NG Farrell Marketing

Today marks the start of Culture Days 2011. NG Farrell visited the opening day events at CBC HQ in Vancouver. We were delighted to see such a vast range of people and performers lining up to view and participate in the celebrations. Young and old, magically multicultural, with professional and amateur performers alike, all uniting with enthusiasm to collectively celebrate our “culture”.

But what we found interesting is that today also marks the official re-opening of BC Place, after what is being billed as the largest and most expensive retrofit in Canadian history. Compared to the large crowd gathered for Culture Days just two blocks away at CBC, the vicinity around BC Place, (which is surely one of the city’s most popular and recognizable cultural destinations) was near empty, except for the last minute clean-up crews and a handful of workers assembling a small platform, assumedly for an official opening ceremony to be held later in the day.

A quiet and contemplative morning at the Terry Fox Memorial at BC Place.

While BC Place’s main tenants are football and soccer teams, the stadium has and will continue to play host to concerts and large-scale productions for years to come. Of course, many people will (quietly) say that football and soccer aren't “culture”. But try telling the thousands of fans who attend these games that their favourite pastimes aren’t cultural to them.  You can imagine the responses.

We believe strongly that the arts, multi-culturalism, media AND sports all equally deserve to be classified as “cultural”.  Parametres such as funding and infrastructure requirements might all be very different, but the essence they share speaks to the same core attributes that connect us as a species.

Reflecting sun over statue of Percy Williams, awaiting the re-opening of the BC Sports Hall of Fame.

And so, while the kick-offs for the new BC Place and for Culture Days are happening at the same time on the same day and only two city blocks apart, it seems like both are still worlds apart and without any significant bearing on each other whatsoever.

Well, that is just not true. And it’s an old and silly perspective that only artsies love the arts, and only jocks like sports. To us, this archaic attitude is the primary reason why both arts and sports organizations often find it difficult to expand audience bases and enhance organizational development.

We offer our sincerest thank you and best wishes for continued success to the organizers and participants of Culture Days 2011, and a heartfelt congratulations to the staff, tenants and fans of BC Place on their beautiful new home. But we also wish and hope that all will soon realize that the time is now to embrace a more holistic, 21st century definition of what is culture, who creates it, and for whom it is intended.

CBC personalities warming up the crowds for Culture Days 2011 kick-off.

Photos: Chito Yoro