Vancouver Art Organizations and Vancouver Artists Gear Up for 2010 Winter Games – by Liza J. Lee

To help win the bid for Vancouver’s 2010 Winter Games, the BC Liberal government leveraged the province’s vibrant arts and culture scene as the “second pillar” of the Games. But late 2009, the BC government announced sudden and severe arts cuts, to the shock of Vancouver art organizations and Vancouver artists, particularly before the fast-approaching 2010 Olympics. In 2011, $47 million will be reduced to $3 million and again to 2.65 million by 2012.

In the “The world is Watching” in the Vancouver Sun, John Furlong (CEO of the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Winter Games) acknowledges that Vancouverites sometimes don’t seem as pumped as you might expect for a town gearing up to handle one of the world’s biggest events and cautions Vancouverites to show the world how we know how to celebrate, by creating city-wide street parties that last into the wee hours, “The biggest crowd that’s ever gathered in Vancouver is coming. Now, the game plan must be to leave a lasting impression. We won’t get another chance at this — to put on a bash that billions of people will see — for another generation, if ever.”

Global Audience for Vancouver Art Organizations

With the 2010 Winter Games in less than one month and in spite of the nearly 92% arts cuts in BC in the midst of a global recession, Vancouver artists and Vancouver art organizations are starting to seriously prepare for the increased exposure from a global audience for the 2010 Olympics. At last the excitement of being a host city has finally taken hold.

In “Artist Juneo Lee Eng Keong In-Between the Scrolls”, Dr. Lycia Trouton , Vancouver public artist comments on the global reach of her launch of Juneo Lee’s artistic vision targetted to the Pan Pacific context. She mentioned the fact that Vancouver had just opened the Biennale, which is connected with the upcoming Cultural Olympics, part of the 2010 Winter Games, “Path of God” Chinese artist’s laughing Bhudda head with a more serious ’static grin’, a serious socio-political subtext.

Cultural Olympiad Showcases Vancouver Artists

Working in close partnership with the creative community, the Cultural Olympiad showcase of Canadian and international arts and popular culture will feature an unparalleled variety of music, dance, theatre, visual arts, film, outdoor spectaculars and digital media experiences from January 22 to March 21, 2010.

The Cultural Olympiad’s digital edition, CODE stakes out a space in the digital realm where audiences and artists can connect, create and collaborate. From February 4 to 21, 2010 for 18 days, CODE Live takes over three well-known sites and rolls out a lineup of powerful interactive art and cutting-edge music. CODE Live is easy to take in and get to — close to public transportation hubs and bike routes with four evening events:

Hard Rubber: Drum and Light Festival — CODE Live Night Life
Martyn, 2562, Deadbeat and more — CODE Live Night Life
Jamming the Networks: Modern Deep Left Quartet, Mike Shannon and more
New Forms Festival (also producers of Midforms) presents: LA Riots, The Golden Filter, Junior Boys DJ Set and more.

Coming soon are two exclusive articles about the 2010 New Forms Festival in partnership with Cultural Olympiad CODE Live event and grace-gallery, a regularly featured venue on Artistrun.org (Icons and Demi-Gods) on an upcoming event to showcase Vancouver artists during the 2010 Winter Games.

ENDNOTES:

www.stopbcartscuts.ca
www.vancouversun.com/sports/2010wintergames/world+watching/1279335/story.html
http://www.vancouver2010.com/more-2010-information/cultural-festivals-and-events/code-connect-create-collaborate/code-live/
http://code.newformsfestival.com/
www.grace-gallery.com

In 2009, Artistrun (established in 2000) applied for grants for the Cultural Olympiad as a non-profit society called Artistrun Media Society.

In 2010, as BC arts faces almost 92% in arts cuts, Artistrun Media Society can no longer exist. The Artistrun blog is changing to a for-profit sole proprietorship model, managed and directed by Liza J. Lee.

Make and Break