Cultural Olympiad: How Paris embedded art and culture into the Olympic legacy 

The Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games served as a turning point for the city’s cultural strategy. The Cultural Olympiad, launched in advance of the Games, significantly expanded the presence of art in public spaces and opened new avenues for civic participation. By merging cultural practice with the spirit of sport, the city activated public space and invited Parisians into a reimagined relationship with culture. 

Arts meet athletics in everyday spaces 

Throughout the city, more than 500 Cultural Olympiad projects brought artistic engagement into unexpected venues. 24 new, permanent artworks were commissioned in gyms and swimming pools, transforming routine environments into creative encounters. These interventions redefined the purpose and perception of municipal sports facilities, positioning them as key cultural sites within neighbourhoods. 

In addition to infrastructure, the Olympiad also infused programming with artistic content. School holiday camps combined athletic activities with creative workshops for young people, helping to cultivate both physical and cultural literacy. Artists were embedded in sports environments — especially in the department of Seine-Saint-Denis — through residencies where they developed new works in conversation with athletes, staff, and local communities. 

A summer of public art and civic participation 

Across the summer months, a broad programme of public cultural events animated Paris’s streets and plazas. Performances, installations, and community-driven projects fostered spontaneous participation and drew diverse audiences into cultural life. This spirit of informality and accessibility broke down traditional barriers around who culture is for and where it happens. 

From temporary experiment to permanent legacy 

Far from a one-time festival, the Cultural Olympiad was designed with legacy in mind. The City of Paris is committed to sustaining many of its most impactful projects, now integrated into long-term strategies for arts education, creative funding, and public engagement. These initiatives offer a framework for rethinking how major global events can leave lasting, equitable cultural impact. 

The legacy of the Cultural Olympiad is not just its scale, but its structure. It showed that the fusion of art and sport can deepen social cohesion, diversify cultural access, and build trust in public institutions. It also modelled how temporary events can evolve into enduring city policy.