Announcing Face Britain, launching 14 September 2011 - London, England

Announcing Face Britain, launching 14 September 2011


Make your face famous. The UK’s largest ever art project ‘Face Britain’ to be launched by The Prince’s Foundation for Children & the Arts.







The UK’s largest ever mass collaborative art project gets underway with the launch of Face Britain. This unique project created by The Prince's Foundation for Children & the Arts is open to all children and young people aged 4-16 years throughout the UK and gives them the opportunity to create self portraits which will be publicly displayed across the country. The portraits will be exhibited alongside contributions from Alan Rickman, Jeremy Irons, Fearne Cotton, Amir Khan, Ade Adepitan, Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson, Tracey Emin, Quentin Blake, Rankin, James Naughtie and a host of other famous names and faces.

Officially launched today, 14th September 2011 at Imagination Gallery, London, Face Britain will also attempt to establish a new Guinness World RecordsTM title for the Most artists working on the same art installation. The self-portraits can be uploaded onto the Face Britain online gallery, brought to life by PhotoBox, between September 2011 and March 2012. Portraits will be displayed on all the BBC Big Screens which become official London 2012 Live Sites next year. In addition, prominent JCDecaux digital screens across the UK, will provide a unique snapshot of how the nation’s young people see themselves. It’s not a competition so any child can take part, regardless of ability or circumstance.

Speaking on film at the Face Britain launch event, HRH The Prince of Wales said:

“As Founder and President of The Prince’s Foundation for Children and the Arts, I firmly believe that everyone should have the opportunity, at an early age, to be given access to and to be inspired by the arts. Sustained access to performance and visual arts can empower children to explore their creativity and to enhance their personal development and self-esteem.

With this in mind, I am delighted that my Foundation for Children and the Arts is to invite all children and young people in the United Kingdom to engage actively in the art of self-portraiture and to participate in Face Britain.

Everyone aged four to sixteen years of age is invited to create a self-portrait in their own personal choice of style. The only stipulation for all participants is that it has to be you – you are Face Britain.”

Portraits at all levels of skill and in any medium are acceptable including drawing, textiles, 3D, painting, graphics and photography. By providing a platform for young people to consider their own identity and place within history, Face Britain aims to celebrate the nation's children and future in the lead up to HM The Queen's Diamond Jubilee, the London Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2012. To celebrate the Diamond Jubilee, for example, all portraits from the online gallery will be combined to create a montage portrait of HM The Queen, to be projected onto the frontage of Buckingham Palace in the Spring and showcased on the BBC Big Screens across the UK and on JCDecaux’s national network of digital screens in a host of major train stations, shopping centres and prime roadside locations.

For press information, images and interview requests please contact:
Toby Kidd or Louise Gluckstein at JB Pelham PR
Tel: +44 (0)20 8969 3959 Email: toby@jbpelhampr.com and louise@jbpelhampr.com