Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt today promised “the biggest festival in our history” to mark the start of the arts programme for the Olympics.
The Cultural Olympiad, he said, would prove “culture is to Britain what the sun is to Spain”.
The main event — the 12-week London 2012 Festival — starts on Thursday, getting into full swing at the weekend with a free concert on Hackney Marshes for 100,000 people, headlined by Jay-Z and Rihanna.
A total of 2.3 million free tickets out of the 10 million available have been taken so far for the Cultural Olympiad.
The festival will feature more than 25,000 artists from 204 countries in 12,000 events and performances at 900 venues across Britain.
Mr Hunt said: “We will have the best sport in the world this summer but every year we have the best culture in the world.”
Events will run until the final day of the Paralympic Games on 9 September. The programme will celebrate the huge range, quality and accessibility of the UK’s culture including dance, music, theatre, the visual arts, fashion, film and digital innovation.
Among the first events will be premieres of four short films showcasing great British film-making talent including Mike Leigh and Asif Kapadia.
An Olympic and Paralympic poster display at Tate Britain will include work from Rachel Whiteread and Tracey Emin.
Mayor Boris Johnson will host Showtime, London’s biggest outdoor arts festival.
Other events include 10 productions celebrating choreographer Pina Bausch, the World Shakespeare Festival, Big Dance 2012 — the UK’s biggest celebration of dance — and Damon Albarn’s opera Dr Dee.
