ART leaders from around the world are in Nottingham to preview a prestigious event coming to the city.
Delegates from 25 countries have flown in to find out about World Event Young Artists, which will run next year just after the close of the Olympic Games.
It will be the culmination of the East Midlands' programme for the Cultural Olympiad, which will run alongside the London Olympics.
"We recognised this was a fantastic opportunity for Nottingham," said Rebecca Blackman, of Arts Council England's Nottingham branch. "It's a chance to really put the city on an international platform."
Event organisers want to include artists from a range of disciplines and formats, and to bring their work to different sorts of venues across the city.
"Its real distinctiveness is that it's across platforms," said Terry Shave, chairman of UK Young Artists and head of visual arts at the Nottingham Trent School of Art and Design.
While in Nottingham, delegates will get a taster of that cross-platform inclusiveness – there will be performances and work from UK artists ranging from filmmakers Ami Barnes and Sam Spreckley to spoken-word performances by Point Blank Poets.
Delegates will also visit venues such as Lakeside Arts Centre, Broadway Cinema, New Art Exchange, Nottingham Castle, the Royal Centre, Nottingham Contemporary, Wollaton Hall, Nottingham Playhouse and Nottingham Trent University.
The university connection is a strong one. While in Nottingham, rising young stars of the international art world are meant to interact with its artists.
That will be an added boon to a city that already retains a large percentage of its young arts graduates and has created one of the more thriving arts scenes outside London.
That thriving scene is no accident. "We've been doing a lot to maintain these arts networks in the city," Mr Shave said.
And those networks will be helped by this event, Rebecca Blackman added.
"It's not going to be something that's just plonked in the city."
While it will engage locals, it is also meant to embody the universal spirit of the Olympics. The Cultural Olympiad is meant to inspire young artists, create dialogue across cultures and invoke art as a language of peace.
And Nottingham could help build that into something lasting.
"This is the first event of its kind," she said. "There's a real possibility of having it every four years, with the Olympics."
The visiting delegates met dignitaries, such as Cultural Olympiad Paul Brookes and Sheriff of Nottingham Penny Griggs, who spoke during a dinner at Nottingham Trent University.
The delegates represent virtually every corner of the globe.
Brazil, Colombia, Bolivia and Panama are among the South and Central American delegates.
From Asia, representatives are from China, India, Singapore and South Korea.
North American representatives come from the US and Canada.
And there's a large African delegation, including South Africa, Cameroon, Congo, Kenya, Zimbabwe and Burkina Faso.
The European contingent includes Italy, Slovenia and Portu
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