ELEPHANTS SET OFF AROUND THE UK FOR START OF 2014 UK PARADE

Storms, floods and potholes may be wreaking havoc on the roads and stopping people from getting to work, but nothing will stop a herd of full size elephant statues as they embark on the 2014, 212 day UK Tour that will visit seven towns and cities, starting in Nottingham this month for five weeks and finishing in London this August.

This is the longest running exposition Elephant Parade has ever embarked upon, after Nottingham, the elephants will then visit Scotland, Stoke, Norwich, Essex, Uxbridge, Bromley and London.

Tour host intu is presenting the Elephant Parade in its major UK shopping centres. intu’s support for the ground-breaking tour enables millions of people to enjoy the public art exposition, which is taking place right on their doorsteps - free of the weather constraints that usually limit Elephant Parades to the summer months.

Some forthcoming highlights of the 2014 tour include:

·  New elephants: The 30-strong touring herd will be joined by six additional elephants during February and March. Places for the original tour herd went in record time and intu has created spaces for new designs to join the tour. New elephants feature artists from Norfolk, Sussex and London and three that have been painted by Thai artists that are currently on a boat set for the UK.

·  National schools programme: Around the UK children from a further 42 schools will decorate elephant statues that will also feature in the tour. The creativity and talent of British school children will be showcased alongside the creations of top artists and celebrities.

·  First university involved: For the first time, a university is taking part in an Elephant Parade – students from Nottingham Trent University have created two elephants that will premiere in Nottingham over the next few weeks. These designs resulted from a competition run during the university’s Green Week, when students adopted Elephant Parade to raise awareness of conservation issues.

·  Youngest ever artist: The 2014 tour will feature the youngest ever artist to create an elephant for Elephant Parade – Jack Cowley, aged seven, beat off competition from more than 400 school designs in Nottingham for his chance to decorate an elephant to join the parade.

·  First visit to Scotland: Another first for Elephant Parade – the exposition will make its first foray into Scotland with a visit to intu Braehead in February.

·  Digital tour: Beyond the physical expo, tour host intu wanted people from all walks of life to be able to participate in this Elephant Parade. As a result, running alongside the tour is a digital show reel that showcases people’s 2Dimensional design ideas. So far, more than 4,000 designs have been submitted which will be on show in all the 2014 tour venues.

·  Robin Hood and his merry elephants: To celebrate its first visit to Nottingham, Elephant Parade is running a competition to create a Robin Hood elephant. The public are invited to submit designs (through the tour website www.intuelephantparade.co.uk) and Elephant Parade will create replicas of the winning creations that will be available through its web shop and at intu venues. This is the first time that public designs not featured as exposition statues will be commissioned as replicas.

Dubbed the People’s Parade, the aim of the tour is to create a lasting awareness of Asian elephant conservation issues. Through the 30 million reach of intu venues and the accompanying national schools programme that intu staff are running, this Elephant Parade is reaching its biggest ever audience and using the exposition to raise awareness of the plight of the Asian elephant, which faces extinction. In addition, all the tour elephants are available to buy with intu donating the proceeds to the international charity, The Asian Elephant Foundation.

Mike Spits, Founder of Elephant Parade commented:  “We are excited to be visiting so many UK cities for the first time this year and thanks to intu we will be getting the conservation message across to our biggest ever audience in a vibrant and engaging manner. This year we have decided not to have an auction at the end of the exposition, instead anyone can pledge to buy a tour elephant for a fixed price. We have set the purchase price lower than the average auction price to give more people the opportunity to buy an elephant. As the people’s parade, this fits with the participation of schools in the tour and the digital parade, which has enabled thousands more people to directly get involved in the exposition.”

Trevor Pereira, Commercial Director at intu commented: “At this usually grey time of year, our centres in Nottingham will surprise and delight our customers with vibrant, bright pieces of public art, which will put a smile on many peoples faces whilst raising awareness of the very serious underlying conservation issues. We are proud to be backing Elephant Parade’s most significant exposition to date, a tour that has had so many firsts. Breaking the mould of Elephant Parade’s tradition of visiting capital cities, we are thrilled to be taking its iconic and loved elephants to towns and cities that have not previously experienced the magic and excitement that surrounds an Elephant Parade coming to town.”

For more information, images, to arrange interviews with Elephant Parade, intu or selected participating artists contact the UK tour press office:

Katherine Skinner

Katherine@elephantcommunications.co.uk / 07540 644554

Guy Bellamy

Guy@elephantcommunications.co.uk / 07766 775216

Find out more about the tour, venues, artists and how to get involved: www.intuelephantparade.com

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For more media materials and to register for future announcements, follow the Elephant Parade newsroom: http://www.mynewsdesk.com/uk/pressroom/elephant-parade