Musician and Designer Pharrell Williams wants to revive the Arts Competition at the Olympics.
If you haven't been watching the 2024 Paris Olympics, you're missing out on a lot of interesting stories popping up.
We're 1000% sure you've at least seen the memes of these Olympians. South Korea's Kim Yeji became the coolest Olympian to walk this Earth, while Turkey sent Yusuf Dikec, a man who has no ear or eye protection and looks like he just accidentally stood in a line thinking it was for Dave and Buster's.
Then there's the wholesome curiosity of Snoop Dogg and Flavor Flav. I mean, let's be honest, Uncle Snoop makes everything better, amirite?
But in all seriousness, musician and Louis Vuitton Men's Designer #Pharrell has entered the room and threw down a pretty interesting gauntlet – advocating for the revival of the Arts Competition at the next Olympics.
If you're not aware (we weren't aware of this at all), back in the 1912 Stockholm Games, the international event included the arts. Olympic medals were awarded across five categories: architecture, literature, music, painting, and sculpture. Astonishingly, between 1912 and 1948 151 medals were awarded to original works in the fine arts that were inspired from the sports, but the small twist of having to be inspired by sports became limiting to the fine arts competitions. The Arts competitions were finally cancelled in 1948 and even though there were some attempts to revive them, ultimately they never did. And to add insult to injury, those 151 medals were officially stricken from the Olympic record and do not count currently factor into countries’ medal counts, pouring more salt into those wounds.
Now, no one knows how Pharrell plans to revive these competitions, but it would be amazing to see the Olympics – one of if not THE premiere international competitive event – to include this competition once again that helps provide opportunities to the creators of the world, besides Etsy. We know being in the creative arts is tough and there's little to no professional opportunity when it comes to professional development and wage growth, but seeing someone with the street cred such as Pharrell advocating for such a competition might be a win-win for everyone. So what would it take? First, it would require a large contingent of people to back the initiative. Pharrell alone might not move the needle, but it's a great start. Imagine if Virgil were still alive and was one of the judges or if artists like Michael Kagan were on board? We're sure if Pharrell is leading the charge, there's no shortage of creative firepower to get it in front of the IOC.
The hardest part might be the criteria of how to judge. The arts are very subjective, and it's not completely cut and dry like a Judo takedown. And don't get us wrong, we love seeing synchronized swimming, the shotput and the javeline throw, but if we're including #breakdancing as part of the Olympics, this opens the door for the games to evolve. And that's not a bad thing, in our opinion.
#CROSSxOVER #CreativeEconomy #CreativeArts #LouisVuitton #2024Olympics #Paris #2024ParisOlympics #Future #Arts #Sports
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