Jan 24, 2014 16:37 UTC ROBIN HOOD – SEARCH STARTS FOR HIS MERRY ELEPHANT
To celebrate its first ever visit to Nottingham, Elephant Parade has launched a competition to find a Robin Hood design that will be produced as miniature replicas for its international shop.
During the parades it has completed in top cities across the world, Elephant Parade has become well known for referencing famous people and landmarks as some of its most memorable designs. The New Robin Hood design will feature alongside other iconic elephants, including a Chelsea pensioner, a policeman, a pirate, a Ferrari, a US president, fish and chips, Betty Boop, Mozart, a London taxi and Spiderman.
Current UK tour artists, including Sheara Abrahams and Joanna Martin, kicked off the project with two Robin Hood ideas. Elephant Parade and tour host intu are keen to encourage entry ideas from the general public and from students who missed out on the tour’s national schools programme - which so far has created more than 4,000 design ideas from across the UK.
The deadline for entry ideas is Monday 3 February. People can download an A4 design template from the tour website (www.intuelephantparade.co.uk) or they can pop along to the Elephant Parade shops at intu Victoria Centre and intu Broadmarsh. Here they can design an A4 idea for free, or purchase an art box and paint their design on a 15cm blank elephant.
Mike Spits, Founder of Elephant Parade: “This is the first time during one of our parades that we have commissioned an extra replica for the shop for a design that hasn’t appeared as part of the exhibition. The public reaction to Elephant Parade in Nottingham has been very touching and as a result we wanted to leave Nottingham with a lasting memento of the tour. The replicas will be painted by fine artists from our Elephant Parade art studios in Thailand and will be available to buy from our web shop later this year.”
Elizabeth Sewell, Marketing Manager at intu Victoria Centre said: “Given the calibre of artists and celebrities that have been involved in designing the full size elephants, which are currently on display in our two centres, this is a wonderful opportunity for a member of the public to come up with a Robin Hood design that will put Nottingham on the international map for Elephant Parade’s global following.”
NOTES TO EDITORS
For more information on the Elephant Parade national tour, presented by intu, please visit http://intuelephantparade.co.uk/ or contact elephant communications – Harriet Powell or Guy Bellamy: [email protected] 07738160961 [email protected] 07766775216
The 2014 Elephant Parade UK venues: 6 Jan 2014 Nottingham (intu Victoria Centre/Broadmarsh) - 5 weeks
9 Feb 2014 Glasgow (intu Braehead) - 4 weeks
9 Mar 2014 Stoke (intu Potteries) - 4 weeks
7 Apr 2014 Norwich (intu Chapelfield) - 4 weeks
5 May 2014 Essex (intu Lakeside) - 4 weeks
2 Jun 2014 Uxbridge (intu Uxbridge) - 4 weeks
30 Jun 2014 Bromley (intu Bromley) - 4 weeks
28 Jul 2014 London - 2 weeks Intu Properties plc
Intu Properties plc (formerly Capital Shopping Centres PLC) owns and operates some of the very best shopping centres, in the strongest locations right across the country, including ten of the UK’s top 25. You can find every one of the UK’s top 20 retailers in our shopping centres, alongside some of the world’s most iconic global brands.
With 16.6 million sq ft of retail space, valued at £7 billion, our centres attract over 320 million customer visits a year and two thirds of the UK population live within a 45 minute drive time of one of our centres.
At the forefront of UK shopping centre evolution since the 1970s our focus is on creating compelling destinations for consumers with added theatre.
On 15 January this year, we announced the creation of a nationwide consumer facing shopping centre brand - intu - and the transformation of our digital proposition including a transactional website, to provide the UK’s leading shopping centre experience on and off-line.
We have an investment plan of £1 billion over the next ten years on active management projects and major extensions of existing assets involving most of our centres.
Over 80,000 people are employed at our centres across the UK and we are fully committed to supporting our local communities and the wider environment through meaningful and hands-on initiatives. We changed our name from Capital Shopping Centres Group plc to Intu Properties plc on 18 February 2013.
For further information see www.intu.co.uk
Elephant Parade is the world’s largest open air art exhibition of decorated elephant statues that seeks to attract public awareness and support for Asian elephant conservation. Created by local and international artists, each elephant is a unique piece of art. Parades have been run in the following cities:
Rotterdam 2007
Antwerp 2008
Amsterdam 2009
Emmen Zoo 2010
London 2010
Bergen 2010
Heerlen 2011
Copenhagen 2011
Milan 2011
Singapore 2011
Hasselt 2012
Trier-Luxemburg 2013 Southern California 2013
The UK national tour - part one:
- London 2013
- Watford 2013
- Manchester 2013
- Gateshead 2013
- Newcastle 2013
- Cardiff 2013
- Nottingham 2014
Contacts
Guy Bellamy Press Contact Managing Director, UK & International newsroom Events, Press Office, International enquiries [email protected] +44 7766775216