The best of London’s culture & creative industries celebrated at Rio

• ‘London’s Soundtrack’ and ‘Made in London’ events celebrate London as the world capital of culture and creativity at British House at the Rio Olympic Games
• With global attention focused on Rio and Brazil, artists and performers from across the performing and visual arts showcase work from across the capital

Artists, performers and ambassadors from across London’s creative industries will promote London as a world capital of culture and creativity in Rio next week, showing that London is open to the world. The events, ‘Soundtrack to London’ and ‘Made in London’, will take place at British House, situated in the stunning Parque Lage.

The official home of all things British at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, British House will celebrate the sporting achievements of Team GB along with the expertise, creativity and dynamism of the UK and its capital, London. British House is a unique partnership between the British Olympic Association, the British Paralympic Association, the Mayor of London and the UK Government’s GREAT Britain campaign. Beyond its role as a venue for the British athletes during the games, the house will provide a global platform for UK businesses, including the culture and creative industries, to promote their work and partnership opportunities.

Rising London grime MC Elf Kid will perform alongside leading British underground artists including Nadia Rose and Logan Sama at ‘Soundtrack to London’ on 14 August. This event will feature an exclusive live performance from Elf Kid who will perform in front of hundreds of high profile guests from the worlds of sport, industry and culture. This grime showcase follows Dizzee Rascal’s performance at the London Olympics Opening Ceremony in 2012 and further highlights the significance of the grime genre, which has seen an increase in coverage by mainstream media in the last few years, after high-profile artists such as Stormzy and Skepta broke through into the mainstream in 2016.

‘Made in London’ (on 18 August) will showcase a variety of London’s contemporary culture and creative industries – from Punk’s 40^th anniversary to the Shakespeare 400 celebrations. A cross-section of London’s best cultural assets are represented at the event, including Studio Wayne McGregor, Shakespeare’s Globe, The Royal Opera House and Royal Ballet, The Philharmonia, the BeatBox Collective and Global Street Art. The Science Museum will be conducting interactive experiments alongside an immersive performance from The Salon Collective and the Photography Youth Music Club Archive (PYMCA) will showcase an exhibition featuring imagery from across the decades.

The Culture Diary, the UK’s online directory supporting the export of creative industries overseas representing more than 8000 cultural organisations and the host of thousands of cultural events listings each month, have worked with the industry to curate these events.

The Culture Diary will also be working to increase international cultural export sales and collaborative opportunities through a special networking afternoon tea, with ambassadors from the UK culture sector meeting with a range of key global contacts from the creative industries.

London continues to welcome record number of tourists. Cultural tourism generates £3.2bn a year for London’s economy and supports around 80,000 jobs*. Four out of five visitors to the city come specifically for ‘culture and heritage’* and the city’s cultural offer continues to evolve with the development of a new arts quarter on the site of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. The Rio Olympics 2016 provides an international platform to showcase and promote London and Britain’s cutting-edge culture and creative industries, creating new business opportunities and developing networks.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has pledged to strengthen London’s position as the world’s artistic and cultural capital, making support for the creative industries a ‘core’ priority. As one of the city’s fastest growing sectors, the Mayor sees the creative industries as a major area for economic growth, which can create more jobs for Londoners and add greatly to the capital’s prosperity. London’s creative industries are growing three times faster than the rest of the economy. The industry already provides 800,000 jobs in London as well as generating £35 billion for the economy.

Sadiq Khan said, “London is the world’s artistic and cultural capital. The capital’s unique cultural scene makes a substantial and vital contribution to our city’s economic prosperity. I’m delighted that London’s creative sector is able to showcase its extraordinary talent at the Rio Olympics on an international stage, sending out a signal that London is truly open to the world.”