London 2012 blog

"It's not a launch!" I kept telling everyone in the office. "It's not a launch," I opined to ministers and mayors. "It's not a launch," I told the media - repeatedly!

But our briefing session to five hundred representatives of the cultural and creative sectors in the Royal Festival Hall was an important rite of passage as we build the Cultural Olympiad.

It wasn't a launch because the moment for grand public fanfares and announcements about individual concerts, exhibitions, events and projects is a long way off - the Cultural Olympiad doesn't start for another fourteen months!

The briefing was no less important however - it was aimed not at the wider public, but at friends and colleagues throughout the sector.

It was all about establishing the framework for the Cultural Olympiad. One person called it "the rules of the road", whilst another described it as "building the skeleton so that the creative juices can flow around it".

Whatever we call it, I hope lots of people left the session with a clearer idea of how the Cultural Olympiad will work, what it stands for, the kind of projects we're looking for, the route to send ideas and how to join in with the many major projects that are already being planned.

Indeed, if you missed the session but want this kind of information there's a briefing document to download - you can find it in the Culture section of the London 2012 website.

If I'm making the whole session sound a bit like a conference of management consultants, I'm doing it an injustice.

We enjoyed inspirational speeches from Ken Livingstone and Tessa Jowell, and I'll never forget Jude Kelly and Jonathan Edwards conducting an on-stage "marriage of sport and art" (but before the tabloids start calling, it was a metaphorical "marriage").

Christina Coker announced a fantastic nine million pound investment in 2012-related youth music making and Dugald Mackie talked about the first cultural investment from Legacy Trust UK supporting our International Festival of Youth Culture. Craig Hassell even delivered a "Cultural Epilogue" to the event.

Craig now runs "English National Ballet" but was my equivalent for the Sydney Olympics in 2000. His message of support and reassurance, based on the tough realities of his experience down under, makes me want to book him for a regular therapeutic drink or two!

But most inspirational of all was probably none of the speakers - but a performance of Nitro's "Mass Carib".

Inspired by the anniversary of the abolition of slavery and being performed at this year's excellent Greenwich and Dockland's Festival, the twenty five singers (pictured below) and accompanying band were far more eloquent about the Cultural Olympiad than any speech could be!