Why the Olympiad?
Reimagining the Olympiad (RtO) takes its name from the Olympiad—a unit of time in ancient Greece marked by each Olympic Games.
Every four years, the soldiers of warring Greek city-states laid down their arms and gathered to mourn the dead. What followed was a multi-day festival of communion: not only athletic contests but also spiritual healing, music, art, food, and theater that asked what it meant to live as good citizens. It was a time to confront shared challenges, celebrate breakthroughs, and reweave the social fabric.
Today, the Olympics and Paralympics are defined almost entirely by global athletic competition. RtO proposes something different: to use the Olympiad once again as a measure of human progress.
As the world prepares to converge on a single city for one of the largest peaceful gatherings of people on our planet, we ask: can host cities turn inward for reflection and outward for imagination—offering new models for planetary regeneration that inspire the world to act?
Los Angeles 2028
2028 marks the first time that Los Angeles will host both the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Previously, Los Angeles hosted the Olympic Games in 1932 and again in 1984.
The 1984 Olympics were the first Olympic Games to turn a profit, and became the birthplace of the corporate sponsorship model that now dominates global sports. Four decades later, it’s clear that this model has run its course. Mega-sporting events increasingly displace local communities, censor free speech, devastate the environment, compromise athletes' mental and physical health, and, ironically, often fail to deliver promised financial gains. In Los Angeles, urgent outcries over the devastation the Olympics could bring to our communities and environment—especially in the wake of recent historic fires—are reaching a fever pitch.
Now that the Olympics are returning to Los Angeles, our city has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to gift a new model to the world. Emerging from the flames of disaster and upheaval, Los Angeles can offer a bold reimagining of what a modern Olympiad can—and should—become.
Imagining New Futures
Los Angeles is uniquely positioned to chart a new model for international gathering. It is a creative hub, the world’s dream factory—its film, music, television, urban arts and fashion, food culture, and digital media industries have shaped the imagination of generations.
A sports powerhouse and crossroads of global cultures, Los Angeles is also home to 16 major professional and collegiate teams and hosts world-class competitions, including esports. From its multi-ethnic, working-class neighborhoods, cultural innovations emerged—in surfing, skateboarding, beach volleyball, and artistic swimming—that swept the globe and are now recognized as Olympic sports.
Most remarkable of all, Los Angeles carries a unified spirit born of its diversity. Through loss and change, Angelenos have shown extraordinary resilience, rising from every neighborhood to convene, rebuild, and reweave the fabric of community.
Founding Team
Howard Brodwin
Howard is the founder and Managing Director of Sports and Social Change, a global social impact consultancy focused on corporate & nonprofit partnerships in sports. A sports marketing professional for over 30 years, he brings deep expertise in strategic planning, partner alignment, capacity building, and marketing for nonprofits, NGOs and brand-driven social impact campaigns.
Julia Carnahan
Julia has an extensive background in collaborative and community-engaged multidisciplinary work across cultures, languages, and geographies. Past projects range from city-wide cultural events including the 1990 and 1993 Los Angeles Festivals, international conferences, touring productions directed by Peter Sellars, and a series of artistic and academic projects at UCLA’s Boethius Initiative.
Susan Jain, PhD
Susan has produced cultural and educational programs with partners worldwide, including the Los Angeles Festival, Smithsonian, Peter Sellars, Kobe Bryant, will.i.am and China's Dunhuang Academy. As founding director of UCLA’s Confucius Institute, she helped launch language immersion and world music programs in LA public schools, and an arts fellowship program in Shanghai. She is a UC Master Gardener and active in animal rescue.
Cheng-Sim Lim
An independent film curator and San Sebastián IFF Delegate, Cheng-Sim has, over a 30+-year career, helped introduce filmmaking talents internationally and made vital contributions to a vibrant and expansive film culture in her home city of Los Angeles. A former Co-Head of Programming at the UCLA Film & Television Archive and Artistic Director of the China Onscreen Biennial, she has curated acclaimed retrospectives, juried grants and festivals, and exhibited her own video works at MoMA and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art.