Culture @ the Olympics: Issues, Trends and Perspectives, Edited by Andy Miah & Beatriz Garcia » Economics

Roundhouse, Vancouver’s community centre, suffers funding cuts due to the Olympics

Ana ADI — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 00:12:10 +0000

Roundhouse, Vancouver’s community centre is a historical monument, its 374 steam engine being the one that pulled the first transcontinental train into Vancouver.

A popular destination with tourists, the arts and recreation centre has embraced the Games, hosting many of the Cultural Olympiad events such as that of Tanya Tagaq, an Inuit throat singing with orchestral and contemporary influences. It has also created a community ‘living room’ with big television screens allowing people to come together to enjoy the sports.

However Diana Vandeveen, Roundhouse programme co-ordinator, declares she was shocked when ten of her staff had to be laid off a week before the Olympics started due to money diverted to finance the Games.

“People are not seeing the essence of what the Roundhouse community centre is”, according to Diana. In non-Olympic times the Roundhouse provides arts and recreational activities focusing on families and wellbeing of senior citizens.

The programming of the Roundhouse has been substantially reduced and the community centre had to rent their space to Casa Italia, the Italian House, for the eight weeks of competitions. The Roundhouse is not the only arts establishment whose funds were reduced in the eve of the Winter Games. Last year in September, members and supporters of the arts community in Vancouver protested against the cuts at the grounds of the Vancouver Art Gallery.

With Montreal finishing to pay its 1976 Games debt only last year, questions over the faith of Vancouver’s community projects remain open.

Rachael McAlister and Erin Linton are Broadcast Journalism Post Graduate students at the University of the West of Scotland and are contributing to Culture @ the Olympics during their time in Vancouver.

2010 Games watchdog says village costs are being hidden (5 Feb, 2007)

Andy Miah — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 14:10:28 +0000

Posted by Admin under 2010 Winter Games

Kent Spencer, The Province

Costs for the athletes village are being hidden in other budgets and may never be revealed to the public, the 2010 Games Watchdog Committee said yesterday.

“The city is laying out a bag of money,” said watchdog Chris Shaw

http://www.goingtovancouver.com/blog/?p=120

2012 Olympics budget could be doubled (5 Feb, 2007)

Andy Miah — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 14:08:18 +0000

(AP)
Updated: 2007-02-05 10:43 The cost of the 2012 London Olympics has doubled and could reach as high as 9 billion pounds (US$17.6 billion; euro13.6 billion), according to a newspaper report Sunday.

The Sunday Times, citing figures obtained ahead of the official budget announcement by the British government, said the cost of building the Olympic Park had risen to 5.1 billion pounds (US$10 billion; euro7.7 billion)….

http://www.cp.org/english/online/OnlineFullStory.aspx?filename=s020427a&newsitemid=28789021&languageid=1

Treasury adding to costs of 2012 Olympics, MPs claim (23 Jan, 2007)

Andy Miah — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 08:37:58 +0000

Treasury adding to costs of 2012 Olympics, MPs claim

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/economics/story/0,,1996635,00.html

· Cautious approach blamed for estimated budget rise
· Financial planning ahead of schedule, says Blair

Patrick Wintour
Tuesday January 23, 2007
The Guardian

A powerful committee of MPs will accuse the Treasury tomorrow of adding £2bn to the cost of the Olympics with its overcautious approach to funding the 2012 games.The Labour-controlled culture select committee will side with Tessa Jowell, the culture secretary, in what has turned into a bitter row over the best approach to pay for the event.

Costs have already risen due to a variety of pressures including more intense security, construction inflation and an unexpected Treasury ruling that the Olympics Development Authority must pay VAT……

Lloyds TSB commits to £80m London 2012 deal (3 Jan, 2007)

Andy Miah — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 08:44:48 +0000

Lloyds TSB commits to £80m London 2012 deal

by Joanna Bowery Marketing 3 Jan 2007

http://www.brandrepublic.com/bulletins/sports/article/624067/lloyds-tsb-commits-80m-london-2012-deal/

Lloyds TSB: backing London 2012

LONDON – Lloyds TSB is set to become the first brand to sign up as a top-tier sponsor of the London 2012 Olympic Games in a deal worth £80m….

Revealed: the true cost of Olympics (19, Nov, 2006)

Andy Miah — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 17:00:53 +0000

Revealed: the true cost of Olympics
With a possible final bill of £8bn London’s 2012 Olympics could be the most costly sports event ever, says a report obtained by The Observer. Why were the original figures so much lower?

By Denis Campbell

Sunday November 19, 2006
The Observer

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/gla/story/0,,1951980,00.html

City Hall, Ken Livingstone’s egg-shaped headquarters in the shadow of Tower Bridge, hosted many of the meetings, press conferences and receptions that paved the way for London’s unexpected but euphoric victory last year in the race to stage the 2012 Olympics. Last Wednesday morning it was the scene of a much more sombre and fractious gathering that will be remembered as the moment when the optimism surrounding that triumph gave way to the complicated and expensive reality of bringing the world’s greatest sporting event to Britain….