Highlights of Toronto’s Olympic bid Arts and Culture Program were revealed Monday evening at a gala reception at the Winter Garden Theatre. The event was co-hosted by Toronto artist Brainerd Blyden-Taylor and three-time Olympic gold medalist in rowing, Marnie McBean.
Blyden-Taylor said he was excited to participate in bringing arts and culture – the humanity – back to the centre of the Olympic Games. “The arts community wants to do everything we can to publicly support Toronto’s Bid and to establish arts and culture as a visible, viable and integral component of the Bid and of a Toronto Olympic Games”.
McBean, a member of Team 2008, a group of athlete ambassadors for TO-2008, said “from my experience representing Canada at two Olympic Games, the initial rush of the Opening Ceremonies – the fusion between sport and art – is one of the most intense and exhilarating experiences of the Games. We want Toronto’s Olympic Games to be the first to gather the creative and sporting energies of our generation and present them in an integrate way. This will be Toronto’s legacy and gift to the Olympic Movement”.
David Crombie, chairman of TO-2008’s board of directors said he was delighted to have Toronto’s arts community on side as an integral part of our Arts and Culture Program. “I am confident that this program will help us secure the Olympic Games for Toronto in 2008, which will in turn provide opportunities for exposure, creative collaborations and cultural exchanges for Canadian artists”.
Comedic soprano Mary Lou Fallis, co-chair of the arts and culture committee, said $100,000 would be spent during the remainder of the bid term “on commissions, special projects, and raising awareness of the importance of the arts to our Olympic bid”.
The program includes initiatives for 2001 and the years leading up to the 2008 Olympic Games. Among them are Cast 2008; a group of artist ambassadors for TO-2008 whose role will be to advocate and act as spokespeople for the Arts and Culture component of TO-2008 both domestically and internationally.
A Youth Cabinet; a group of youth aged 12 to 14 will be selected by school boards across the Greater Toronto Area to enhance the culture program for TO-2008 and ensure it contains the youth perspective.
There will be a four-part program based on communicating the Olympic values to youth across the country with the focus on anti-racism.
“Expect the World” Arts and Culture Festival is a variety of spring arts events from May 23 to June 23, 2001, to showcase the scope, diversity and excellence of Toronto’s arts community.
A Cultural Olympiad Program – “Discover the Voices” is a four year program of preparation and celebration leading up to 2008 to illustrate the drive and the discipline shared by art and sport. In 2005 its Discover the Voices of the Global Village – “A Celebration of the Land” – a celebration of place, of the land and of the traditions of Canada’s ancestors; in 2006: Discover the Voices of the Global Village -“Festival of the Rings” – a celebration that links Toronto’s evolution as a multicultural society to the continents of the Olympic Rings; in 2007: Discover the Voices of the Young and the New – “Festival of Fusion” – an encounter of global dimensions to honour young, new and emrging ideas; and in 2008: Share the Voices with the World – “Olympic Arts Festival: – a celebration to bring the world together in ways that transcend national identity.
And an International youth Camp is a camp program to promote cultural exchange and heighten awareness and the deployment of Olympic ideals. Two youth from each country participating in the 2008 Olympic Games will be invited to spend four weeks at Toronto’s International Youth Camp, which will feature an urban component and a wilderness component to be hosted in Guelph and Peterborough, Ontario.
