It's a tough question to answer simply. I was asked about specific themes, and that's really an even deeper question, but to answer this one leads a little bit to what you're saying.
To me, it's about hope and dreaming. Obviously there's the issue of budgets, as you saw in the case of this project. I have read about it a little bit in the papers, but there is a whole scale as to how far you can go and what you can make possible. Obviously the confluence of Expo 67 and the centennial in an economic boom time is not reproducible, certainly on that scale. It's to set broad social, cultural, and possibly even economic goals, and then trust artists, interpreters, museum creators to interpret them.
Some institutions were saying when we met before that they have a bit of a challenge planning on a year-to-year basis. Obviously that's not possible for a museum; they have projects that can go on a 25- to 30-year scale. But there are many projects across Canada that are in phase one, phase two, or phase three. Let's not ignore those either and just try to do the “new” new thing, which is very popular these days. Let's also give some scope to things that haven't been thought of before; give budgets and find a focal point for them. That's the advantage of an international and national exhibition or the Olympics: it's a focal point.
It's a combination: finding what in our business and marketing you call tent poles, to use an image from the circus--you have to spread it out but have a few key tent poles with institutions, locations, and events--but letting artists and interpreters come back to you with their interpretation of what you're suggesting, as you've started to do here, and as I think historically in Canada we have done. Whatever age they are, I think you'll be surprised.