Village Gamer

Press Release: Vancouver, BC – On a day when Canada’s new media community is celebrating its inaugural National Digital Media Day, New Media BC (NMBC), the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC), Bell and Wavefront today announced a new partnership that will create opportunities for British Columbia’s (BC’s) digital media companies to play a key role in the Vancouver 2010 Cultural Olympiad’s suite of digital programs, known as CODE (Cultural Olympiad Digital Edition).

“New Media BC is delighted to be a key member of this partnership, which represents a great opportunity for BC digital media companies to showcase their outstanding creativity and talent and to be part of the Vancouver 2010 Cultural Olympiad,” said Kenton Low, president, New Media BC.

As the leading advocate for BC’s 1,000 plus new media companies, NMBC will work closely with VANOC to source some of the talent that will be used to develop several of the platforms, tools and content for CODE’s range of initiatives. Wavefront, a leader in commercializing mobile digital applications, is ideally suited to provide testing and deployment for these applications. The partnership is proudly supported by Bell as an integral part of its presenting sponsorship of the Vancouver 2010 Cultural Olympiad.

“With the digital edition, as with the Cultural Olympiad overall, one of our goals is to build Canada’s creative capacity and connections that will leave a strong legacy,” said Burke Taylor, VANOC vice president, culture and celebrations. “Through this exciting partnership and the resources that have been allocated, we have a great opportunity to achieve this goal within the BC digital media community.”

The Vancouver 2010 Cultural Olympiad is an integral component of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games experience, showcasing the best in Canadian and international arts and popular culture. Designed as an interdisciplinary “festival of festivals,” the program was launched in 2008 and continues with Cultural Olympiad 2009 (February 1 to March 21, 2009), which features more than 400 events and exhibitions in Greater Vancouver and the Sea to Sky corridor. This multi-year celebration culminates with the 60-day Cultural Olympiad 2010 (January 22 to March 21, 2010).

“This exciting new media initiative extends the reach of the Cultural Olympiad through the development of an innovative suite of digital programs and tools, which are an ideal fit with Bell technologies,” said Loring Phinney, vice president corporate and Olympic marketing, Bell. “We are pleased that this is one more way Bell can help connect Canadians to the Olympic and Paralympic experience, as part of our original commitment as a presenting sponsor of the Vancouver 2010 Cultural Olympiad.”

“This partnership is an excellent outlet for showcasing our region’s outstanding mobile content and application development capabilities,” said James Maynard, president, Wavefront. “Wavefront is excited to be facilitating deployment through our testing and other services.”

CODE programs will add an exciting new dimension to Cultural Olympiad 2009, expanding in the run up to the 2010 Winter Games. More details about CODE will follow in the coming weeks.