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Updates from the CCNC…
The CCNC is currently organizing a series of Regional Workshops to take place across the country in March of 2010. The meetings will include presentations on the CCNC’s cultural planning and cultural mapping toolkits, panel discussions from those in the field and facilitated roundtable discussions relevant to your region. The Ontario Workshop is scheduled to take place March 2-3, 2010 in Toronto, and is already full! Dates, locations and programming for the other workshops are still being finalized, but stay tuned for updates on our website!
- CCNC Team
Guest Editorial: “Olympic Legacies – City of Surrey”
By Sheila McKinnon, CCNC Board Member / Surrey, BC
That’s right; most of you imagine Vancouver, Whistler and perhaps Richmond when you think of the 2010 Winter Olympics. However, having built a new community recreation centre to serve as a 2010 Games Preparation Centre, Surrey became a Venue City. This status also provided an opportunity to host an official 2010 Celebration “Live Site” featuring 13 days of world class entertainment including the iconic RCMP Musical Ride.
When this wonderful extravaganza is over, however, it’s the potential legacies that intrigue me. One obvious legacy is the new facility that will certainly serve the local residents with a variety of new programs; however, there have been many other strategic investments that will reap benefits for our community for years to come. These include volunteers, on-going cultural initiatives and partnerships.
One partnership is with “Right To Play”, an international humanitarian organization that uses sport and play programs to improve health, develop life skills and foster peace for children and communities in some of the most disadvantaged areas of the world. Surrey partnered with Right To Play to embrace the spirit of the Olympic movement and make a difference for global citizenry. A team of Olympians and youth leaders visited more than 130 schools in Surrey. The program has reached more than 70,000 students teaching them important lessons that emphasize: hope, respect, social responsibility, goal setting, leadership, teamwork and the importance of active living. Surrey's children have shown incredible compassion for making a difference for children around the world and their sense of community pride and caring for others will shape our City in the years to come.
The Right to Play youth volunteers represent a handful of over 700 volunteers that were readily recruited to support the Torch Relay event, the Live Site program and many other up-coming events. Surrey residents have been generous with their time, eager to assist with these activities and willing to attend the required training. This skill development and experience is building capacity in our community that will benefit the Surrey Children’s Festival, the Fusion Festival and many other on-going cultural events offered in the City.
Surrey can be characterized in two words, “diversity” and “youth”, and when you combine this with one of our greatest cultural strengths “dance”, you get the 2010 Celebration Dance Team. International dancer, entertainer and choreographer Kelly Konno has returned home to put a team of 20 youth through their paces. Many of these youth aspire to become professional dancers. This once in a lifetime opportunity to train with the best and perform throughout the Live Site festival will certainly launch some careers.
“Diversity” and “youth” are also featured in our 2010 Cultural Olympiad projects. The Surrey Art Gallery is proud to be exhibiting the “Quilt of Belonging” and launching the ‘Glocal” youth new media exhibit at Surrey’s new Urban Screen venue. Intrigued and want to explore why Surrey’s new motto is “The Future Lives Here”? Check out www.surrey.ca!
- Sheila McKinnon, Manager, Arts Services, City of Surrey, BC
Toronto, ON: Livewithculture.ca relaunched as online platform for cultural dialogue
“The City of Toronto’s livewithculture.ca has relaunched as a blog with a cause. The goal is to create a city-wide conversation about culture in Toronto by featuring a constantly changing cast of culture workers – from the subway busker to the opera diva, from the puppet maker to the National Ballet’s shoe manager. Singers, dancers, artists, production people, box office ticket sellers – all will have a voice on livewithculture.ca. These personal stories are central to establishing [it] as the ultimate insider’s guide to the Toronto cultural scene… Livewithculture.ca is a legacy project of the 2005/06 TO Live With Culture campaign, which was a 16-month celebration of Toronto’s arts and cultural communities… Originally conceived as an event listing portal – the result of collaboration between the City of Toronto’s Cultural Services division and the Toronto Arts Council Foundation – the site has relaunched to reflect the new demands and interests of Web 2.0 users and the new realities of Toronto’s cultural industry.”
