cultural olympiad » Igniting ambition festival 2010

Igniting Ambition Festival 2010 invests in and celebrates a broad range of festival activity across the three cities and counties of Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire.

Running from April - November 2010 this is our longest running, most far-reaching festival to date and we hope that in the unique partnerships that it has fostered and developed, it provides the blueprint for future festival activity at a regional level.

This is an exciting, diverse programme, celebrating the wealth of creativity, entrepreneurship and excellence that characterises the East Midlands' cultural landscape in the countdown to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Artists Amy Franceschini and Myriel Milicivec will transform a piece of land on Loughborough University Campus into a hub of creative and horticultural activity, exploring new ways of thinking about food in our daily lives.

With workshops, feasts, demonstrations and tours, Foodshed will be a unique gardening experience.

Working in partnership with Leicester's Phoenix Square, young people have commissioned, developed and performed in two short films celebrating the theme of Personal Best, one of the key values of the Olympic and Paralympic Movement.

The films will be premiered at Phoenix Square and will tour to rural festivals throughout Leicestershire in Summer 2010.

An evening of spectacular performance and choreography by Derbyshire's youth dance talent, with pieces inspired by the themes of the UK Cultural Olympiad.

Take a ride in the Whispers Rickshaw and get a taste of China. Don the headphones and immerse yourself in a world where secret pockets hide intriguing objects that contemplate the nature of journeys and destiny.

Classical Chinese music, low-fi electronica, computer gadgetry and story-telling intermingle to create an intimate, philosophical journey that asks the essential question, where are you going?

Contemporary artists from China, India, Finland and Singapore are making links with the region's artists and audiences in the first partnership project of its kind by the major visual arts organisations in the East Midlands.

The work with communities local to each venue will lead to a series of new commissions, exhibitions and events in 2011 and 2012. Artists include: Simo Alitalo, Sonia Khurana, Dinu Li, Jason Lim and Vidha Saumya.

An exciting new way of exploring Troilus and Cressida, Shakespeare's only play to feature events and characters from the mythology of Ancient Greece, the birthplace of the modern Olympic Games.

The beat of Shakespeare's poetry provides the pulse for fun, aerobic-based exercise while his amazing language, vibrant characters and fascinating themes are explored. A participatory, literary, active experience that crosses boundaries and is not to be missed!

Derbyshire poet laureate Ann Atkinson is working with young writers to create a series of poems inspired by the sports and aspirations of some of the county's talented young sportspeople.

Building on the runaway success of Lyric Lounge 2009, 2010 will see the Lyric Lounge developing into a season of mini-festivals celebrating spoken word in transformed spaces with an aim to inspire people as readers, writers and performers.

Lyric Lounge is a Renaissance East Midlands project funded by Arts Council England and delivered by Writing East Midlands.

500 young people are developing new journalism and media skills and creating an extraordinary moving image, audio and written archive of their engagement with the UK Cultural Olympiad.

The archive places the engagement of young people in the countdown to and delivery of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games in an historical context for future generations.

Dance4 has invited international artist Miguel Pereira (Portugal) to work with Flying High Youth Dance Company and two local young choreographers - Ben Eagles and Kieran Taylor to create an exciting piece of dance performance work this spring.

The young people will take the work abroad during a creative, cultural international exchange with European youth company TanzZeit Jugendcompany, Berlin. The project will culminate in a celebratory performance by both the UK-based and international young people in Nottingham in the Autumn.

A spell-binding evening of dance, poetry, lyricism and theatre that reaches deep into the heart of hip-hop culture and its African roots. Explosive and emotive, this show is proof that hip-hop is a whole lot more than just hoodies and bling

Igniting Hip-Hop will be showcased at Curve as part of Spark Children's Arts Festival, a two-week summer festival of stories, wonder and magic for children and families.

An exhibition of commissioned and existing artworks by 13 acclaimed international artists taking place within the house and grounds of Calke Abbey.

