Creative City Initiatives
Grants Program Review | Cultural Tourism Strategy | Cultural Facilities Priorities Plan | Public Art Review
Grants Program Review
Vancouver’s cultural community has undergone tremendous growth over the last several years and, as a result, the community’s needs are changing. The City recognizes that its existing programs need to better reflect these changing needs. To achieve the realignment of needs with support, the Office of Cultural Affairs has undertaken a comprehensive review of its cultural grants program. The review process provided multiple opportunities for community involvement and consultation. Recommendations stemming from the review will be available for public discussion and feedback at Creative City Conversation.
Cultural Tourism Strategy
Creative City Conversation participants will have the opportunity to discuss and provide feedback on the City’s proposed cultural tourism strategy. Over the past several months, both the cultural community and the tourism community have been working closely together to create a strategy that highlight Vancouver's cultural sector, and will increase Vancouver's overall number of cultural visitors, audiences, and lengths of stay. The strategy will position Vancouver as a world class cultural tourism destination, and will use the opportunities being created by the Olympic and Paralympic Games to generate momentum for the strategy.
Cultural Facilities Priorities Plan
Dedicated spaces for the creative expression of our artists, residents, and entrepreneurs are critical to Vancouver’s future as a Creative City. Given the spectacular rate of development of and demand for space within Vancouver, the need to plan for a range of adequate spaces for our creative community is more critical than ever. Recognizing this need, the City of Vancouver has developed a Cultural Facilities Priorities Plan with a 15 year planning horizon. Creative City Conversation will provide the public with an opportunity to ask questions and provide feedback on the plan’s key recommendations going forward for Council approval this June.
Public Art Review
Through the City of Vancouver’s long established Public Art Program, a wide range of artworks have been created and installed throughout our City, on streets, in parks, and in other public spaces. However, since the program’s inception in 1991, the practice within this discipline has evolved considerably, as have municipal approaches towards integrating such art works into the public realm. In an effort to foster further excellence in the field of public art, an extensive review of the current pubic art program was undertaken. During the Creative City Conversation event, participants will be able to discuss and provide feedback on the review’s major recommendations.