People’s Palace Projects hosted over 30 people yesterday morning at Queen Mary, University of London following the success of the Rio Occupation 2012, to look forward to LapaLondres Festival. LapaLondres is produced by PPP, taking place in Lapa – the vibrant cultural centre of Rio de Janeiro – at Fundição Progresso in 2013. The attendees were all previously our collaborators on Rio Occupation 2012: in addition to the independent producers, there were representatives present from the Barbican, Southbank Centre, BAC, V&A, B3 Media, Heart ‘n’ Soul, Candoco, Graeae, LIFT, Young Vic, Roundhouse, Big Dance and Daily Life Ltd (Bobby Baker).
The event particularly asked the participants to consider three things:
- Their ability to host artists from north-east Brazil (from Summer 2013)
- Interest in residencies in Rio (from Summer 2013)
- How their organisation or artists might be involved in LapaLondres 2013 and in collaborations over the next four years on the journey to Rio2016.
The event provided a full introduction to LapaLondres, which runs 17-23 April 2013 as part of the British Council’s TRANSFORM programme. LapaLondres hopes to inspire Rio artists, arts organisations and audiences about the cultural legacy from London 2012. It involves showcases of London/Rio collaborations from Rio Occupation 2012 and other London 2012 partnerships, a Cultural Olympic Forum and kick-start the journey to Rio 2016.