More than £400,000 has been awarded to 10 cultural schemes by Arts Council England (ACE) and London 2012 through the first round of the Unlimited initiative.

Unlimited - a London 2012 Cultural Olympiad scheme - is designed to celebrate disability, arts, culture and sport across the country and aims to transform the UK's disability arts movement. Artists and organisations are being invited to apply for awards as part of the £1.5m commission fund to help support partnerships between a range of stakeholders to illustrate the inspiration of London 2012.

Among the projects to benefit from the first round of funding is London's Candoco Dance Company, which performed at both the Beijing 2008 Olympic and Paralympic handover ceremonies. Two disabled choreographers will be recruited to create a large-scale dance piece for people of all abilities to be performed at festivals and events leading up to the 2012 Games.

Graeae Theatre Company, London; Maurice Orr of Northern Ireland; Fittings Multimedia Arts, North West England; Scotland's Janice Parker and Ramesh Meyyappan; and Chris Tally Evans and Kaite O'Reilly with the Llanarth Group from Wales have received funding. Jez Colborne with Mind the Gap and Stumble danceCircus - both from Yorkshire - are the remaining schemes to benefit from the first round of the initiative, which is being delivered by the four home nation arts councils, London 2012 and the British Council.

Olympics minister Tessa Jowell said: "These inspirational projects not only showcase the true depth of artistic talent we have amongst disabled people in the UK, but also communicate disability in a creative and thought provoking way that will challenge people's perception of disability." Image: Candoco Dance Company