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The Cultural Olympiad's aim is to bring together the worlds of sport and culture before, during and after the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Culture and sport are coming together in Paris! The idea of combining sport and art dates back to the creation of the modern Olympic Games: in 1912, sculpture, architecture, literature, music and painting even featured as Olympic disciplines. Although the arts have not been considered an Olympic event since 1949, the Cultural Olympiad has become part of the Games and is enshrined in the Olympic Charter.
It's still important to keep the dialogue flowing between art and sport so that the values shared by both practices respect, openness, tolerance and movement can still resonate.
With Paris 2024 and the Seine-Saint-Denis region, the City of Paris wishes to take advantage of these cultural events to promote the links between art and sport, encourage dialogue between places, take over public spaces and, more broadly, bring the world's cultures into dialogue in Paris. Since the launch of Cultural Olympiad in Paris in October 2021, culture has been introduced into new places, sport has served as inspiration for new forms of artistic expression, and major events have been organized.
The 2024 schedule
This
year, the City of Paris has entrusted internationally renowned artists such as
Claire Tancons, Mohammed El Khatib, Benjamin Millepied and Raymond Depardon to
bring the Cultural Olympiad to life. Having already started in April, their
task is to take over Parisian public spaces during festivities and events. In
addition to these major unifying events, the City of Paris will be setting up
festive sites in every arrondissement throughout the summer as part of the
"Paris fête les Jeux" program. With event broadcasts, sports classes,
shows and free entertainment, Parisians and visitors from all over the world
will experience Parisian fervor.
To find out more about the program, follow on the link below!
A look back at the 2023 highlights
2nd Olympic Forms Festival
The second Olympic Forms Festival was held from June 23th to September 17th in 2023. More than fifty free events were open to all under a banner of dialogue between culture and sport.
In the city's museums
Museums have been making extra effort to promote sports and culture with a number of exhibitions, collections and themed sporting tours highlighting the history of sport and the practice of sport. The Musée Galliera, for example, will be exploring"Fashion in Motion " until March 15, 2024, while the Petit Palais will be offering a tour of "Bodies in Motion" until November 17th, 2024, as well as a series of twelve "Paris Musées Olympiques" podcasts.
In sports facilities
A program to renovate or dress up sports facilities involving artists and students from the city's art schools, notably the Lagny (20th) Pailleron (19th) and Philippe Auguste (11th) basketball courts.
The full program is available on the Cultural Olympiad website.
Nuit Blanche 2023
Dance, ping-pong, wrestling, skateboarding… Nuit Blanche was all about sports on June 3rd last year.
Theater Tennis
Credit
Jean-Baptiste Gurliat / Ville de Paris
Marathon du concerto at Charléty stadium (13th arrondissement)
Credit
Jean-Baptiste Gurliat / Ville de Paris
Nuit Blanche Lucha Vavoom, Mexican wrestling and burlesque dance (Place du Châtelet)
Credit
Guillaume Bontemps / Ville de Paris
A look back at the 2022 highlights
"24 Jeux d'artistes" exhibition
Credit
Clement Dorval / Ville de Paris
From January 5th to February 1st, 2022, residents and tourists alike were able to admire the "24 Jeux d'artistes" exhibition free of charge on the gates of the Hôtel de Ville and in the Paris Rendez-vous store. 24 official Summer Olympic Games posters, from 1912 to 2021, were made available for the first time by the International Olympic Committee's Olympic Foundation for Culture and Heritage. A selection of artistic posters enriched the exhibition, enabling viewers to dive into the history of the Games and take a fresh look at the artistic, political and social issues at stake at each event.
Vidéo Youtube
"Ateliers Rebonds"
Every Saturday for 7 weeks between April and May, the Maison des pratiques artistiques amateurs (MPAA)/La Canopée offered dance workshops based on basketball, with choreographer Christina Towle and artists from the Kivuko company. The creative sessions led to several performances at the Forum des Halles and Carreau du Temple.
Vidéo Youtube
Artistic and cultural venues at the Cultural Olympiad
From June 22nd to July 30th, 2022, Paris libraries joined the cultural party, offering walks, shows, lectures, screenings and exhibitions based on the values of Olympism.
Paris Musées has also expanded its range of podcasts with a new series: "Paris Musées Olympiques". The 12-episode series explores the works of art in Paris's museums through the prism of the modern Olympic Games. Listen here.
