{"id":245,"date":"2006-09-08T10:10:20","date_gmt":"2006-09-08T15:10:20","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2015-03-27T14:13:02","modified_gmt":"2015-03-27T19:13:02","slug":"letter-to-the-editor-the-sport-journal-pierre-de-coubertin-arts-administrator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesportjournal.org\/article\/letter-to-the-editor-the-sport-journal-pierre-de-coubertin-arts-administrator\/","title":{"rendered":"Letter to the Editor – The Sport Journal Pierre de Coubertin, arts administrator"},"content":{"rendered":"
Submitted by: Raymond T. Grant<\/div>\n

Ed: <\/i><\/p>\n

During the preparation of this issue of the Sport Journal, we received a piece sent to us by Mr. Raymond Grant, the artistic director of the 2002 Olympic Art Festival, reflecting on the historic and modern cultural aspects of the Olympic Games. Although the article does not fall within the normal editorial plan of the Sports Journal, it is very insightful and we felt, as such, it would be of interest to the readership<\/p>\n

With the permission of the author, we are reprinting the piece titled “Contrast, Culture, and Courage: A Cultural Administrator’s Tribute to Pierre de Coubertin” in the form of a letter to the editor. We trust the readership will find as much value in reading the piece as we did.<\/p>\n

As Beijing, Vancouver, and London prepare to host future
\nOlympic Games, it seems fitting to remind readers of The Sport Journal<\/em>
\nof the value of cultural programs within the Olympic Movement and the
\nconnection between artists and athletes. That value, and the corresponding
\ncultural development surrounding the successful hosting of the Olympic
\nGames, has deep roots within the Olympic Movement thanks to the vision
\nof Baron Pierre de Coubertin. de Coubertin was both a sports and arts
\nadministrator.<\/p>\n

The recently completed Turin Olympic Winter Games and Athens Olympic
\nGames warrant reflection brought about by the cultural legacy of Pierre
\nde Coubertin. The very public challenges surrounding the hosting of the
\nOlympic Games, the reforms of the IOC, and the successful return of the
\nSummer Games to Athens suggests that this contemporary period in the Olympic
\nMovement has elements of the historic.<\/p>\n

The on-going research of Norbert Muller, Manfred Messing, and Research
\nTeam Olympia of the University of Mainz (Germany) in their new publication
\nFrom Chamonix to Turin<\/em>, holds significant value in the study
\nof cultural programs within the context of the Olympic Games. In their
\nresearch on the meaning of the cultural program for spectators in Salt
\nLake in 2002, the authors found that 84% of respondents agreed with the
\nstatement that \u201cThe Olympic idea combines sport and art.\u201d
\nThis significantly high response compares with 72% for the Olympic Games
\nin Sydney 2000, 23% for Atlanta 1996, and 40% for Barcelona 1992. Can
\nthis be a trend in the growth of awareness and significance of Cultural
\nOlympiads and Olympic Arts Festivals? If so, as the communities of Beijing,
\nVancouver, and London prepare to host upcoming Olympic Games, much can
\nbe celebrated and learned by engaging artists and encouraging their role
\nin community development and the creative economy.<\/p>\n

The magic of the Olympic Movement \u2013 its power, if you will, is
\nin how individual communities who are invited to host the Games reinvigorate
\nthe Movement. And, local participation is a defining element of this reinvigoration.
\nIn her article More Than a Game. The Value of Arts Programming to
\nIncrease Local Participation<\/em>, author and Olympic researcher Beatriz
\nGarcia points to \u201cways in which some of the less known \u2013 but
\nmore meaningful \u2013 dimensions of the Games could place participation
\nback at the centre of the [Olympic] celebration.\u201d<\/p>\n

The arts were always at the center of Pierre de Coubertin\u2019s vision
\nfor the Olympic Movement. In the years of preparation required to deliver
\na credible Olympic Cultural program, I have found that de Coubertin\u2019s
\nunflagging belief in the power of music, dance, and words was sustaining.<\/p>\n

In Dr. Norbert Muller\u2019s opus Olympism, we have the wonderful benefit
\nof the selected writings of Pierre de Coubertin. To any cultural administrator
\nof the Games, the historical event of the Olympic Movement in Paris in
\nMay of 1906 is singularly defining. The festivities in the great amphitheater
\nof the Sorbonne, which ended the 1906 Advisory Conference in Paris (the
\nConference itself was held in the historic foyer of the Comedie Francaise)
\non the inclusion of the arts and humanities in the modern Olympics, is,
\nfor all intents and purposes, the birth right for those of us who use
\nthe arts to help define the atmosphere of the Modern Games.<\/p>\n

