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Leveraging Culture to Fuel Community and Economic Development

Cultural SummitBelleville, October 6, 2015

Alida Stevenson, Senior Policy AdvisorMinistry of Tourism, Culture and Sport

Culture’s Role in Community and Economic Development

• Strong Communities – Quality of Place• Revitalizes and contributes to the competitiveness and

sustainability of communities, downtowns, waterfronts, neighbourhoods • Contributes to neighbourhood walkability and safety• Reflects our diversity, unique stories, history and values• Builds community pride and social cohesion• Engages and enriches children and youth

• Economic Diversification and Impacts• Cultural vitality attracts greater wealth:

• Cities and regions with rich cultural life, that are diverse and open societies, attract creative economy workers and the businesses that seek them out

• Attracts visitors and income from tourism • Culture represents approximately $22 billion of Ontario’s gross domestic product (2010)• Creates approximately 280,000 jobs• Spending by overnight culture tourists generates $3.9B in GDP and supports 61,000 jobs• In 2012, 8.4 million overnight visitors (17% of total) participated in cultural activities, and spent

$4.4 billion or 31% of all overnight trip spending in the province

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Context for Municipal Cultural Planning • Decline in manufacturing, rise of creative economy – local communities and

economies in transition.

• Cultural planning originated in Australia and the UK in the 1990s, as an attempt by local governments to revitalize cities in need of urban renewal.

• Culture increasingly demonstrated to generate quality of place, diversify economies and build strong, sustainable and prosperous communities.

• Reflected in leading thinking by economists and planning experts - Richard Florida, Charles Landry, Michael Harcourt, Jon Hawkes, etc.

• Municipal cultural planning (MCP) part of growing trend toward more integrated, place-based approaches to planning and development that takes into account four pillars of sustainability: economic prosperity, social equity, environmental responsibility and cultural vitality.

• MCP is a recommended practice for municipalities in the 2014 PPS.

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To date: 69 MCP Municipalities

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What is Municipal Cultural Planning• It involves a broad definition of cultural resources and a high degree of

community engagement in mapping local cultural resources and developing a cultural plan.

• It is led by Municipal governments

• The cultural planning process identifies, analyses and leverages a community’s cultural resources, strengthens the management of those resources, and integrates cultural resources across all facets of local government planning and decision-making

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Key Steps in MCP

1. Broad community consultation and engagement2. Mapping and assessing tangible and intangible cultural resources3. Collaboratively establishing planning objectives for the use of

these cultural resources to meet community priorities 4. Creating the roadmap for how to get there (the Cultural Plan)5. New governance Structures and Partnerships – Culture

Departments, Cultural Roundtables6. Implementation and updating of Plan and adopting a cultural

lens7. Monitor progress and share results

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Creating an Environment for Culture to Thrive

• While federal and provincial governments provide support for culture, it is local governments that have the most direct impact on local cultural development.

• Competition between cities and regions for highly mobile talent, tourism and investment is great and the stakes are high, so every strategy needs to be harnessed including culture.

• Governments do not create culture, but they can create an environment in which culture can thrive. Cultural planning is the first step in creating this environment.

• How? Understanding the unique cultural resources in your region, supporting increased cultural vibrancy, and leveraging culture to fuel community and economic development – Support cultural activity, public art programs, culture days– Preserve cultural heritage – cultural heritage districts, heritage preservation tax credits– Intensify the cultural vitality of a specific neighbourhood – galleries, cultural centre,

wineries, restaurants, farmers market, heritage buildings, other attractions unique to the place

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Cultural Occupations • Creative occupations – librarians, archivists and curators, producers, actors and

musicians, artists photographers, architects, designers, artisans, jewellers, writers, editors, translators, film editors and video game developers, etc.

• Technical support occupations - sound engineers, stage managers, historic site interpreters, photographic processors, camera operators, casting agents, etc.

• Manufacturing support occupations - photo and film processors; desktop publishing operators; book binding and finishing machine operators, etc.

• Management support occupations – art gallery, museum and heritage site managers, festival directors, radio station managers, interactive digital gaming company managers, etc.

• Government occupations – culture research and policy analysts, consultants, program delivery officers and managers in federal, provincial or local governments

• Education occupations related to culture - university, college, secondary, or elementary school art and culture teachers and managers

• Also – winemakers, local food and craft merchants, interpreters of trails and conservation areas, local chefs, tattoo artists, etc.

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Ontario’s Culture Strategy - Consultations• The Province is consulting with Ontarians this fall to develop Ontario’s first culture

strategy that will set the government’s priorities and actions to support culture over the coming years.

• The province and culture sector have changed significantly since many of Ontario’s programs were first developed. Three major factors are having a profound impact on the culture sector: the fiscal environment, digital transformation, demographic changes.

• The culture strategy is an opportunity to ensure that support for culture in the province reflects these changes and achieves the best possible outcomes for all Ontarians. Ontario recognizes that arts and culture matter – to our lives, our communities and to Ontario’s economy . The strategy will identify opportunities to strengthen culture in Ontario by doing things better or differently within the current funding envelope

o There are three ways to participate:o Attend a town hall meeting– e.g. Kingston on Wednesday evening, November 25th

– location TBDo Online at Ontario.ca/culturetalks. Share your thoughts, discuss with other

participants and vote on their ideas. You can also share your thoughts on Twitter using #ONculture.

o Read the full discussion paper and share your comments. o All input must be submitted by December 7, 2015. For more information, please visit

the Culture Talks website at Ontario.ca/culturetalks.

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Thank you

Alida StevensonSenior Policy AdvisorCulture and Strategic Policy BranchMinistry of Tourism, Culture and Sport401 Bay Street, Suite 1800, Toronto, ON, M7A 0A7T: 416-314-7644E: alida.stevenson@ontario.ca