The Paris 2024 Cultural Olympiad marked a historic moment for the integration of art, sport and culture.
19 February 2025 – With 2,596 projects officially certified, the Cultural Olympiad lasted three years, from 2021 to 2024, and involved 111,066 activities in 5,048 locations all over France. The Olympic Museum contributed to several projects exploring the link between sport and culture, which were developed in collaboration with prestigious French institutions.
“The Paris 2024 Cultural Olympiad stands as an unprecedented success, marking a historic moment in the integration of art, sport and culture,” said Olympic Museum Director Angelita Teo. “The diverse range of projects, from large art installations in iconic Parisian locations to community initiatives in small towns, exemplified the Olympiad’s reach and inclusivity, and it is undoubtedly a model for future editions, starting with the one in Milano Cortina, which has already gone live with initiatives that will accompany the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 during the coming months.”
The local and global impact of the Cultural Olympiad was certified recently by a report prepared by Beatriz García, an international expert on cultural policies and major events, based on the four main axes of the Paris 2024 Cultural Olympiad strategy: linking art and sport; transforming partnerships and ways of working; diversifying the audience for art, culture and sport; and engaging all French territories.
Projects and collaborations
One of the outstanding aspects of the Cultural Olympiad was the variety of projects, which ranged from large art installations in iconic locations in Paris to initiatives involving communities in small towns and villages (65 per cent of the activities took place outside Paris and the Ile-de-France region). The projects also included exhibitions, theatre and music performances, workshops, conferences and debates, and installations that connected people with the Olympic values.
Seventy-five per cent of the projects used sport as a theme, often involving athletes and sports organisations for the first time, with 35 per cent of them focusing on the relationship between art and sport, while 19 per cent explored the history and heritage of the Olympic and Paralympic movements.
The Cultural Olympiad provided a formidable opportunity for new collaborations:
- 41 per cent of the projects established partnerships for the first time, demonstrating the ability of the Cultural Olympiad to connect artists, sports organisations and local communities;
- 70 per cent of the activities were offered free of charge and 44 per cent were held in unusual venues for the arts, reaching new audiences by breaking down barriers and promoting inclusion;
- 34 per cent of the projects involved people with disabilities, 50 per cent were led by women, and 69 per cent were aimed at young audiences, demonstrating a commitment to collective participation.
Impact and Legacy
The impact of the Cultural Olympiad goes beyond the temporal confines of the Games: 65 per cent of the projects are set to continue thanks to new funding found as a result of the event, just as 58 per cent of the initiatives pledged to leave a cultural legacy that goes beyond the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Not only that, during the period of the Games the event also benefitted Paris’ museums and tourist sites, which managed to maintain or even improve visitor numbers, despite the sports competitions taking place at the same time.
The collaboration between the Organising Committee for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the French Ministry of Culture, the City of Paris, the Île-de-France Region and other institutions made it possible to directly finance some ; but there were also many more initiatives that could benefit from the official “Cultural Olympiad” label.
In this context, projects in collaboration with the Olympic Museum included the exhibition SPOT24 – The Olympic exhibition, sport and urban cultures, developed with Paris je t’Aime; Fashion and Sport, from One Podium to Another, in partnership with the Musée des Arts Décoratifs; Gold, Silver, Bronze: A History of the Olympic Medal, in collaboration with the Musée de la Monnaie; Cultures at the Games!, developed with UNESCO; Sport in Focus, presented at the Festival Rencontres d’Arles; and an exhibition devoted to the encounter between art and sport, organised with Gagosian.