VoiceofToronto, January 8, 2010 | weblink
Woodstock, ON: Art Gallery looks forward
“The City of Woodstock, with the assistance of the Building Canada Infrastructure Program will be investing $5,050,000 in the development of a new art gallery facility in an historic property in the downtown core of this thriving Southwestern Ontario city. The City has engaged the services of KNY Architects to plan and oversee the conversion of the former drug store and department store. The gallery will occupy a portion of the 26,000 square feet found on the four floors of the building. One step inside the current Woodstock Art Gallery building at 447 Hunter Street, and it is difficult to imagine how the facility delivers programming to approximately 7,000 people each year. The future move to 449 Dundas Street across from the Woodstock Museum will hugely increase exhibition space for the vast collection, and also make programs and public displays much more accessible to the public.”
Press Release, City of Woodstock, December 22, 2009 | weblink to PDF
Hamilton, ON: Councillors warming to arts incubator
“A report recommending Hamilton develop a big ‘creative’ incubator has received strong support from the city's planning and economic development committee. [On January 20th], city staff revealed that $200,000 in strategic funds have been earmarked for the project, which envisions an existing 50,000- to 100,000-square-foot building in the core transformed into what is essentially a business and educational centre for the arts… Councillor Terry Whitehead called the plan, which would put a huge cultural arts incubator somewhere in the downtown, a significant tool to spur economic development… Hamilton's vibrant music scene is a leading creative industry that has enough critical mass to help kickstart a culture-based urban transformation, Judy Wolfe, one of the report's authors, told councillors. ‘It takes fuel plus ignition to become globally significant,’ she said, with Hamilton's music and arts industries as the fuel and an arts incubator building the ignition.”
Paul Morse, The Hamilton Spectator, January 20, 2010 | weblink
Calgary, AB: City finds its cultural mojo
“Ten years ago, Calgary culture was -- at least in the eyes and ears of non-Calgarians -- considered flyover country. We were a medium-sized, conservative western Canadian oil town that took its business seriously and everything else was just a way to kill time until Monday. As far as culture was concerned, well, a select few pursued it -- too few to keep several of the city's major performing arts organizations from nearly going broke. A decade ago, we had a premier, our former mayor, who viewed culture as a business the government should stay out of. A decade later, a new premier has determined that culture is a business the government can't afford not to get into. They even created a cabinet position and appointed a minister of culture, Lindsay Blackett, who did something members of Calgary's cultural community thought they'd never see an Alberta politician do: participate in it. These days culture vultures know to fly into, rather than over, this city. What was the tipping point?...”
Stephen Hunt, Calgary Herald, December 31, 2009 | weblink
See also: ‘Cultural District anchors Calgary’s arts scene’, CNHI News Service, January 4, 2010 | weblink
Victoria, BC: City aims to map its artistic future
The city of Victoria wants to put local arts and cultural resources on a map so it can chart its first-ever arts and culture plan. To get it rolling, the city hosted a free lecture on January 13th by New Westminster assistant culture and recreation director, Joanne Edey-Nicoll. New Westminister recently went through a similar process and Edey-Nicoll was there to talk about the project and its new arts strategy, with a public discussion to follow. The non-profit LifeCycles Project Society will collect data, analyze it and deliver a report in late March. ‘The city will use that to guide its role in supporting local arts and culture, and identifying initiatives to increase arts and cultural opportunities over the next five years,’ said Victoria community development planner Gail Price-Douglas. Because it's the first time the city has done anything like this, she said they want to go out and talk to people, and see what their role should be.