In a circular letter to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) dated
\nApril 2, 1906, de Coubertin invites members to an Advisory Conference
\nto determine \u201cto what extent and in what form the arts and literature
\ncan participate in the celebration of the modern Olympiads.\u201d Thanks
\nto the vision of de Coubertin, his question is as applicable today for
\nthe organizing committees of Beijing, Vancouver, and London, as it was
\nfor the nascent Olympic Movement of 1906.<\/p>\n

The announcement of the 1906 Advisory Conference was attached to the
\ninvitation to IOC members to attend the Games in Athens. As completely
\nas de Coubertin believed in the merger of sport and art, the summoning
\nof this \u201cConsultative Conference on Art, Letters, and Sport\u201d
\nwas not completely altruistic. In his Olympic Memoirs, de Coubertin said
\n\u201cI would be able to use this (the conference) as an excuse for not
\ngoing to Athens, a journey I particularly wished to avoid.\u201d<\/p>\n

Excuses aside, de Coubertin, I believe, understood that artists provide
\ncommunities with a sense of place and the Olympic Movement of 1906 was
\nmissing a vital link to this sense of place. A distinct challenge remains
\ntoday as arts and culture programs within the context of host organizing
\ncommittees fight for survival, respect, resources, and presence. de Coubertin\u2019s
\nvision of Olympism \u2013 what the Olympic Movement aspires to be \u2013
\nis inextricably linked to the arts and humanities \u201charmoniously
\njoined with sports.\u201d<\/p>\n

Celebrating the achievements of athletes alongside the accomplishments
\nof artists became the vision of the 2002 Olympic Arts Festival.<\/p>\n

In an article I wrote for The Olympic Review entitled Contrast, Culture,
\nand Courage<\/em>, I reflected on the cultural legacy of de Coubertin citing
\nthe seminal meetings he convened. In that article, I said \u2018I will
\nleave it to greater minds to decide if the 2002 Olympic Arts Festival,
\nin any substantive way, realized this broad de Coubertin vision\u2019.<\/p>\n

Now, I am especially encouraged by the results of the studies conducted
\nby Research Team Olympia in 2002 and just released in which the researchers
\n(Muller, Messing, and Preub) say, \u201cIt can be concluded that the
\nSalt Lake 2002 Olympic Arts Festival was a relatively successful one.
\nAlthough not all of the projects could be realized, the understanding
\nof the inner connection of Olympic sport and art was higher than at three
\nformer (Summer) Olympic Games and the biathlon spectators were more involved
\nin visits of the Cultural Program. It seems that the Arts Festival in
\nSalt Lake 2002 has set a benchmark for Winter Games which needs further
\nstudy to measure the achievements of cultural programs in the future.\u201d
\nHopefully, the sports and arts administrators of the Games of Beijing,
\nVancouver, and London, can engage in, commission, and contribute to this
\nOlympic research area.<\/p>\n

Participation is the key to promoting the role culture plays in great
\nsocial gatherings. And, the Olympic Movement stands as the great social
\ngathering of our time.<\/p>\n

I posit that the Olympic Movement is furthered, as well, by the perspective
\nand point of view of artists, for it has been said that \u201conly artists
\nfind the uncommon in the commonplace.\u201d I, for one, look forward
\nto the role that gifted artists, poets, playwrights, and essayists will
\nplay in future Games. If history is any judge, they will leave a cultural
\nlegacy for the Games and the communities which host them.<\/p>\n

Twenty-five years after the 1906 Advisory Conference, de Coubertin reflected:<\/p>\n

I have already repeated \u2013 so often that I am a trifle ashamed
\nof doing so once again, but so many people still do not seem to have
\nunderstood \u2013 that the Olympic Games are not just ordinary world
\nchampionships but a four-year festival of universal youth, \u201cthe
\nspring of mankind\u201d, a festival of supreme efforts, multiple ambitions
\nand all forms of youthful activity celebrated by each succeeding generation
\nas it arrives on the threshold of life. It was no mere matter of chance
\nthat in ancient times, writers and artists gathered together at Olympia
\nto celebrate the Games, thus creating the inestimable prestige the Games
\nhave enjoyed for so long.<\/p>\n

Today, the Olympic Games have as compelling an obligation and opportunity
\nto gather writers and artists together as they did in 1906.<\/p>\n

