Ceremonies of a large scale become "spectacle." Spectacle has scale. Ceremony on a grand scale creates a strong impression and engages our emotions. Local small ceremonies are often related to larger "epic" spectacles. The ceremony of one diocese or wolf cub pack is strengthened by its relationship to Vatican ceremony or that of World Jamborees. We see a Governor General, but we think, "The Queen" and of all her majesty.

Leaders with ambition know about ceremony and use it to further their goals. Hitler knew about ceremony and scale, and filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl recorded striking images of his achievements in spectacle on film. The images of the rally in the former Olympic Stadium in Munich reveal Hitler to be a master showman. But no institution of the Western World beats the British Royal Family and the Catholic Church at pageantry.

I cannot remember the coronation of Queen Elizabeth in 1953, but I remember the images of it in the Life magazines that relatives had saved and in the films we, as children, were shown at school. The same went for the celebrations surrounding the selection of a new Pope. These institutions have honed their ceremonies, developed their rituals and icons and assembled traditions in costume, music, and choreography, etcetera, over the centuries.

When I see ceremony, I see an arts festival. Although I am interested in neither Catholic nor British dogma, I respect both institutions and I love the majesty of their "festivals." In these investitures, I hear the work of composers and musicians, players and singers, and see the masterful work of artists and crafts persons. The dress and costume makers, the jewelers, the woodworkers and the silversmiths of old have left their marks in the crowns, gowns, maces, coaches, churches, castles and monuments. There is an unparalleled celebration of colour, compelling, inspiring music, and an artistry in the movement and processions that instills strong emotions in pageantry. As they say, "the heart swells" as our ears and eyes are awed by the work of experts in arts and crafts.

For many people in Canada today, the monarchy means little and headlines of late have said only 34% of the population goes to church. Some of the erosion of interest in British traditions must be due to the global nature of American culture and our particular susceptibility to its dominance. The church is losing its hold on people throughout Western culture as the betterment of the self has come to mean more than the betterment of the social group. With declining interest in these institutions has come a decline in ceremony or, as I see it, a decline in "arts festivals" with huge budgets.

Our increasingly secular world, however, has developed its own ceremonial occasions. Most notable are those of the largest scale - World Fairs and the Olympic Games. For whatever reasons, World Fairs are no longer of interest to most nations, while the stature of hosting the Olympics and Olympic performance has increased. And whereas ceremony has always been part of the games in the form of processions and medal ceremonies, the opening and closing spectacles have become of increasing importance to the host nation and its tax-paying citizens in the past few decades. Now, nations can make a global impression by means of hosting the most magnificent of opening and closing ceremonies, even if they fail to impress by means of the traditional route of winning medals. As with the monarchy and the church, the Olympic ceremonies draw heavily on the talents of artists.

As I write this, it is still a month until the decision as to who will host the 2010 Olympics is announced. By the time this is published and reaches you, we will know the decision of the International Olympic Committee. The only way I can be truly optimistic about the Olympics is to consider the surge in financial resources that may befall many artists and arts organizations of Vancouver, BC and Canada. Here's hoping that if Vancouver wins the right to host the Olympics, the artists of Vancouver and BC will reap some lasting benefit.

Expo 86 left no legacy for the arts. In the year after the event, attendance at arts events plummeted and arts organizations selling season tickets saw sales significantly decline. Let's start now to do all we can to ensure that 2011 is a good year for the arts in BC.

For the first decade and a half of my career, I worked hard to advocate for the arts to governments and school boards. Whereas I was earnest and hard working, my faith in any hope of change waned and I despaired about that realization. As the years passed, however, I came to see the changes we were going through in the arts in a way that eased my fears and pain. I came to understand that the artists and arts organizations of Canada were going to learn how to do things differently. We were, I concluded, moving from a British/European model of government financial policies towards the arts, to an American model.

The change meant a greater role in arts funding from the marketplace-through corporate sponsorships and sales. In the past decade, another aspect of the American social funding model that has become part of their education, sport, transportation and medical infrastructures, has come to the arts. That is "Partnerships." Our provincial government advocates P3 (public/private partnership) projects, and in the arts, partnership has proven to be the solution to government funding cuts-partnerships with other arts organizations, other social agencies, corporations and/or government.

Opus has done a lot for the visual arts in Vancouver, BC and across Canada. This newsletter has served many artists well, and Opus has donated thousands and thousands of dollars worth of art and framing supplies to countless non-profit visual arts organizations and art education initiatives. With the "Drawing Your World" project, Opus is part of a synergistic P3 project joining with the Vancouver Art Gallery and the Pacific Centre in order to work together towards a "summer drawing extravaganza" for the downtown core. If more companies were as responsible to their host and customer communities, the arts would thrive.