CASE
STUDIES
Highcross Leicester
We were awarded the contract to manage the official opening of the new centre, alongside Spirit Marketing Group. Developed in a 60:40 joint venture by Hammerson and Hermes, the £350 million scheme opened in 2008 and more than doubled the retail provision in Leicester. Highcross Leicester comprises a refurbished shopping centre, formerly known as The Shires, and the creation of an additional 60,000 m2 of new retail, leisure, restaurant, and residential accommodation on an adjacent 10 hectare site.
Our brief was to engage with members of the local community and encourage participation in the opening celebrations. We designed a comprehensive programme of activity which took place across launch day, involving hundreds of people in street arts, circus and community performances. We provided all the relevant health & safety materials to our client, attending compliance meetings throughout the process and ensuring all performers and contractors adhered to internal policies and procedures.
Our work extended from the initial launch into a Christmas programme for Highcross Leicester which included producing a series of specific films shown across the scheme.
"Highcross is a special project which I am hugely proud to have worked on, and in turn, I could not have wished to be working with a better events team in both Spirit and Big Difference Company. I have been hugely impressed with your creativity, passion, organisation and sheer hard work over the last 6 or so months, and I will forever be in debt to you all."
Karl Boyce, Marketing Manager Hammersons
SO Festival
Big Difference Company were awarded the contract to produce the inaugural SO Festival in Skegness, alongside sinfonia ViVA. The festival was funded by Arts Council England together with support from the local authority East Lindsey District Council. The festival was awarded to coincide with the switching on of the Skegness Illuminations and featured a weekend of performances and activities. The weekend culminated with a live opera performance, broadcast live on a big screen on the beach, followed by a performance by pyrotechicians The World Famous which attracted an audience of 20,000+ people.
Big Difference Company advised the local authority on the production of the Event Safety Plan for the festival, and worked with partners to ensure the safe delivery of the activities.
"The brilliantly atmospheric music provided the perfect accompaniment to the beautiful and varied fireworks which delighted the stunned crowds for 45 minutes." Skegness Standard
"I would like to congratulate the organisers of Saturday's event for trying something bold and different. What a refreshing change from D list celebs switching on the lights. I hope these innovative ideas can be repeated next year." Andsled
"The performance, hosted by Heartbeat's Jonathan Kerrigan, was screened live on the beach so people and families could enjoy the music for free in the blazing sunshine. Hundreds of people set up camp, bringing drinks and picnics, and settled in for the two-hour show." Skegness Standard
"Having worked with Big Difference Company over the past 6 month on a highly complex project bringing high quality culture activity to the East Coast I can safely confirm that the company is flexible and well led and on a partnership basis is simply excellent. The product that the company delivers is of the highest quality and the delivery is simply superb. In regard to creativity the company have an excellent array of skills and thinking that we as organisation have found an inspiration. In short we hope to continue the relationship that has prospered over the past months and continue working with BDC and would recommend their work to others without hesitation." James D Brindle, Heath, Arts and Events Manager, East Lindsey District Council
Special Olympics Leicester – Social Director & Games Village
Big Difference Company were awarded the contract to deliver the social programme and Games Village for the 2,400 visiting athletes, 1,200 coaches and support staff and 6,000 family members visiting the Special Olympics Leicester.
Special Olympics Great Britain (SOGB) is the major provider of sporting opportunities for people with a learning disability and provides equality of opportunity for all athletes regardless of ability or degree of disability. In February 1988, the IOC, the umbrella organisation of the Olympic movement, officially recognised Special Olympics as the third Olympic movement alongside the Olympics and Paralympics.
The Opening Ceremony for the Games took place at King Power stadium and was attended by Sarah Brown, wife of Gordon Brown and Tim Shriver, Chairman of Special Olympics, and son of Eunice Kennedy Shriver who founded Special Olympics in the USA in the 1960’s. Sarah and Tim were also joined by Lawrie McMenemy MBE, Chairman of Special Olympics GB, Games Patron Martin Johnson and Special Olympics GB ambassadors Ossie Ardiles and Leicester FC legend Alan Birchenall.
The main brief was to develop the Games Village, located on the site of King Power Stadium, home of Leicester City Football Club. The village was the central hub for the Games and featured entertainment for athletes and their guests, as well as being the base for the medical team providing free health checks.
The contract also involved designing and delivering a programme of activities across the Games, including the Festival for Families which took place in the Games Village and involved an evening of street entertainers, side shows, music and games set in a carnival environment.
Diwali Flashmob
Our work with Highcross Leicester extended with a new contract to develop a contemporary celebration for Diwali. Popularly known as the "festival of lights," Diwali is a festival celebrated between mid-October and mid-December by different communities. For Hindus, Diwali is one of the most important festivals of the year and is celebrated in families by performing traditional activities together in their homes. For Jains, Diwali marks the attainment of moksha or nirvana by Mahavira in 527 BC.
Diwali Celebrations in Leicester are one of the biggest outside of India, with up to 35,000 people attending the switch on of the lights on Belgrave Road and even more attending Diwali day itself in the heart of the city's Asian community. Highcross Leicester wanted to develop a different approach to celebrate Diwali Day, one that particular linked in with their social media campaigns.
Big Difference Company worked with Addict Dance, crowned winners in the Midlands Best Dance Crew in 2010, to devise a flashmob event to take place in Highcross on Diwali Day. The event was filmed and uploaded to Youtube; the film received 1,000 views in the first 24 hours of being online.
Andrew Lansley rap
We were commissioned in Spring 2011 to produce an online film as part of UNISON’s contribution to the public discussion of the issues around the governments proposed NHS reforms. The film was to be launched in advance of the UNISON national rally and encouraged a debate of important healthcare concerns across the UK.
As part of its focus on the promotion of good health and wellbeing through the Arts, Big Difference Company devised the idea of producing a rap examining the policies proposed by Andrew Lansley MP, Secretary of State for Health and the views of local people. We created a team of people to work on the project including MC NxtGen (a young rapper), poet and performer Rob Gee and film maker Tom Walker. The rap was written, the music video was filmed and uploaded to Youtube.
The film received nearly half a million hits in the first few months of being available, in addition to national media coverage in The Guardian, The Times, BBC Radio 4 and was featured on national TV programmes including Question Time and Have I Got News For You.
