As part of the Cultural Olympiad, artists have been encouraged to use the UK as a blank canvas, with fascinating results. A range of exciting projects have been commissioned from different regions...

On Landguard Point Pacitti Company (East region)
A series of large-scale, outdoor events in which lots of people take part will become a community feature film. The events will take place across the Eastern region and explore key themes of trade, defence and migration.

Lionheart Shauna Richardson (East Midlands)
Three 30ft lions will be hand-crocheted and displayed in a huge taxidermy-style case in Nottingham. Lionheart will celebrate the rich cultural heritage of the East Midlands, taking its inspiration from Richard the Lionheart.

Bus-Tops Alfie Dennen and Paula Le Dieu (London)
LED panels on the roofs of bus stops will provide Londoners with a unique canvas on which to talk to each other, display their creativity and express what is special about their city.

~Flow The Owl Project and Ed Carter (North East)
An environmentally sustainable watermill will be created to float on the River Tyne, forming an arts space where you can play with lots of fantastical mechanical devices.

The Boat Project Lone Twin (South East)
The people of the South East have been asked to donate wooden objects of personal significance to help create a beautiful boat. Once complete, it will sail the South East coast and become a focus for celebration.

nowhereisland Alex Hartley (South West)
Alex Hartley will bring an island he discovered in the High Arctic in 2004 to the South West of England. It will navigate the coast accompanied by a travelling embassy, exploring issues of climate change and land ownership.

Godiva Awakes Imagineer Productions (West Midlands)
Coventry icon Lady Godiva will be recreated as a gigantic human puppet and lead a cast of thousands in a spectacular processional performance, before making her epic journey to London.

OverWorlds and UnderWorlds The Quay Brothers (Yorkshire)
Transforming the familiar city into a place where myth penetrates the everyday, where the imagined becomes real and the real imagined.

Column Anthony McCall (North West)
Anthony McCall's Column will form a slender, sinuous, spinning column of cloud rising into the sky from the surface of the water in Merseyside during the Olympic year.

Find out more about Artists Taking the Lead projects in the UK nations:

Nest (Northern Ireland)
Forest Pitch (Scotland)
Adain Avion (Wales)

Artists Taking the Lead is developed by Arts Council England, in partnership with London 2012 and the Arts Councils of Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

Want to find out more about Artists Taking the Lead? More information here