The People’s Bid Book
Final Submissions Due: October 2
Proposals being accepted now!
Submit via email: artshowheckyeah@gmail.com
The People’s Bid Book will consist of completed projects and/or proposals that respond in some way to giant sports mega-events or aspects of their impact on urban life. This can include direct alternative proposals to the hosting of such events in certain cities; suggestions for funding alternatives in the social service sector, to the schools system, or involving public works; or sustainable game and sport facilities in keeping with neighborhood needs.
The People’s Bid Book is a creative response to the International Olympic Committee’s host city applicant bid book process, a series of publications that present increasingly detailed plans for urban redevelopment around the two-week sports festival known as the Olympics. Official bid books are created by the not-for-profit organizations often partially on the payroll of the IOC itself (via their PR firm) and working under the mission to bring the games to the cities they represent. Rarely, however, do host city organizations consist primarily of city residents, and thus their land-use visions often run counter to local needs, concerns, and interests. The People’s Bid Book returns the act of envisioning their town’s future to city residents.
Each project must be submitted in the form of a proposal. The proposal should be broken into relevant sections. These sections may, but do not need to include: a budget, architectural plans, celebrity endorsements, environmental impact statements, a community feedback section, accurate marketing budget, true-cost analysis, or legacy upkeep plans. Each proposal should include as many images or diagrammatic schema as would be required to be comprehensible to readers of all age levels. If the project describes an event that has already taken place, photographs from the event should be included, but a written description of the project broken into relevant sections must accompany the images. Please refer to the Olympic bid book of your favorite town for further information.
You are welcome to use your proposal to respond to or suggest alternatives uses or commemorations for individual specific and quantifiable aspects of an Olympic or other mega sports event bid, including but not limited to: The proposed $398 million Chicago Park District Washington Park Olympic Stadium; the tens of thousands of trees cut down and mountainsides blasted for Olympic venues in the Callaghan Valley (near Whistler) and the Sea-to-Sky Highway expansion, both in preparation for the Vancouver 2010 Games; the $50 to $100 million it is estimated that the Chicago bid process will cost the city during a citywide budget crises; the ten women suing the Ski-Jumping Team in advance of the 2010 Games for gender-based discrimination; the 2 million individuals who have lost homes in the past 20 years due to displacement caused by the Olympic Games; the 300 student protestors killed prior to the opening of the Olympic Games in Mexico City, 1968; uses for the 90,000-seat Beijing Olympic stadium that has remained empty since the 2008 games ended 10 months ago.
The People’s Bid Book may take on aspects of other mega sports events, such as the FIFA World Cup or the SEA Games in Asia. It may also respond, generally, to all mega sports events. There is no word-count limit to submissions. Individuals with questions about submissions or proposals are advised to get in touch well in advance of the October 2 submission date (also the IOC’s final host-city announcement date for the 2016 Games). The People’s Bid Book will be released in advance of the Opening Day Ceremonies of the Vancouver Games on February 12, 2010. There is at this time no guaranteed payment for submissions.
Please email artshowheckyeah@gmail.com with further questions.
