City Hall to host free cultural festival

Performers include Michael Nyman, Courtney Pine, Nikki Yeoh and Ola Onabule, DJ Pogo and MC Sparkii, Rita Ray and Max Reinhardt, Bollywood Brass Band, Sin E and the London School of Samba.  Workshops and demonstrations include percussion with Orphy Robinson and Sanchita Farruque, textile workshops, creative writing, drama and dance workshops, Sports and physical activities include Capoeira Abolicao, road tennis and football soleil demonstrations.

Serious have commissioned video installation specialists Yeast to create a unique audio-visual experience based on the poem Lines in Potentis by Ben Okri. This video remix will also reflect elements of London's world-class cultural life and will be played continuously throughout the event on the spiral staircase and in the Assembly Chamber. The production will also incorporate other commissions that have been created on the Mayor's behalf to celebrate London's creativity.

This includes images of London by twelve well known and emerging photographers, including Martin Parr, Juergen Teller and Elaine Constantine that were commissioned by the Photographers' Gallery on the Mayor's behalf; the poem by Ben Okri; a short play by award winning Tanika Gupta; the London Weave Bookmark, designed by Adelaide Olagbaju, on a unique loom incorporating Kente-Oke, two different weaving techniques from Ghana and Nigeria. Young Brixton based company Spin were commissioned to deign the document itself, which even uses a typeface associated with London.

Cultural Capital, the Mayor's ten-year plan for culture in the capital, will be available for public consultation from Saturday 31 May. The consultation period will end in the middle of September, with the final culture strategy being published at the end of the year.

Cultural Capital: Live will take place at City Hall near Tower Bridge on Saturday 31 May from 2-7pm and on Sunday 1 June from 11-6pm. Entrance is free, but entrance will be on a strict first come first served basis.