Syracuse

It was Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic Games, who in 1904 suggested including the arts in the Olympic programme. This proposal was part of a return to the Ancient Greek tradition, where cultural competitions were held alongside sporting events.

In 1906, during a "consultative conference of arts, letters and sports", the project to establish five competitions in architecture, sculpture, painting, literature and music, to be included in the Olympic Games in the same way as the athletic competitions, was unanimously approved by all the participants, including 30 artists and 5 IOC members. The only condition was that the subjects chosen would be inspired by the “idea of sport” or directly related to sport matters.

After an unsuccessful attempt in 1908 in London, official Olympic Art Competitions started during the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm. Art competitions reached their peak at the Games in Los Angeles in 1932, with 31 countries exhibiting 1,100 works at the Los Angeles Museum and attracting 384,000 visitors.

After the second World War, the success of the art competitions started to decline and discussions raised about the controversial status of artists as “non-amateurs”. In London 1948, they attracted little interest and the quality of the works was considered "mediocre" and the Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (OCOG) of Helsinki 1952 decided not to include the art competitions in the programme due to time constraints. Following this decision, the art competitions disappeared from the Olympic Games programme.

The withdrawal of art competitions as part of the Olympic Games programme did however not mean that the IOC's interest in culture had been abandoned. From 1954 to 1990, each OCOG was requested by the IOC to organise a programme of events and art exhibitions  (architecture, literature, music, painting, sculpture, photography and sports philately), presenting the best art and cultural expressions that showcase the identity of the local host as well as encouraging international understanding and with the same standards as the sport events and being held concurrently with them in the same vicinity. Mexico 1968 was a very good example of this period with, among other events, 93 groups contributing towards a Festival of Performing Arts, ranging from opera to jazz; a festival of Children’s painting exhibiting entries from 47 countries; a World Folklore Festival attracting 30 groups from overseas and an almost equal number from regions throughout Mexico and an exhibition of folk art with work from 45 countries.

Since Barcelona 1992, a Cultural Olympiad has been held in connection with the Olympic Games. As an interdisciplinary programme consisting of classic and contemporary art expressions, as well as folklore, science and technology advancements, the Cultural Olympiads are organised by the OCOG during the four years preceding the Games and reaching their peak during the Games themselves. Events take place in the region of the host cities or even throughout the country. Although they do not necessarily have a direct relationship with sport, they contribute to creating an atmosphere of celebration, promoting regional cultural richness, arousing interest in the upcoming Games and enabling as many people as possible to enjoy the Olympic experience.

Today, the term “Cultural Olympiad” has been progressively replaced by “Cultural Programme”. This programme starts about four years before the Olympic Games and is followed by the “Culture Festival”, which is launched roughly two months before the Games and lasts until the end of the Paralympic Games. The Cultural activities are a key programme of the IOC Olympic Games department to promote the public engagement in the Games.

In the recent years, the links between Olympism and culture have been further strengthened with the implementation of the Olympic Agenda 2020, the strategic roadmap of the Olympic Movement, in which especially Recommendation 26 aims to "further strengthen the alliance of sport and culture at the Olympic Games and between their different editions". To respond to this new strategy the IOC, via the Olympic Foundation for Culture and Heritage, has reinforced its own cultural policy in collaboration with the Olympic Movement stakeholders and the OCOGs.

To facilitate your research on this topic, we have compiled a selection of the official and academic publications on art and culture. This includes an extensive list of links and academic articles on the evolution of the Olympic Art and Culture programme through time.

This is just a selection of the resources available; be sure not to miss the link to the full list of all publications we have for you on the topic.