2010 Culture Budget ?Disappointing?
15/05/2007 |
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Andrew Wilhelm-Boyles, the executive director of Vancouver?s Alliance for Arts and Culture, says the $20 million allotted for the Cultural Olympiad, including a five-week Olympic Arts Festival in 2010, the 10-day Paralympic Arts Festival in 2010, pre-game celebrations to be held across the country in February and March of 2008 and 2009, and 3-1/2 years of educational programs starting next September, falls short.
The Globe and Mail quotes Wilhelm-Boyles saying, ?that?s not a lot of money to do a lot of ambitious programming, particularly if these festivals are going to be national and international in scope?.
Organizers are calling the budgets for the Ceremonies ($64.3 million) and Cultural Olympiad ?very strong by historic standards? and will go a long way to creating ?the most ambitious? arts and cultural festival the Winter Games has ever seen.
The newspaper reports the original bid plan was to have a four-year Cultural Olympiad beginning in Vancouver and Whistler in 2006 with an allotted budget of $18.2 million (U.S.), which was worth a lot more then it would be now considering how much the value of the Canadian dollar has increased.
Wilhelm-Boyles says, ?people understand that when you put in a bid, you sometimes inflate your ideas. The reality can be somewhat less than your fondest dreams?.
Burke Taylor, vice president of culture and ceremonies for Vancouver 2010, says the pre-Games cultural component has simply been refocused, not delayed. He said instead of programming winter festivals for 2006 and 2007, the committee decided it made more sense to invest in development funding, reports the Globe and Mail.
He added, ?we got off to a slower start than we expected. But we?ve probably made the wise choice in terms of ensuring the resources are invested in a way that will have the maximum output in terms of celebration and festivals and leaving legacies in the community?.
(Source: Gamesbids.com)
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