Grania Litwin, Times Colonist (Victoria), January 16, 2010 | weblink
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Cultural Olympiad 2010 artists take the show across Canada
“In celebration of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, up-and-coming Canadian musicians, dancers and actors involved in the Cultural Olympiad are hitting the road with a national touring program featuring over 40 shows in cities large and small. For the second time in two years, the Vancouver 2010 Cultural Olympiad, presented by Bell, is stretching beyond British Columbia to communities across Canada to connect the entire country in the culture, spirit and excitement of Canada’s Games. The performances in some locations start on January 19 and carry on into March during the Paralympic Winter Games…‘We want all Canadians to feel they can share in the cultural celebrations surrounding the 2010 Winter Games in their own hometowns,’ said Burke Taylor, vice president of culture and celebrations for the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC). ‘For our second and final Cultural Olympiad National Presentation and Touring Program, we’ve worked closely with our corporate, government and artistic partners to create an exciting lineup of Canadian projects that include ballet, theatre, up-and-coming musicians, and even puppetry. We invite everyone to come out when they stop in your area and enjoy a taste of the cultural excitement of the Games.’” For tour dates and information on how to purchase tickets visit: www.vancouver2010.com/culturalolympiad
News Release, Vancouver2010.com, January 13, 2010 | weblink
Aboriginal artists' work to grace huge Coke bottles
“Coca-Cola has invited 15 aboriginal artists from across Canada to put their art on giant versions of the company's famous bottles. The pieces will be displayed throughout the Olympics and then auctioned off to raise money for the Vancouver 2010 Aboriginal Youth Legacy Fund. It's a way of broadening access to indigenous art, according to the head of the Four Host First Nations. ‘For us, standing on the sideline for so long and our artists being in the shadows for so long, we're bringing our art into the 21st century,’ Tewannee Joseph said. ‘When you have companies like Coca-Cola ready to engage our artisans, and doing it respectfully, I think you have more people providing input but our culture becomes accessible to everybody.’ Asked if he thought putting aboriginal art on giant Coca-Cola bottles was selling out to big business, Joseph said he thought ‘it's about time we come to the world stage… Companies like Coca-Cola recognize the great richness that we have in our culture. I don't think this is a sellout at all.’"
Damian Inwood, Times Colonist (Victoria), January 16, 2010 | weblink
P.E.I. Museum collection running out of room
“The P.E.I. Museum collection is almost full to capacity and soon there will be no room to store more Island treasures, says the museum’s collections manager. Jason MacNeil said some donations of larger pieces that require a controlled environment will have to be turned away because the artifactory and the seven heritage sites across the Island are full. ‘We will survive and do the best we can until we get something better, but the need is getting more and more urgent’… A report outlining the costs of a provincial museum commissioned by government was tabled in the provincial legislature Dec. 1. Communities and Cultural Affairs Minister Carolyn Bertram said the report looked at 11 different options. Bertram said one that brings the P.E.I. Museum all under one roof is the most desirable, yet the most costly at $41 million. ‘Our next step is to review all the options and then secure the funding,’ she said.
Charlotte Macaulay, The Gaurdian, December 30, 2009 | weblink
Young violinist fights arts funding cuts
“A nine-year-old Surrey [BC] girl with a passion for the violin decided to participate in democracy in a way many people never do. She wrote a letter to her MLA. Isabel Lago was upset to hear tuition at the Delta Youth Orchestra (DYO) would increase and a traditional Thanksgiving weekend music camp cancelled due to the provincial government's funding cuts to arts programs as announced in August. DYO instructor and conductor James Malmberg says the loss of provincial grants has left many arts organizations struggling just to stay alive at the expense of contributing to their communities. ‘What it does to the organization—all arts organizations—is it forces them to really cut back and only focus on their core thing they do to stay afloat,’ says Malmberg… ‘Most of the organizations can survive this year or next year, but at some point the programs become unviable.’”
Kristine Salzmann, Surrey North Delta Leader, January 2, 2010 | weblink
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In the arts, bigger buildings may not be better
“Within months of its opening in 1997, Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum Bilbao had given the language a new term and the world a new way of looking at culture. The ‘Bilbao effect,’ many came to believe, was the answer to what ailed cities everywhere — it was a way to lure tourists and economic development — and a potential boon to cultural institutions. Municipal governments and arts groups were soon pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into larger, flashier exhibition spaces and performance halls. Now the economic downturn has reined in a lot of these big dreams and has also led to questions about whether ambitious building projects from Buffalo to Berkeley ever made sense to begin with. Some are arguing that arts administrators and their patrons succumbed to an irrational exuberance that rivaled the stock market’s in the boom years…”
Robin Pogrebin, The New York Times, December 11, 2009 | weblink
How new technologies secure a place for the arts
“The audience for the arts is declining, according to a recent study by the U.S. National Endowment for the Arts. Attendance at live performances, museums and galleries dropped 15 per cent between 2002 and 2008, and the downward trend holds for all age groups and most educational levels. The predictable reaction: calls for enriched arts funding. However, the fact is that the arts are doing better than ever, as new technologies secure them a place at the heart of everyday life… Strangely, though, we tend to see art as threatened by the newest technology, whatever it happens to be – computers and mass media are the culprit of the day. Why is arts attendance in decline?...”
