The Tree of Light is a large scale community celebration funded by The Legacy Trust and Arts Council of England. Creative Junction are supporting project leaders Thames Arts with the management of the Windsor, Slough and South Buckinghamshire hub.
South East England’s natural environment will be fêted as community performers make an unforgettable contribution to the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad. Participants will take part in performances in Oxford, Henley, Reading and Windsor around a central Tree of Light – a monumental, sculptured work of art – in visually stunning spectacle events featuring music, choreography and cutting edge digital arts in spectacular settings.
Creative Junction are working with the 10 Windsor Hub Root Groups groups, made up of a total of 300 people aged 9 to 90 who come from community, arts and faith groups, colleges, schools and social enterprises, from the Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead, Slough Borough Council and South Buckinghamshire District Council. They will perform in Summer 2012 in front of thousands of spectators as part of the cultural celebrations of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The Windsor Hub Root Groups are:
- Eton Wick First School, – Dorney Combined School, – SWIPE (Slough West Indian Peoples Enterprise), – Dedworth Middle School, – Colnbrook Primary School, – Slough Town Centre Churches, – Langley Academy, – Beaconsfield School, – Mona Lisa Arts and Media, – Creative Academy
Download here the Tree of Light promo pack
Watch here The Tree Of Light video from Gideon Berger on Vimeo.
Community Groups and Science Partners
Between September 2011 and June 2012 arts and science partners will work with ten groups in each of the Oxford, Henley, Reading and Windsor “Hubs” to elicit responses to the project’s themes. Forty participating groups represent a diverse range of ages, abilities and backgrounds across the Thames Valley. They will explore themes directly related to mankind’s relationship to trees. Participants’ ideas and aspirations will then be expressed artistically as groups work towards the final performances.
The massive Tree of Light designed and created by Block9 will use LED lighting and will be powered by Electric Pedals’ adapted bicycles and rowing apparatus. The large-scale celebrations will embody the powerful sustainability message that is at the heart of the Cultural Olympiad and the London 2012 Games as dance, music and movement combine with cutting edge digital technology to create digital art on LED screens and a blaze of light – a visually stunning public spectacle that involves more than a thousand people.
The yearlong project will not only celebrate the Olympic movement but will also highlight the need to live and work with sustainability and the natural environmetn and culminate in a major weekend celebration prior to the games.
“Tree of Light ” news stories
- Smooth(ie) Operators at Mona Lisa Arts & Media – Spring 2012
- Tree of light takes participants on a voyage to appreciate the Natural World – Autumn 2011
For more information on The Tree of Light please contact Jeannette Brooks at Windsor Festival on 01753 831353 or email jeannette.brooks@creativejunction.org.uk
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