The 2010 Cultural Olympiad: playing for the global or the local stage?

Abstract

Increasingly, local cultural communities are called upon to support global mega‐events such as the Olympic games with the promise that this global occurrence is a ‘once in a lifetime opportunity’ for an urban artistic community. What evidence exists to support the premise that hosting a Cultural Olympiad provides a professional arts sector with positive and substantive legacies, sustained material and financial benefits, or increased national and international profile? Data collected on the Vancouver 2010 Cultural Olympiad suggest that the local arts sector did not enjoy any of the claimed global benefits. However, it is also clear that some arts organizations, by virtue of the artistic and operational decisions they took, were able to exert influence over and upon the outcome; this outcome ultimately depending on whether they elected to play for a global or a local stage.

Keywords:

• Cultural Olympiad
• arts
• arts funding

Acknowledgment

This research was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.