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Municipal Cultural Planning Gains a Footing

From Arts in Guelph - July/August, 2005

Thanks to five forums held in Ontario during the month of April 2005, the case for Municipal Cultural Planning is definitely being heard across the province. Some 750 delegates registered for the gatherings held in Orillia, Peterborough, Sudbury, Mississauga and Cambridge. According to Bill Poole, Director of the Centre for Cultural Management at the University of Waterloo, and the chair of the Local Advisory Committee for the Cambridge Forum, the latter event "alone attracted 170 delegates and was sold out almost three weeks in advance."

Elected officials, municipal staff, local cultural leaders, and business and community leaders were in attendance at all locations, and all were treated to the dynamic opening speech of former Winnipeg mayor Glen Murray, as well as a lead-off presentation from Dr. Greg Baeker who, having carried out extensive research into good practices, could be called the guru of municipal cultural planning in Ontario.

Although there is not as yet any official report from the forum steering committee, Chair Ken Doherty (who is also Director of Community Services for the City of Peterborough) did have preliminary comments at a May 5 session held during the Community Arts Ontario Conference in Owen Sound. He summarized several of the themes that emerged from the forums, noting, in particular, the sense that it is time for a change in the way culture is viewed at the municipal level. It is time:

to look at culture as one of the four pillars of sustainable municipalities so that all planning items are looked at through the cultural lens as well as from the social, economic and environmental perspectives;
to get away from the "silo" mentality where municipal departments and services operate in isolation from each other and from other local services (and often at cross-purposes) - or, as one delegate put it, "to get all the silos on the same farm";
to recognize the quality of place in attracting and retaining people in a community, and the importance of authenticity and originality in making each municipality unique - each with its own distinctive history, built heritage, natural landscapes and lively and diverse arts and cultural community - a good first step is to undertake a cultural mapping process to identify and value the assets in a community (be a tourist in your own town!);
to realize that the economic engines of our communities are changing from being based on the production of goods and services to being knowledge-based, focussed on creativity and innovation - and thus to recognize the important contribution of, and to support, creative people in our communities;
to think outside the three-year envelope of the life of a municipal council.

Ken Doherty summed up his comments by saying that he would like to see the three P-words Pipes, Pavement and Police - those words that Glen Murray noted still seem to govern municipal thinking today - be converted to Place, Pride and Passion.

At the May 5 session in Owen Sound, Greg Baeker offered some comments on what comes next in the municipal planning initiative in Ontario. He talked about three tracks that need to be pursued if cultural planning is to achieve the legitimacy it needs and deserves:

Policy - to develop a common language so that, for example, when we talk about culture we are all talking about the same thing; to articulate the important issues; to look at how different systems function; to remove barriers so we can work more effectively.
Tools/Capacity Building - to organize additional forums with more specific contexts (e.g. rural, smaller cities, edge cities, large urban); to plan professional development / learning opportunities for municipal officials and community cultural workers; to encourage support and leadership from senior levels of government.
Research - to tap research capacity of colleges and universities.

Both Ken and Greg commended the government of Ontario for the priority it has given to "encouraging municipalities to integrate cultural planning into their daily business, and emphasize local arts, culture, heritage and libraries as they plan the future of their communities." The Ministry of Culture has played a key role in supporting municipal cultural planning initiatives, and is itself building new working relationships with other ministries such as Municipal Affairs and Housing, Economic Development, Northern Development and Mines and Trade and Tourism and Recreation.

It all sounds promising. We'll keep our readers posted.

Several Guelph representatives attended the Cambridge Forum on April 28 including Toni Andrews and Sally Wismer from Guelph Arts Council; Rob MacKay and Katherine McCracken from the City of Guelph; and Andrew Lamden of Old Quebec Street. For more information, contact any of these individuals or Guelph Arts Council at (519) 836-3280 or gac@sentex.net.