Cultural Olympiad: Where the world's best come to play!
In collaboration with Marjorie Rémy, 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games Federal Secretariat, and Robert Cousin, Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games
October 28, 2008, marked the launch of the complete program for the 2009 Cultural Olympiad, held from February 1 to March 21, 2009. With some 400 performances and exhibitions, the Olympiad featured music, dance, theatre, visual arts, film, outdoor shows and digital media experiences, with events held at more than 70 venues in the Greater Vancouver region. One of the objectives of the Cultural Olympiad is to showcase the vitality and breadth of Canada's creative French-language community by incorporating performances by its artists. Highlights of the French-language program include:
- Les Rencontres qui chantent - a creative project that offers support to emerging singers and features 14 young artists from Canada's Francophone community;
- Lentement la beauté - a play that offers a reflection on the meaning of everyday life, artistic awakening and homage to the imagination and the beauty of the world. This is a production of Vancouver's Théâtre la Seizième and Edmonton's L'Unithéâtre; and
- 15th Rendez-vous du cinéma québécois et francophone: Matinées scolaires - this part of Les Rendez-vous devoted to promoting Quebec film in Canada extends an invitation to French-speaking children to discover and celebrate the diversity and talent of Francophone artists through films.
This is the first time that the Olympic Winter Games have included a multi-year cultural Olympiad before the Games. Vancouver's Cultural Olympiad will showcase Canadian and international culture and arts in a series of three festivals. The 2010 Cultural Olympiad will run for 60 days, from January 22, 2010, to March 21, 2010.
For further information, consult the 2009 Cultural Olympiad program at: www.vancouver2010.com.