It is said that enthusiasm goes a long way towards reaching your goals. In the case of Glyn Ley the saying definitely rings true. The self-confessed “arts fanatic” and “sports obsessive” says London hosting the 2012 Olympic Games is one of the best things ever for the arts.
Among the wealth of opportunities represented by the Games, Glyn says the most “eye-opening” is involvement in the opening and closing ceremonies, which predominately involve artists and organisations from the host country.
“There will be a four year Cultural Olympiad leading up the Games, which will bring masses of opportunity for arts organisations,” he says, “This is a national programme focusing on British arts, bringing the Olympic Games more towards its initial focus of sport and art – in the ‘original’ Olympics arts were judged in competitions alongside the sporting events.”
Glyn believes the link between sports and the arts at the Olympics has, in the past, either been missed or ignored by most arts organisations.
“There is a lot of debate at the moment as to whether (financially) we need to choose between arts and sport, and whether the arts will lose out to sport in the money and investment stakes,” he says.
“But I think there are lots of opportunities for arts organisations to be involved in collaboration with sports organisations, particularly around exploring similarities between sports and art forms.”
For example, one of the innovative projects aimed at making the most of the Games is Dance UK’s Healthier Dancer programme, which is aiming to
have a health centre for dancers based inside the Olympic Medical Institute.
To ensure that arts organisations around the country can get the most our of these opportunities, Glyn has set up the 2012 Arts Network website. Although the site is still in it’s infancy Glyn is confident the Network will continue to grow and benefit those who get involved.
Glyn says a large number of the arts organisations that have become members of the site are circus companies and street arts companies, which have really latched onto 2012 as an opportunity for growth.
Currently the site is a place for people to show that they are interested in 2012, and find information, research and news related to the arts and 2012 all on one site. “But,” says Glyn, “I am about to redesign and relaunch the site towards the end of March to be much more interactive, and encourage people to use the site as a place to share their own Olympic experience heading towards the Games, in as many ways as possible.”
The website is very much a labour of love. “I run the Network on my own, and it takes a lot of time!,” says Glyn, “I work full-time for Akademi, so work on the 2012 Arts Network in evenings and weekends whenever I need. I do not receive any grant funding, and there are no membership charges for the site, as I feel that would perhaps stifle companies from becoming involved, particularly those smaller ones who may have a lot to gain in terms of exposure, but for whom money is also tight,” he says.
Glyn also plans to hosts regular lunchtime and evening talks to foster discussion among artists and arts organisations. “I expect discussions to be mainly based around what opportunities exist, or that people have heard of,” he says, “As more conferences and events take place around the Olympics, I hope that the discussions will also give participants a chance to discuss and debate their feelings as to what they have learned from these events, in a free-thinking environment away from the official structure of the events themselves.”
Glyn’s desire to see the arts make the most of 2012 evolved out of the work he did for his thesis to earn his MA in Arts Management from City University.
“My research last year showed me that there was very little consideration going into 2012 from arts organisations in general, and those who were already starting to make an effort were finding it very difficult to get any information from official bodies or anyone in the know,” he says.
“I thought I should start the site to kick things off from the other end – arts organisations getting together themselves to plan what they should do, rather than waiting for others to tell them,” he said.
Glyn says: “There is a lot of cynicism in the UK right now over the spiralling costs of the Games, some of it quite rightly too, but this is truly one of those once-in-a-lifetime opportunities which will not come around for any of us again, particularly not during our working lifetimes. Let’s all make the most of it while we can.”
