Inspired by London 2012

Participate.  Legacy.  Change.

In July 2005 London won its bid to host the 2012 Games intending to use the power of the Games to ‘Inspire a generation’ and deliver a lasting legacy for people across London and the UK.

In an Olympic and Paralympic first, London is the first Host City to deliver an official programme that rewards not-for-profit organisations for delivering exceptional grassroots and community based projects that are both inspired by London 2012 and contribute to the legacy from the Games.

Through the London 2012 Inspire Programme, exceptional projects are awarded the ‘Inspire Mark’ logo – the London 2012 ‘badge of excellence - as acknowledgment of their work and as a tool to help these organisations reach out to new and enlarged audiences by officially linking themselves with the Games.

By creating hundreds of thousands of opportunities for people to take part in Games-inspired activities spanning sport, volunteering, education, culture, sustainability and the promotion of business opportunities, Inspire projects are empowering people across London and the UK and making them feel part of the Games.

The Inspire story to date

Since the programme was launched as part of the Cultural Olympiad in 2008, organisations across London and the nations and regions of the UK have developed thousands of amazing projects that have successfully applied to be part of the Inspire Programme portfolio.

In December 2011 the application window for new projects to join the Programme was closed, bringing the portfolio to over 2500 projects nationwide and close to 400 in London alone, which is the most of any UK nation or region.

In 2012 we now celebrate these projects and the Londoners who have been inspired by the Games to do something extraordinary.   From 8-17 May a photographic exhibition in City Hall will tell the story of a small collection of projects taking place in London and after this date the photographs will be exhibited in other venies across London.