The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC) Thursday announced the programming for Cultural Olympiad 2008. Vancouver 2010 said this celebration of arts and culture will present more than 300 performances and 10 exhibitions staged in more than 40 diverse venues, delivered in partnership with 60 arts and cultural organizations from British Columbia.
The Vancouver 2010 Cultural Olympiad will showcase contemporary imagination through a series of three festivals of pop culture and fine arts. As the kick-off event, Cultural Olympiad 2008, running from February 1 to March 21, 2008, launches this multi-year celebration. A similar program will take place in 2009, followed by the Olympic Arts Festival (from January 22 to February 28, 2010) and the Paralympic Arts Festival (from March 12 to 21, 2010).
Working in partnership with the artistic community which had strong representation at Thursday’s announcement, Vancouver 2010 said Cultural Olympiad 2008 will highlight some of the most dynamic talent from BC, Canada and the world, and will feature contemporary, classical and Aboriginal music, theatre, dance, film, new media, literary, visual and multi-disciplinary art.
The three festivals will deliver 160 days of celebration with more than 1,000 performances – hundreds of them free of charge. From 2008 through 2010, these arts and cultural events will reach more than two million spectators.
“An important part of the Vancouver 2010 mission is to touch the soul of the nation. The Cultural Olympiad is key to expressing that soul – both within our borders and around the globe,” said John Furlong, Chief Executive Officer of VANOC. “We’re thrilled that our 2008 programming will showcase exceptional talent through a diverse range of events and performances that will inspire and entertain.”
“From 2008 through 2010, our goal is to provide something for everyone and create celebrations that allow the entire community to share the thrill of the Olympic and Paralympic experience,” said Burke Taylor, VANOC’s vice president, Culture and Celebrations. “With this in mind, we have built our program on principles of artistic excellence, innovation and diversity, with the goal of achieving broad community participation through stellar performances and exhibitions that inspire, challenge and entertain.”
Cultural Olympiad 2008 will make use of many of the prime cultural venues, as well as non-traditional spaces, within and around Metro Vancouver and Whistler. To help reach the widest possible audience, city streets, parks and public spaces will also become performance spaces.
“Arts and culture truly open doors of discovery. The Cultural Olympiad provides artists with an opportunity to have their voices heard, and to collectively tell this amazing story that is Canada,” said Robert Kerr, VANOC’s program director, Cultural Olympiad.
“The Cultural Olympiad is an extraordinary opportunity for the public to be engaged with, and participate in, the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games experience well before the Games period – and over a much broader period of time,” he said.
Ticket information for all Cultural Olympiad 2008 events is available at www.vancouver2010.com/en/CultureEducation/CulturalOlympiad/2008Celebration/CulturalEventsSearch.
Also announced Thursday were details of a special concert that will mark the two-year countdown to the 2010 Winter Games.
The concert will be a spectacular evening of music, featuring leading young singer-songwriters from across Canada performing with their bands, and with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. The evening will combine symphonic soundscapes with the cutting edge of Indie rock, rhythm and blues, folk and acoustic punk. It will take place at the Orpheum Theatre on February 12th. Tickets will be available for sale, beginning on December 1st at 10:00 am, at www.vancouver2010.com/en/CultureEducation/CulturalOlympiad/2008Celebration/2007/11/76537_0711281051-151.
Meanwhile, collectors of the Royal Canadian Mint’s new line of 2010 Olympic coins will get more value from their coins because of some mistakes – known as “mules”.
It seems that a 2007 quarter for Paralympic curling is supposed to come with the Paralympic logo in the opposite side of the coin beside a portrait of Queen Elizabeth, but some Olympic coin sets have the logo on the obverse adding value to the coin.
Experts say it is now worth about $400 for a set including the Paralympic mule but normally it would sell for about $25.
Another mistake occurred in the collector quarter sold at Petro Canada gas stations, called the Coin Sport Card selling for $7.95. The second coin in the series has an alpine skier that says 2008 instead of 2007. They first sold for $20.10 but now they are up to $30 each.
