A HERD of arty elephants is on its way to Nottingham.
The Elephant Parade will see a 100-strong collection of colourful elephant statues displayed at the Victoria and Broadmarsh centres.
The parade, which raises money for The Asian Elephant Foundation, has previously had designs contributed by comedian Ricky Gervais, pop star Leona Lewis, and designer Tommy Hilfiger.
But organisers are looking for six schools in Nottingham each interested in designing an elephant for the parade, which kicks off this summer.
Trevor Pereira, commercial director at Intu, which owns the shopping centres and is supporting the tour, said: "Elephant Parade has set the standard for bringing the fun into supporting an important cause, and their elephant statues have become iconic around the world.
"We wanted to make this tour the people's parade – to enable people from all walks of life to be part of an Elephant Parade, whilst also giving them exposure to a national audience for the first time."
Organisers are looking for schools to submit their designs this month and next.
The winning designs will then become reality and cover six of the 5ft statues on the national tour.
The rest of the entries will be featured online.
The Elephant Parade is set to visit 13 locations over 375 days.
A preview day will take place at a yet to be announced location on July 17, before the elephants make their first stop at Intu Watford on July 21.
The herd will then visit 12 other locations before finishing in central London in July next year.
It is due to arrive in Nottingham for five weeks on March 3, 2014.
Mr Pereira added: "Raising lasting awareness of the conservation issues is as important this time round as just raising money for the Asian elephant.
"Perhaps above all, this festival of colour will unite communities and give people from all walks of life a reason to smile as the elephants bring moments of surprise and delight that will make a normal day out quite special."
A conservation education programme will be run for schools as part of the tour, which will be the longest-running Elephant Parade and its first UK nationwide tour.
More than 600 design ideas – including one by an eight-year-old – were submitted within a month of Elephant Parade announcing the tour earlier this year.
The public art creations will raise awareness of, and funds for, The Asian Elephant Foundation, which supports elephant conservation projects.
For more details about the parade visit www.elephantparade.com.
To register an interest in designing one of the Nottingham elephants, visit www.elephantcommunications.co.uk.
