Theme introduction

Archives Awareness Campaign 2012 - Sports, Games and the Olympics

This year archives are encouraged to put on a broad range of activities to capture the imagination of people, young and old across their region/community and get them to engage in and explore records relating to the history of sport, games and the Olympics. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to stage an event or programme of events either celebrating the London 2012 Olympic Games, The Paralympic Games, the previous London Olympics e.g. 1908 and 1948 or any sporting achievements past and present that have occured in your community. You can also use this as an opportunity to remember historical and contemporary sporting heroes across the length and breadth of the UK.

Cultural Olympiad

To help inspire archives and enable them to find items that fit with the theme, we are opening this up to include the Cultural Olympiad. The Cultural Olympiad is intended to give everyone in the UK a chance to be part of London 2012 and inspire creativity across all forms of culture. Currently, a number of museums, galleries and libraries have signed up to the programme and will feature a variety of projects as part of the scheme. In a similar way, you can develop an activity that brings together stories and images that tell the story of sport in the UK and objects associated with it as well as the culture and science of sport.

Festival of sport-activities can include:

• exhibitions
• family activities for half term/summer holidays
• outdoor activities
• open days
• readings
• performances
• street entertainers
• competitions
• prize draws
• physical activities or non-physical activities, such as board games and card games

For something more attention grabbing, you could consider organising an event where for example, descendents of former Olympic athletes or sports heroes (from your area), meet with the local community. The activity could be used as a way of linking the generations who remember-or who remember being told about the 1908 and 1948 Olympics.

In addition, as it's the Queen's Jubilee, there is also a royal sub-theme for those that want to explore that.

Finally, the aim is for archive services across the UK, in local government, museums and galleries to join the team and the rest of the country in celebrating games and sports.

AAC messages and its audience

As always, archives should provide accessible activities to inspire adults, children and families. They should also encourage community participation to increase awareness of what archives are and how they can be used by existing, new and non traditional users. Developing audiences among younger people, students, schools and black and minority ethnic communities continue to be a priority to the campaign.

This year the theme will run from summer through to winter.