American singer and rapper Pharrell Williams hopes for sports and the arts to share the stage on the world’s biggest arena again
While the world is celebrating sports medallists at the piste, pitch and pool, the arts industry is reminding the world that the arts also once had a place at the Olympics.
At the star-studded Louis Vuitton event in Paris last week, American rapper Pharrell Williams, who is the brand’s men’s creative director, spoke passionately about hoping to reintroduce the arts to the Olympics by 2028: “The Olympics once had art competitions. Sculpture, architecture, visual arts. Let’s remind everyone of that legacy and seize this moment to bring awareness.”
In case you missed: Parisian artist Ugo Gattoni on his inspiration for the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics poster, and the small details you might have missed
Pharrell Williams (Photo: Getty Images)
1 / 1
The idea of including arts in the Olympic Games came from French educator and historian Pierre de Coubertin, and co-founder of the International Olympic Committee, who insisted on a cultural programme to run alongside the sporting events. Medals were given to the finest in musical composition, drawing and painting, sculpture and architectural design. The committee discontinued the art contests after the 1948 Olympics. There was an attempt to reinstate it in 1952 but it was to no avail.
How Williams will realise his vision is yet to be seen, but there is no doubt about his dedication to the arts: donations collected from the abovementioned Louis Vuitton event—for which Williams had invited big-name artists such as Kaws and Daniel Arsham to design interactive installations—went to support 36 athletes from 11 countries competing on the Refugee Olympic Team this year.