So the 2012 Olympics will be held in London. And there is concern about it ruining parts of Hackney, a shame as Hackney has been on the uptick and it needs help in ways other than what the Olympics can provide. Derelict London offers some pics of the areas in question in Hackney, along with some pretty interesting photos of the non-pretty non-touristy side of London, which most touristy people don’t see. More on this controversy from Hackney locals here and here.

Regardless of that, however, the United Kingdom has run a contest for artists in 9 areas of England (East, East Midlands, London, North East, North West, South East, South West, West Midlands, Yorkshire) 1 in Scotland, 1 in Northern Ireland and 1 in Wales called Artists Taking the Lead.

About from Realm Productions Ltd on Vimeo.

From the Artists Taking the Lead website:
Artists taking the lead is one of the major projects of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad and is being developed by Arts Council England in partnership with London 2012 and the arts councils of Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

Twelve commissions of up to £500,000 will be awarded to create 12 new works of art across the country; one in each of the nine English regions, and in the nations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The project was launched in March 2009 with a call to artists to submit their big ideas in just 400 words. Over 2,000 artists applied, spanning a huge range of artforms and incorporating some spectacular ideas.

The submissions were judged by panels of artists and producers in each of the nations and regions, to decide the shortlist.

I’m especially excited about the project, Lionheart by “crochetdermy” artist Shauna Richardson. You can see more of her work here and some of her projects here. (For the curious, yes, this is a project related to King Richard I, Richard the Lionheart! You can read more about the connection to him here on the righthand side column of the page.)

East Midlands from Realm Productions Ltd on Vimeo.

All of the projects are brilliant, you can check out the winners plus those who were shortlisted here. For more about Shauna, go check out her lovely website. There is also a post with lots of pics of her over at Crochet Creative.

Thanks for the heads up, Mary via her friend Maggie!

Way to go, crochet!

And completely unrelated, but because I LOVE koalas, and will one day get to pet one and see if they are actually soft, did you know they might be extinct in 30 years? As it may take me 30 years to get to Australia, go learn about how they can be saved, therefore helping them live and me achieve my dream!