Confirmed artists include: Anna Barham, Karla Black, Marcel Broodthaers, Lucy Clout, Clem Crosby, Jimmie Durham, Mark Fairnington, Doug Fishbone, Martino Gamper, Roger Hiorns, John Plowman, Daniel Silver, Harald Smykla and Jack Strange. A programme of performances, screenings and events will be presented every weekend during the exhibition.

A partnership between the Harley Gallery and the V&A Museum of Childhood, hosting an international artist exchange between India and the UK, exploring the relationships between people, cultural artefacts and cultural identity.

An exhibition linked to the exchange, Through Other Eyes: Contemporary Indian Art, will take place at the Harley Gallery between 21 June - 15 August 2010.

A spectacular outdoor performance based on the tale of the Monkey King including dance, movement, comedy, martial arts, music, giant puppets, masks and percussion to create a unique visual treat that will tour to outdoor festivals in summer 2010.

Young people's theatre groups from Colombia, Italy, Korea and Lithuania will descend on Leicester for a five-day festival and a truly global programme of performances.

The festival complements De Montfort University's hosting of the International University Theatre Association 8th World Congress - the first time the congress has been hosted by a UK University.

Click here to see a gallery of images from the Colombian theatre group's performance of Las Tres Preguntas del Diablo Enamorado.

Join the club for a whistle-stop national carnival tour that will include the Carnivals of Leicester, Nottingham, Birmingham, Kendal and Leeds.

The tour will be complemented by a masterclass, exhibition and workshops with an international carnival artist.

Power of Dance is an exciting new opportunity for young people aged 16-25 to train with choreographers from around the world. They will be taken from rehearsal studio to stage, exploring different dance styles from Argentina, India, New Zealand, South Africa and England.

This intensive dance training will prepare young people over six weeks to perform in a new dance-opera called Wonderland.

Developed by Renaissance East Midlands, Migration Stories will collect and share stories from migrant communities across the East Midlands with archive footage being shown across the BBC Lives Sites network in the region.

A vibrant dance theatre performance inspired by an artistic exchange between artists and young people from Derbyshire and Mamelodi, South Africa.

The performance will tour to the Wirksworth Festival and Derby Feste in September 2010.

See 'a film about hands' here recorded by Film City in Mamelodi during the artisitc exchange.

A free festival showcasing exciting, interactive art installations, digital art projections, live music and carnival and street arts from many different Latin American countries and cultures.

Night of Festivals is a flagship ArtReach project celebrating the bicentenary of Latin American independence and the centenary of the Mexican Revolution.

Derby Feste brings the whole city out onto the streets once again for three days of fantastic events and extraordinary international performance.

The first ever UK Young Artists will be coming to Derby in October 2010, showcasing and bringing together exceptional young talent from around the UK.

Over four days Derby will welcome the best creative talent from artists under 30 to showcase their work across a full spectrum of art forms. From this national showcase approximately 10 participants will be selected to represent the UK at the Biennale of Young Artists from Europe and the Mediterranean in Morocco in 2011.

The British Art Show Information Centre will be designed, delivered and developed by young people from Nottingham in order to widen access to the British Art Show 7.

Young people will operate guided tours at all three festival venues - New Art Exchange, Nottingham Castle & Museum and Nottingham Contemporary.

A unique event presenting a range of contemporary art exhibitions, ambitious new artwork commissions, site specific public projects, artists' talks, performances, screenings and music events in the artists-led spaces, studios and empty buildings of Nottingham to complement the city's hosting of the British Art Show 7.

Derby will celebrate its unique diversity through its celebration of Eid, Diwali, Bonfire Night and Christmas with a lantern procession and music and dance celebration.

Young people will be at the heart of the Festival of Light celebrations through workshops in lantern making, dance and world percussion, facilitated by international artists who will perform for the spectacular finale.

A series of events which aim to increase knowledge about the cultural aspects of future mobility and the new spaces created by electronic networks.

As part of the programme, Igniting Ambition has supported Going Solo: Rural Adventures in an Urban Network. Dan Belasco Rogers (UK/DE), Simon Faithfull (UK/DE) & Esther Polak (NL) have been commissioned to explore what it means to truly be by one's self, to go into the wilderness alone to explore and record their experiences as location data, sound samples, video clips, text or drawings.