If \u201cthis was how the reunion of the muscles and the mind, once
\ndivorced, was celebrated in the year of grace 1906,\u201d let us look
\ntoward years of grace in 2008 in Beijing; 2010 in Vancouver; and 2012
\nin London.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Submitted by: Raymond T. Grant<\/div>\n

Ed: <\/p>\n

During the preparation of this issue of the Sport Journal, we received a piece sent to us by Mr. Raymond Grant, the artistic director of the 2002 Olympic Art Festival, reflecting on the historic and modern cultural aspects of the Olympic Games. Although the article does not fall within the normal editorial plan of the Sports Journal, it is very insightful and we felt, as such, it would be of interest to the readership\n<\/p>\n

With the permission of the author, we are reprinting the piece titled “Contrast, Culture, and Courage: A Cultural Administrator’s Tribute to Pierre de Coubertin” in the form of a letter to the editor. We trust the readership will find as much value in reading the piece as we did.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[290,293,291,296],"tags":[25,8,70,75],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4btio-3X","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":74,"url":"https:\/\/thesportjournal.org\/article\/ioc-culture-and-olympic-education-forum-preface\/","url_meta":{"origin":245,"position":0},"title":"IOC Culture and Olympic Education Forum : Preface","date":"February 13, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Submitted by: He Zhenliang It is often said and repeated that Olympism is sport and culture. This is not a simple definition, it is a programme that is constantly developing. The cultural dynamism of the IOC and the Olympic Movement is conveyed periodically at Olympic Games opening and closing ceremonies,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sports Facilities"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":116,"url":"https:\/\/thesportjournal.org\/article\/artists-athletes-a-perspective-on-the-2002-olympic-arts-festival\/","url_meta":{"origin":245,"position":1},"title":"Artists & Athletes: A Perspective on the 2002 Olympic Arts Festival","date":"February 14, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Submitted by: Raymond T. Grant It is right and proper that cultural programs are a required part of the Olympic Games. History has, to a certain extent, driven the integration of cultural programs into the Olympic Games. And, just as we highlight, in both the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sports Facilities"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":93,"url":"https:\/\/thesportjournal.org\/article\/did-you-know\/","url_meta":{"origin":245,"position":2},"title":"Did You Know?","date":"February 14, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Submitted by: Dr. Richard Bell, Ed.D. The Olympic flag was conceived by Pierre de Coubertin. The flag consists of five colored interlocking rings on a white background. The rings are blue, yellow, black, green, and red. After more than a century the flag still maintains its symbolism. At least one\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sports History"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":130,"url":"https:\/\/thesportjournal.org\/article\/special-edition-refuting-iocs-plan-to-end-modern-pentathlon-competition\/","url_meta":{"origin":245,"position":3},"title":"Special Edition: Refuting IOC’s Plan to End Modern Pentathlon Competition","date":"February 15, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"In light of the International Olympic Committee's recent discussion to drop the Modern Pentathlon from the Olympic Games, the President of the United States Sports Academy, Dr. Thomas P. Rosandich and editors of the Sport Journal feel it timely and important to publish this Special Edition to bring attention to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Contemporary Sports Issues"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":69,"url":"https:\/\/thesportjournal.org\/article\/ioc-culture-and-olympic-education-forum-how-do-young-people\/","url_meta":{"origin":245,"position":4},"title":"IOC Culture and Olympic Education Forum : How do young people today see Art and Olympism?","date":"February 13, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Submitted by: Prof. Norbert M\u00fcller Since Seoul 1998, our research group at the University of Mainz has examined, inter alia, how the ideas of Coubertin and the Olympic Games are reflected int hee experience of young people. In addition to the philosophical interpretation and educational application of Olympism, art, with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sports History"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":388,"url":"https:\/\/thesportjournal.org\/article\/the-place-and-role-of-olympism-in-higher-education\/","url_meta":{"origin":245,"position":5},"title":"The Place and Role of Olympism in Higher Education","date":"August 5, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Anton\u00edn Rychteck\u00fd, Charles University, Czech Olympic Academy, Prague, Czech Republic ### Introduction Interpreting the place and role of Olympism in higher education is a necessary and pertinent issue. The close relationship between the Olympic Movement and universities dates back as far as 1894. The fact that the IOC was established\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Contemporary Sports Issues"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesportjournal.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesportjournal.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesportjournal.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesportjournal.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesportjournal.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/thesportjournal.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2677,"href":"https:\/\/thesportjournal.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245\/revisions\/2677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesportjournal.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesportjournal.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesportjournal.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}