On Olympics Day, which took place on June 23th, 2022, three meetings between historians and athletes took place at the Arènes de Lutèce (5th arrondissement). These round-table discussions explored themes like Paralympism, the historical development of sport and its institutionalization.
Getting into Olympic shape
Credit
Ville de Paris - Jean-Michel Tixier
With two years to go before the Games, the City of Paris wanted to start getting the dialogue going between sport and culture. It hosted open air events to capture the attentions of as many people as possible. 65 projects (shows, concerts, performances, conferences, workshops, exhibitions, etc.), were selected as part of a scheme coordinated by the Carreau du Temple, in partnership with Paris 2024. Each project offered up, in their own way, a dialogue between art and sport or Olympism. These projects, scheduled between June 23th and mid-September, received the "Cultural Olympiad" certificate, and coincided with major Parisian summer events such as "Paris Plages" and the "Paris l'été" festival.
"The Odyssey", a nautical festival
Since 2019, l'Odyssée has taken on the challenge of inventing a major annual traveling festival around the Seine and canals. Around a hundred events were scheduled on the Seine and the Marne for the third edition in September 2022. Floating concerts, races, guinguettes, cruises, round-table discussions were all organized. The project, financed by the City of Paris as part of the Cultural Olympiad, was inspired by the history of the Seine and its future, particularly in the context of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2024.
Vidéo Youtube
Nuit Blanche 2022
On the night of October 1st to 2nd, 2022, the annual Nuit Blanche event celebrated its twentieth anniversary to the theme of painter Hieronymus Bosch's "Garden of Delights". Among the many cultural activities and events on offer to Parisians, the Cultural Olympiad was showcased with two shows:
Le Cauchemar de Séville, a life-size reconstruction of the 1982 France-Germany World Cup semi-final, theatrical soccer
Vidéo Youtube
Annie Sperling's Une Balançoire pour Molitor, an aerial show in the Molitor's iconic pool
Vidéo Youtube
This alternative showcasing of the capital and its cultural, artistic and sporting heritage attracted nearly 400,000 people.
Following a public vote, the new artistic festivities will be held on the first weekend in June, starting in 2023. The next edition of the Cultural Olympiad promises to be even better, to the delight of art and sports enthusiasts.
The town supports other initiatives linking art and sport, such as the hip-hop cultural center La Place.
Other events
Paris Sport Vacances + Culture
Credit
Ville de Paris
Every school vacation period, the City of Paris offers internships for children aged 7 to 17 with Paris Sport Vacances. Since 2020, the capital has been diversifying its offer with "Paris Sport Vacances + Culture" courses in the spirit of the Cultural Olympiad.
The aim is to develop sporting and cultural habits among young people and create a dialogue between sports and cultural professionals. The program includes "table tennis and radio", "athletics and theater", "karate and computer-assisted music"… In 2022, over 300 children were able to try out these courses in various sports and cultural establishments in the capital, including the Maison Européenne de la Photographie and the Médiathèque Musicale de Paris. Over 40 courses have been scheduled for this year, and many more will be offered during each school vacation period in 2023.
Vidéo Youtube
The artistic residencies in sports environments
As part of the Cultural Olympiad, the "Artistes & Sportifs Associés" scheme launched with Paris 2024 and the Conseil départemental de Seine-Saint-Denis, is enabling the creation of 13 artist residencies in sports facilities in Paris and Seine-Saint-Denis.
These artistic residencies in a sporting environment are unique in Paris and in the history of the Games. The projects revolve around the various Olympic and Paralympic disciplines and take a variety of artistic forms (plastic works, comic strips, shows, circus…). These residencies will be presented to the general public during the Cultural Festival scheduled to take place during the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Puppets take up sport
Le Mouffetard, Centre national de la marionnette, is setting up a program for the creation of puppet shows. Their "OMNIprésences sportives" project will be unveiled in 2024, and includes the creation of ten shows based around sport, an exhibition of kayaking totems,and mediation actions to help different audiences discover the art of puppetry through sport.
How to apply for the Cultural Olympiad certificate
The Cultural Olympiad certificate awarded by Paris 2024 enables everyone to take part in the Olympic festivities through art. Parisians will benefit from exhibitions and artistic events linked to sport. It's an opportunity to bring creativity and communal spirit to the capital. For the cultural sector, these highlights are opportunities to take part in the Games while showcasing the talent of local artists and players in the public arena. To apply, visit the Paris 2024 website
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