City of Vancouver Five-Year Arts and Culture Strategies
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Richard Newirth, managing director of Cultural Services at the City of Vancouver, unveiled five strategic directions of Cultural Services in promoting arts and culture during a presentation to city council's finances and services committee on October 23.
The 2014-2018 focus areas include:
- Fostering cultural leadership;
- Increasing participation and engagement;
- Providing sustainable support programs;
- Optimizing city investment;
- Investing in creative economy.
The presentation highlighted contributions of arts and culture to the economy and individual well-being, citing data from Statistics Canada and research by Hill Strategies. BC's creative sector contributed $5.24 billion to the provincial GDP in 2009.
Referencing the need to adapt to change, Newirth quoted Richard Evans' keynote presentation at the Alliance's Arts Summit 2013: “Successful organizations will more deeply recognize and engage with the creativity and artistic potential of the larger community, and the dominant organizational model will change to one that is porous, open and responsive.”
Newirth stressed that public participation in arts and culture "has a strong connection with better health, more volunteering and greater satisfaction with life" and underscored the need to meet a growing demand for cultural engagement rather than cultural consumption.
View the entire presentation on strategic directions for the next five years here: http://former.vancouver.ca/ctyclerk/cclerk/20131023/documents/cfsc2presentation.pdf
and an article in the Straight (Charlie Smith) with an overview of Newirth's presentation: http://www.straight.com/arts/517541/city-vancouver-unveils-strategies-enhance-arts-and-culture-over-next-five-years
Council also voted in favour of a staff recommendation to provide $250 grants to 98 organizations, which had already received approval for operating assistance, as well as a $238,100 grant to Vantage Point.
