Olympics, Paralympics highlighted athletes, but artists also in spotlight

VANCOUVER - Vancouver's Olympic and Paralympic Games will be remembered first for the athletes, but the sports stars weren't the only entertainers grabbing attention.

Performing alongside the skiers, skaters and sliders were over 500 artists, dancers and musicians as part of the Cultural Olympiad. They came from 22 countries and put on more than 600 shows and exhibits in and around Vancouver and Whistler, B.C.

But while gold medallists like snowboarder Maelle Ricker and freestyle skier Alexandre Bilodeau eye lucrative sponsorship deals, the future for Canadian artists looks less prosperous.

The Cultural Olympiad put Canadian artists in the national and international spotlight, but government cuts to funding for the arts may make it difficult for them to benefit from the attention.

"We're in a paradoxical situation," said Lucy White, executive director of the Professional Association of Canadian Theatres. "We have all this attention and profile that people would love to take advantage of, but very little support."

"Its a hugely wasted opportunity if government doesn't step up and make it possible for companies to reap the benefits."

For the last three years the Canadian arts community has been feasting on a $20 million influx of funding from the Cultural Olympiad along with contributions from all of Canada's territories and provinces.

But now that the money has been spent and the festivities and feuds are over many artists could be left scrounging for their next meal.

Culture, along with sport and the environment, make up the three pillars of the Olympic movement and any bid for the Games must include community arts events.

Host cities are required to hold the event during the Games, but Vancouver went one step further and held Cultural Olympiads in 2008 and 2009 as well.

Janet Smith, arts editor for Vancouver lifestyle and entertainment newspaper The Georgia Straight, said the end of the Olympiad, and its millions of dollars in funding, brings mixed feelings for many of the artists.

"The feeling I'm getting from the arts community is, 'Yes, it was great and it was fun and we could do some amazing things,"' she said. "But now they're all wrapped up in their own tenuous futures."

In its latest budget, the B.C. government included a $10-million legacy fund for arts and culture spread over three years and increased overall funding by about $4 million. But spending is still $17 million short of 2008-09 levels.

Ken Hirabayashi, executive director of the Vancouver International Dance Festival, said the way government defines its funding figures doesn't reflect reality.

Hirabayashi said roughly $12.5 million of the budgeted money is going to the Royal B.C. Museum in Victoria and with cuts to gaming grants the dance festival's budget will be slashed in half next year.

"We're going to be hard pressed to keep going, but we'll keep going," he said. "Because when we started the festival we didn't have any funding either."

The annual contemporary dance festival, which normally runs in March, presented multiple shows during the Games and received $160,000 from the Cultural Olympiad over the last three years - about 25 per cent of its budget.

The extra funding was used to invite artists that would otherwise be unaffordable.

Although funding is on the minds of most people in the arts community, they would all agree that the chance to have Canadian art and artists presented to a worldwide audience was invaluable.

The Cultural Olympiad also offered spectators a chance to see acts and exhibits they may not have otherwise seen.

Dance shows from the Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan and Quantum Bhangra, featuring top Indian dancers and singer and movie star Harbhajan Mann, brought an international flavour to the Olympiad.

Plenty of local artists and performers were also on display. According to VANOC, 85 per cent of all the acts were Canadian, with half coming from B.C.

Performing at the Olympic opening ceremonies can be a life-altering experience, but life hasn't changed much for Shane Koyczan, Canada's newest cultural celebrity.

Koyczan, of Penticton, B.C., performed his now famous poem, "We Are More" - a reflection on being Canadian - in front of a worldwide audience and received rave reviews.

"I really haven't had a moment to process this," he said. "As soon as it was done it was a media whirlwind."

Koyczan may have become the most famous local performer but he wasn't the only one to make the headlines.

Minimalist John Adams' production "Nixon in China" was presented for the first time in Canada by the Vancouver Opera. It's based on the relationship between former U.S. president Richard Nixon and Chairman Mao and how their relationship helped shape global politics.

Doug Tuck, director of community program and marketing for Vancouver Opera, said without the Olympic arts festival the show may not have happened.

Overall, he said the last two months have shown the national and international community what local artists are capable of and that Vancouver is a place that touring performers should consider in the future.

"When people are looking at Vancouver as a destination they'll know it's culturally rich as well as containing natural beauty," he said.

Hirabayashi said only time will reveal the impact of the Cultural Olympiad on Canadian arts and culture, but he doesn't think there will be much of difference outside of B.C.

"(Art) doesn't have the same impact in terms of national pride that the sports side engendered," he said. "People don't, for whatever reason, equate pride in artistic achievement the same way they do with hockey."