After the Event: Culture and Sport - Access and Legacies

After the Event will focus on events of every hue - from the global to the local; from the mega to the mini; from cultural to sports. It will ask: ‘How do we make them ‘open’? How do we make them work for us? What do we mean by legacy?’

2008 is the year of the Beijing Olympics, Euro 2008 and Liverpool’s City of Culture. Our conference takes place during Manchester’s World Sport 08. It’s the year the Olympiad hands over to London ahead of 2012. Each will claim to deliver an event that everyone can join in. Each will claim a ‘legacy’.

But there are also a myriad of local, smaller events. Cultural community celebrations. Sports festivals. Youth activities. Away from the cameras, how do we organise these to ensure access, benefits and impacts?

There is an imperative that these events all deliver. Great occasions. Openness. Participation. Accessibility. Community development. Legacy.