Union J paint a brighter future to save the elephant

British boy band, Union J are to join the Elephant Parade national tour and have created a show stopping design for their new elephant statue that will join the herd that is touring the UK. They have also been appointed as "School Ambassadors” for the national schools programme which has seen over 80 schools so far joining the fight to save the Asian Elephants by creating elephant designs for the chance to have their elephants join the tour. 

The schools programme is intended to use art as a vehicle for raising awareness on conservation issues in the classroom and Union J coming on board as school ambassadors will support the school children in their efforts to paint a brighter future for endangered elephants. Union J said ”We were so honoured to be asked to be the schools ambassador for the tour – as children we loved to paint and would have loved the opportunity to design our own 3D elephant. We have seen how inspired and excited the children are about getting involved and their designs are truly amazing.”

Union J’s much anticipated elephant statue reflects the individual personality and characters of their designers and Union J are delighted to be able to announce that their creation will shortly be joining the UK tour to stand alongside the work of other celebrities including Claudia Schiffer, Alex Jones, Mercy Delta and Pete Fowler. Union J’s elephant will be unveiled when the UK tour visits intu Chapelfield, Norwich on 7 April.

Union J continue; “We are so excited to have had the opportunity to create our very own design for a tour elephant statue – it's quite different and manages to include something that reflects each of our personalities in a very abstract way, we hope you all love it!”

The Elephant Parade tour is presented across the UK by intu, owner of some of the UK’s best shopping centres. intu has made possible the concept of a first ever national tour for Elephant Parade, as the elephants visit 14 locations around the UK in a 12-month tour that will be experienced by 30 million people (www.intuelephantparade.co.uk). A national tour with local flavour, the tour elephants draw on artistic designs from all corners of the UK and in addition to the touring elephants, more than 4,000 designs for a first ever digital show reel have been created by members of the general public – setting a new Elephant Parade record for the level of direct participation in one of its public art expositions. Money raised from the sale of the tour elephants will be donated to the charity, The Asian Elephant Foundation.

Trevor Pereira, Commercial Director at intu said: “This UK tour has been dubbed ‘the people’s parade’ in response to the scale of public engagement with the elephant statues as they tour our centres around the country. For this reason we are so delighted to have Union J taking part – they are so popular with the UK public and their unique and vibrant design will please their huge fan base, whether young or old! We are also so lucky to have them as Elephant Parade’s official ‘schools ambassadors’ which is such an integral part of the UK Tour takes this tour to the next level and means we can reach out to even more people to raise awareness of the plight of the Asian elephant. We’re looking forward to seeing the public’s reaction to the new elephant designs which will be unveiled at our centres this spring.”

Notes to editors

1. To download high resolution images of the UK tour elephants and a selection of the school designs, visit the Elephant Parade social newsroom at: http://www.mynewsdesk.com/uk/elephant-parade 

2. The UK tour so far. Facts and figures

• · The Elephant Parade national tour presented by intu is the country’s longest running public art exposition in aid of animal conservation – 375 days.
• The UK tour has seen the youngest ever artist design an elephant for an Elephant Parade anywhere in the world – Amardip Aduwalia, aged 8 from Copthorne School in West Sussex.
• A record 4,000 design entries have been submitted already for the digital show reel – a project that is open to everyone. The design ideas range from an 18 month baby to chart-topping singer, Example and his wife Erin Mcnaught.
• · Thanks to intu hosting the Elephant Parade at its UK venues, this is the first Elephant Parade that has been able to run through the autumn and winter months. The tour has already been experienced by 15 million people, with more than 100,000 people a month following the tour via social media platforms.
• · Union J will become the first ever school ambassadors for an Elephant Parade.
• · This is the first Elephant Parade where school children also get the chance to create exposition elephants. 75 schools will contribute elephant statues for the tour.
• · A national tour with local flavour, a local art competition will be run at each 2014 tour venues to create local signature designs. The Nottingham leg of the tour saw local residents create Robin Hood designs and for the current tour stop at intu Braehead the theme celebrates the forthcoming Commonwealth Games. 

3. The elephant Parade national tour: Official 2014 tour venues and dates (tour website: www.intuelephantparade.co.uk)

· 5January 2014 intu Victoria Centre/ intu Broadmarsh, Nottingham (5 weeks)· 10 February 2014 intu Braehead, Glasgow (4 weeks)· 10 March 2014 intu Potteries, Stoke (4 weeks) · 7 April 2014 intu Chapelfield, Norwich (4 weeks)· 5 May 2014 intu Lakeside, West Thurrock, Essex (4 weeks)· 2 June 2014 intu Uxbridge (4 weeks)· 30 June 2014 intu Bromley (4 weeks)· 28 July 2014 Central London

4. Join the tour conversation and share pictures on Facebook www.facebook.com/elephantparadefan