Our vision is to use the inspiration of the Games to leave a legacy of an active, healthy and creative society. We want people to be inspired, get involved and participate.
Planning and delivery
DCAL (the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure) is responsible for coordinating delivery of the local legacy strategy for London 2012 across three key themes – sport, community engagement and economic.
DCAL works in partnership with a range of organisations, including Sport NI, Disability Sports NI, the Arts Council NI, the NI Tourist Board, Volunteer Now, the Department of Education, the Department for Employment and Learning, Invest NI, the NI Local Government Association, as well as London 2012 sponsors and presenting partners.
By the end of the Games DCAL will have invested £2.3million funding to deliver a local legacy.
Cultural Olympiad
Since 2009, more than 350,000 people in Northern Ireland have engaged with over 300 local Cultural Olympiad activities.
The finale of the Cultural Olympiad is the London 2012 Festival, a 12-week festival of the arts from 21 June – 9 September.
Northern Ireland will open the London 2012 Festival with a rock concert in aid of Peace One Day in Derry~Londonderry; host its largest ever outdoor arts celebration, Land of Giants; deliver FLAGS , a once-in-a-lifetime art experience at the Giant’s Causeway; host NEST, an unusual census of people’s objects and their stories in Titanic Quarter; stage the world’s first festival of Samuel Beckett in Enniskillen with legendary theatre director Robert Wilson and Krapp’s Last Tape; and perform a children’s opera called Noye’s Fludde at Belfast Zoo.
Inspire
The London 2012 Inspire programme is a key way in which local people can engage with the Games, and it is also helping deliver a local legacy. There are 63 local Inspire projects across a range of themes and delivered by diverse non-commercial organisations, including government departments, universities, colleges, community and voluntary organisations and councils.
Get Set
There are over 450 schools across the area engaged in the Get Set programme
Sixty local schools have engaged in the Young Ambassadors Programme, delivered by Youth Sport Trust and supported by the Department of Culture, Arts and Culture, to raise the profile of the Olympic and Paralympic Values among young people.
Economic legacy
More than 1,800 companies from Northern Ireland have registered on the Compete For website, which enables businesses to compete for contract opportunities linked to the Games. Over 40 local companies have won main and supply chain contracts worth in excess of £40 million.
Sports participation
A total of 100,000 children have taken part in the Activ8 Inspire project, which encourages primary school children (and their families and friends) to get active and stay healthy. The programme has been developed by Sport NI.
The 5 Star Disability Sports Challenge is another Inspire project which has been taken up by over 20,000 children in over 200 schools across the country. 5 Star was developed by Disability Sports NI to promote understanding amongst children that a disability is not an obstacle in achieving success.
Contact information
For all enquiries related to Northern Ireland’s plans to benefit from the 2012 Games visit 2012ni@dcalni.gov.uk, or to subscribe to our monthly 2012 Games e-newsletter email northernireland@london2012.com
