Of Arts and the Games (1327).

AUSTRALIA'S sports fraternity was not the only ones which went into overdrive when Sydney won the bid to host the 2000 Olympic Games.

Their builders, for starters, embarked on the most ambitious urban design and architectucal projects ever undertaken in the country like the design and constructions of the stadiums, public parks, meeting places, arenas, exhibition halls and transport facilities for the Sydney Games.

And despite their remarkable performance at last year's Commonwealth Games, you can bet their national swimmers are perfecting those strokes in order to make an even bigger splash.

The country's arts community, meanwhile, went into a literal song-and- dance in preparation for a festival fit for what would be the "Games Of The New Millennium".

The committee devised a four-year arts festival to complement the event beginning with The Festival Of The Dreaming (in 1997), A Sea Change (1998), Reaching The World (1999) and Harbour Of Life (2000).

It was no small feat but being a country with a diverse cultural make- up, it merely had to dip into its huge cauldron of artistic life to come up with this comprehensive and exciting programme.

At the headquarters of the Sydney Organising …