Dominic McIver Lopes, The Globe and Mail, December 30, 2009 | weblink
See also: ‘The arts see encouraging news in NEA survey’, LA Times, December 19, 2009 | weblink
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USA: A new cultural tourism model
“CAN brings you ‘LA Commons: Engaging Youth in Community-based Cultural Tourism,’ a new essay about an organization that's introducing Los Angeles to its own ethnic neighborhoods. Karen Mack, founder and executive director of LA Commons, writes about the organization's promotion of L.A.'s diverse neighborhoods through locally based, interactive, artistic and cultural programming. One such program is ‘Uncommon L.A.,’ launched in 2007 with ‘Trekking Los Angeles: Local Adventures in a Global City,’ a series of cultural tours and activities in three pilot neighborhoods — Leimert Park, Highland Park and East Hollywood (Little Armenia and Thai Town). For the past two years, ‘Trekking Los Angeles’ has successfully connected Angelenos from around the city — and a few out-of-town tourists — with festivals, public art, restaurants, cultural centers and artists from the three communities. The events also served as an opportunity to connect audience members from a wide cross-section of the Los Angeles region with each other.”
Community Arts Network – apinews, December 21, 2009 | weblink
UK: Government announces £1.3 million fund to create 200 culture jobs
“Young people looking to break into the creative industries are to be given a boost, after the government confirmed £1.3 million of funding to help create 200 new jobs in the sector. They will be open to people aged 18-24, who have been claiming benefits, and will include posts such as theatre technician, costume and wardrobe assistant, community arts officer and business administrator. All will include a level of accredited training, mentoring and support in a bid to ensure that the young people are given the skills to progress. Creative & Cultural Skills will be working with Job Centre Plus and regional partners in England and Wales to administer the scheme. Tom Bewick, chief executive of CCSkills, said: ‘A job in the creative and cultural industries remains an impossible dream for too many young people. And currently in the UK one in five young people under 25 are unemployed. Yet, we know that the creative sector is already driving economic recovery and is key to Britain’s future in which talent, wherever it may come from, will help drive innovation, enterprise and creativity.’”
Alistair Smith, The Stage News (UK), December 24, 2009 | weblink
UK: Great recession sparks do-it-yourself arts movement
"The global recession hasn't crippled the entertainment industry, as some feared, but it has hastened its embrace of the do-it-yourself movement. From neighborhood theater troupes to bookstore readings, amateur performers are taking their place onstage. It's less a new development than a return to an old way of life. 'The whole idea of the professional artist belongs to the 20th century,' says Shan Maclennan, Southbank's creative director of learning and participation. 'Before that, amateurs were everywhere' ... 'In professionalizing art, [spontaneity and fun] have been lost. What we're doing feels like the way forward.'" [Americans for the Arts – Arts Watch] Joshua Levine, Newsweek, December 30, 2009 | weblink
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February 10 – 12, 2010
The FCM Sustainable Communities Conference
“The Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ Sustainable Communities Conference and Trade Show connects municipal decision-makers to leading examples of sustainable development, training opportunities and resources for greening local communities. Registration for delegates and exhibitors is now open.” Ottawa, ON | website
May 5 – 7, 2010
23rd Colloque Les Arts et la Ville: Culture des Villes | Culture des Champs
Le Développement des Arts et de la Culture Sur les Territoires
(Les Arts et la Ville 23rd annual colloquium: Culture in the Cities - Culture in the Countryside; Arts and cultural development in the regions)
“Each year the symposium, The Arts and the City, brings together over 250 participants around issues related to local cultural development. This annual event is a unique event in Quebec and Canada, as it brings together policy makers from municipal and cultural backgrounds.” Victoriaville, QC | website
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Commonwealth Statement on Culture and Development
Prepared by the Commonwealth Group on Culture and Development; Published by the Commonwealth Foundation, 2009 | weblink to PDF
