2010 Legacies Now is rebranding itself and will no longer provide support for the arts, its CEO Bruce Dewar has confirmed. A not-for-profit organization created in 2000 to develop community legacies leading up to, during, and beyond the 2010 Winter Olympics, 2010 Legacies Now will focus on venture philanthropy in sport and healthy living as well as literacy and lifelong learning. “We won’t do the areas that we’ve done traditionally in the past, being contribution agreements or programs for general arts,” Dewar said. “Our time to do that leading up to the Games was a set time, and that part of the journey is over.”
Amir Ali Alibhai, executive director of the Alliance for Arts and Culture, said the news didn’t come as a surprise, but that it was still disappointing. “I’ve known for about a year that they were giving up the whole arts thing,” he said. “The arts could totally benefit from that type of investment and access to venture capital. So it’s a shame that it’s not going to be coming through Legacies 2010.…I’m just hoping that other agencies like the [B.C.] arts council can look at that model of investing, that the new ministry can deal with venture capitalism and the need for capital in terms of artistic and cultural development.”
from the Georgia Straight – Oct. 28, 2010