Art and Olympics are coming together in Newham through workshops that help celebrate the 2012 Games.

They are organised by Rosetta Art Centre which has already run the first of the Artlympics event which took place on March 17 at the Stratford and West Ham Spring Festival.

The Artlympics are days of free, fun and exciting art workshops over the next few months, around the themes and values of the London 2012 Games for all ages and abilities. There will be five days of Artlympics that aim to celebrate the London 2012 Games and encourage people to embrace art.

Newham has been identified as an area with the least level of engagement with the arts. Rosetta has begun to change this, through its projects such as the East End Art Trail that provides free art sessions for local people. They believe the Artlympics will continue this process.

The next Artlympics will be at the Rosetta Rathbone Art Studios, Canning Town, (nearest tube Canning Town) on April 6, as part of the Good Friday Rathbone Market. Different workshops will run throughout the day, including a 60 second sprint draw and colour shooting, in which people will throw water balloons filled with coloured paint at paper to create abstract designs. Participants will also be able to take part in a group ‘marathon mosaic’, which will run throughout the day, and will be able to decorate their own sports bags.

Rosetta Art Centre is running the Artlympics as part of a wider project called the East End Art Trail, which aims to engage with the local community to provide training, opportunities, experience and creative fun for all involved. The project will culminate in a free walkable trail of art around West Ham and Canning Town, made up of pieces from Rosetta’s free workshops and the Artlympics.