“The aim of the Commonwealth Statement on Culture and Development is to highlight the importance of the multiple connections between culture and development, and the added value that can be achieved by taking greater consideration of culture in development. By raising awareness amongst Commonwealth Governments, donors, civil society and wider audiences of the close connections between culture, creativity and successful development, the aim is to encourage more sustainable development methods and practices, and enhance culture’s contribution to economic and social development and conflict prevention.” The Commonwealth Group on Culture and Development was established in early 2009 by the Commonwealth Foundation, following calls from civil society at the 2007 Commonwealth People’s Forum to take the role of culture in development more seriously. For more information, visit: www.commonwealthfoundation.com/
2009 Culturelink Conference Report online
The Final Report from the Third World Culturelink Conference, held in Zagreb, Croatia on 13-15 November 2009 is now available online. “Networks – The Evolving Aspects of Culture in the 21st Century” can be found on Culturelink’s website here: www.culturelink.org/conf/clinkconf03/clinkconf03rpt.html
Impacts of the Recession on the Cultural Sector
Hill Strategies Research Inc., Arts Research Monitor, Vol.8 No. 7, Dec. 16, 2009 | weblink to PDF
“In this issue: A number of recent reports, using quite different methodologies and with different timing, have examined the effects of the recession on the cultural sector in Canada and elsewhere. The main consensus of these reports appears to be that endowments, foundations and business-related funding sources are probably the hardest hit by the recession.”
Final report on intercultural dialogue and the arts released
IFACCA, D’Art Report 39, 22 December 2009 | weblink to PDF
“As part of the preparations for the 4th World Summit on Arts and Culture 2009 in Johannesburg in September 2009, IFACCA released a Discussion Paper exploring the claim that intercultural dialogue has become a new priority for arts and cultural policy makers around the world. The Discussion Paper, researched and written by Andreas Wiesand and Danielle Cliche of the ERICarts Institute, was based on a survey designed to map views and collect cases of good practice on the (potential) role of intercultural dialogue in the arts and arts policies… Following discussion at the World Summit and feedback from IFACCA network members, Dr Wiesand has finalised the study which is released as IFACCA's D'art Report No. 39: Achieving Intercultural Dialogue through the Arts and Culture? Concepts, Policies, Programmes, Practices.”
Artistic vibrancy resources
Australia Council for the Arts, 2009 | weblink
“The Australia Council has developed a set of resources on artistic vibrancy and how to measure it. This fills the gap in the research into artistic vibrancy and real-world tests of performance measurement in the arts. The resources define artistic vibrancy, create new case studies for how arts organisations currently assess their own artistic vibrancy, and provide tools for how to measure it… The resources provide tools to arts organisations and their boards struggling to find meaningful ways to evaluate their artistic impact, and to funding agencies looking for ways of assessing arts organisations’ artistic merit which go beyond box ticking.”
Culture and Local Governance / Culture et Gouvernance Locale
Call For Papers for Special Issue on Culture and Sustainable Communities
Guest Editors: Nancy Duxbury (Centre for Social Studies, University of Coimbra, Portugal) and M. Sharon Jeannotte (Centre on Governance, University of Ottawa, Canada)
In the face of growing environmental and economic urgencies, issues of sustainability and resiliency are moving to the forefront of planning, policy, and programs in cities and communities of all sizes. City planning paradigms are mutating from a focus on building ‘creative cities’ to that of achieving ‘sustainable cities.’ Internationally, this shift is evident among local governments adopting sustainability goals for towns, cities, and regions; creating sustainable community plans; and implementing community projects related to ‘sustainable development.’ Yet cultural considerations, while recognized in urban and community planning contexts, are not integrated into sustainability planning in a widespread way. Where are cultural considerations in this new paradigm/ framework? How might culture be incorporated and situated within sustainability planning and related initiatives? How should cultural planning adapt to this increasingly dominant paradigm and context? Potential contributors are invited to submit an article (maximum 5,000 words) by May 1, 2010 to Nancy Duxbury at duxbury@ces.uc.pt. Further details: weblink to PDF
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Creative City News is published by the Creative City Network of Canada. The Creative City Network connects municipal cultural staff across Canada, enabling this community of practice to share information and expertise, to support one another, and to be more effective in nurturing the cultural development of our communities.
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ISSN 1710-1824
Next issue: February 23, 2010
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