Arts (IETM) showcase in Glasgow, Greenwich + Docklands International Festival, and the 2010 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where Janice Parker was awarded a Herald Angel Award for her Private Dancer performance.


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