The culmination of the Cultural Olympiad will be the London 2012 Festival, bringing leading artists from all over the world together for the UK’s biggest ever festival. It’s a chance for everyone to celebrate London 2012 through dance, music, theater, the visual arts, film and digital innovation, and leave a lasting legacy on the arts in the UK. London 2012 Festival will be one of the most exciting events that the UK has ever seen, bringing more than 10 million people to see 1,000 performances and events.

Cate Blanchett, Toni Morrison, Olafur Eliasson, David Hockney, Mike Leigh, Jude Law, Damon Albarn, Rufus Norris and Jamie Hewlett head the lineup of artists featured in the first group of commissions and special projects for the London 2012 Festival. The finale of the Cultural Olympiad, the London 2012 Festival will be a 12-week UK-wide cultural celebration. Opening on Midsummer’s Day, June 21, 2012, and running until the last day of the London 2012 Paralympic Games on Sept. 9, 2012, the festival will provide an outstanding summer of arts and creativity in the UK.


Tate Modern Damien Hirst Exhibition
April 4–Sept. 9, 2012

In 2012, Tate Modern will present the first substantial survey of Damien Hirst’s work ever held in the UK. Hirst is widely regarded as one of the most important artists working today, and has created some of the most iconic works in recent history. The exhibition will provide a journey through 2 decades of Hirst’s inventive practice.  


Radio 1's Hackney Weekend
June 23–24, 2012

Radio 1 will hold the BBC's biggest ever free ticketed live music event, on Hackney Marshes on June 23¬–24, 2012, as part of the London 2012 Festival. The event will feature 6 BBC stages, and 100,000 people will be able to attend. The first acts on the bill have already been announced. Locals Leona Lewis and Plan B will perform (they are also special ambassadors for the event), as will Florence and The Machine, and Tinie Tempah. They will be joined by more than 100 international and UK artists, bands and DJs, making it the biggest multi-artist lineup ever for Radio 1.


Big Dance 2012
July 7–15, 2012

Big Dance is the world’s largest and most influential dance initiative. The celebrations will expand in 2012 to reach across the whole of the UK involving more than 5 million people in the experience of dance. Highlights of the program include a spectacular performance featuring a cast of 2,000 dancers in Trafalgar Square directed by Wayne McGregor on Saturday, July 14, 2012, as part of the Big Street Dance Day, in partnership with the British Council. They are sending an invitation to young people all over the world to join in a global record-breaking attempt to be part of the largest multi-location dance routine ever performed.