When I think of the Olympic Games of 1976, it is the massive visual art exhibition, Corridart that I recall so vividly. Similarly, it is not the UN Conference on Settlements that I remember, it is its impressive and accessible parallel conference, Habitat, that remains so vivid in my memory. And finally, it is not the exhibition Vancouver Art and Artists: 1931 to 1983 that I remember, it is The October Show, the show that gave birth to the series of Artropolis exhibitions in Vancouver, that I recall as stupendous. In the history of Corridart, Habitat and The October Show, it was "the people," the artists of the community plus other "just plain folk" who were the conceiver's of these events. In each case, disenfranchised local artists and community activists who wanted to see themselves a part of the historic events occurring in their community got involved. They created an alternative forum for themselves, and for many people who visited both the official and alternate events, it is the alternate event, the event of the people, they remember.

Corridart: Dissatisfied with the role the visual arts was playing in the cultural festival that was part of the Olympic Games in Montreal in 1976, Montreal visual artists organized Corridart—a massive exhibition (eight kilometers long) for contemporary Quebec artists on Sherbrooke Street, one of the main streets in Montreal. The exhibition linked downtown Montreal to the Olympic Stadium, and involved hundreds of visual artists. The official Olympic cultural program was largely focused on the performing arts and required expensive tickets; Corridart was free, exciting, dynamic and it contained many controversial pieces. What made Corridart famous, however, was not the work in the exhibition, but the fact that Montreal Mayor Jean Drapeau and the Executive Committee of the Town of Montreal had the exhibition bulldozed down a week after it opened. The City of Montreal cited obscure land governance regulations and safety concerns as their reasons for dismantling the unofficial, grassroots exhibition, and the bulldozing created bad international press.

Habitat: Excitement abounded when the United Nations announced their intent to host a conference on human settlements in Vancouver in 1976, but that excitement turned more to despair when people realized how limited access there would be for them to the official program. Social activists from all over the world, especially the third world, wanted to impress the UN with news of their situation and needs at home. The people's conference, Habitat, was very much of its time. A combination of UN formality and hippie pleasure fair, Habitat featured speakers who would later emerge as world leaders of the ecology, conservation and environmental movements, and visual and performing artists were a huge part of the program. Art was all over the Habitat site, and it was extremely popular with Vancouver citizens. Before the birth of all the festivals that now fill our summer, Habitat was one of the first summer events that I remember that felt like a festival, and everyone knew about it. Virtually every single person I knew went to Habitat, and many of us went over and over again.

Artropolis: This story is a Vancouver legend. Simply put, when the Vancouver Art Gallery (VAG) announced plans to open their new premises in 1976 with an exhibition called Vancouver Art and Artists: 1931 to 1983, local artists were outraged because they felt contemporary artists were under-represented. Although the VAG exhibition contained 600 works, a great percentage of the works in the show were "historical" so contemporary artists voiced their displeasure by organizing a salon des refuses in an empty warehouse on Beatty Street. The counter exhibition was called The October Show, and it knocked people out. Its success led to The Warehouse Show the following year with other shows following every couple of years. This tradition began as a response to the UN conference and continues to this day, with the shows now called the Artropolis exhibitions. Artropolis has a long and proud history and it is a wonderful legacy for all those who organized The October Show.

These memories remind me that official planning for major events can often overlook the needs and strength of the local artistic community—especially the visual arts, design and craft communities of BC. These experiences have me believing that BC visual artists should start thinking now of how they want to exhibit themselves while world attention is focused on Vancouver in 2010. Will there be an exceptional Artropolis exhibition that year? Will we all get behind it? Will we try a Corridart approach? What are the local galleries going to be doing? Will only the local galleries get a piece of the Olympic funding pie—or a single gallery?

Are you wanting to show or sell during that intense two weeks? How will you achieve your objective? How far ahead will galleries program their spaces for the time during the Olympics? In the media frenzy over the games themselves, their opening and closing ceremonies and the official Olympic Cultural program, what chance will non-official events have of getting media attention-especially visual art events? Could the visual art community make a strong media impression through collective action? And if so, what action should that be?

The performing arts are easier for event organizers to program, and they create revenue through ticket sales. Visual artists are far more difficult to involve in large events. Exhibitions often under-represent the community and they have trouble competing for public attention in the media circus that is the Olympic Games and Cultural Festival. Learning from the past, however, we should involve ourselves in the planning so that we do not find ourselves "outside" and angry. What are your thoughts? Is it going to be every artist for her or himself, or will the community make plans together? What should we do to ensure our local visual artists are seen? Send me your ideas to the e-address below.