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Suggested Action Steps from the
Community Consultation and Creative City Conversation Day

Innovation | Learning | Connecting People, Ideas and Communities | Neighbourhoods | Valued and Valuable

Suggestions under the theme of “innovation”:

• Review and revise the permitting and approval processes for cultural events, festivals and temporary activities to ensure that civic processes support innovation and cultural expression – providing  clear information on processes which are focused on life/safety issues only and by delegating authority to organizers to work with property owners, neighbours and the broader community to ensure successful events;

• Review City policies, by-laws and guidelines to maximize the creation and renovation of affordable spaces for artists and creative individuals  with a particular focus on securing public land for incubator studio and production facilities

• Prioritize grant programs to emphasize  innovation and the creation and development of new work. Support innovation in both cultural expression, exhibition, and processes as well in the use of public space offering greater public access to art and culture;

• Implement initiatives that support cultural incubation, cultural cross-fertilization and build mutually beneficial collaborations with our partners in the arts, education and creative industries;

• Encourage closer collaboration between architects, designers and public artist by creating two new positions on the Urban Design Panel and the Public Art Committee, one to be filled by an artist, one an architect.;

• Review all cultural grant programs to ensure that program delivery is responsive to the needs of new, emerging and innovative artists and organizations working in non-traditional structures;

• Ensure that our Civic arts facilities have the technological resources and flexibility to accommodate traditional and emerging forms of presentation and exhibition;

• Explore various artists-in-residence opportunities to expand innovation and creativity in our civic facilities and processes;

• Collaborate with our partners – in the business, tourism, non-profit sector and arts communities to create an online information portal that is user-friendly, affordable, current and comprehensive for the everyday use by our citizens and visitors alike;

• Encourage creativity in our built form by celebrating excellence in architecture as part of the Vancouver Art Awards;

• Increase the value of commissions to new and emerging artists through the Vancouver Arts Award by seeking out sponsorships;

• Maximizing our investment in “creative research and development” by partnering with other funders to enhance the City’s investment in the commissioning of new work.

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Suggestions under the theme of “learning”:

• Support the leadership of the Vancouver Public Library and the Vancouver School Board’s work with “The Learning City” initiative to ensure that artists and all forms of arts and cultural learning are integrated into all future plans; 

• Prioritize grant programs that support artist, administrator and board learning – formal and informal - such as training, mentorships, artists-in-residencies, adopt-a-class, and study sabbaticals;

• Review our cultural grants programs to prioritize support to arts, cultural and heritage organizations for professional, quality programs and programming for children and youth;  

• Collaborate with the Vancouver Public Library to develop programs and services that integrate libraries fully with the cultural and artistic community and, in so doing,  attract more citizens to our libraries and deepen existing relationships;

• Engage with the Vancouver School Board to develop programs to ensure that Vancouver schools are leaders in community-based artist training;  

• Collaborate with post-secondary arts training institutions to enhance the retention of graduates in Vancouver by providing human resources, skills and training, as well as access to facilities and services;

• Partner with our Social Planning and Park Board colleagues to enhance and build on the pilot “Get Out” programs that provide participatory and leadership experience through arts and culture for youth-at-risk;  

• Support arts and cultural organizations in developing youth engagement strategies to attract and retain younger artists, audiences and participants;

• Review best practices and programs in other jurisdictions that support the development of entrepreneurial skills and  strengthen educational initiatives in this area;

• Develop mentorship programs to nurture and support new generations of creators and to build bridges between established and emerging artists by working with the artists throughout the community and in our neighbourhoods;

• Support our heritage and museums programs and activities by acknowledging and learning from our past.

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Suggestions under the theme of “connecting people, ideas and communities”:

• Ensure that grant programs support significant artistic, administrative and/or marketing collaborations;

• Sponsor an annual Creative City Conversation which brings together local, national, and international leaders in the cultural sector to share and explore new ideas, foster collaborations and raise awareness;

• Convene  informal quarterly networking meetings with partners for a direct and open exchange of ideas and issues between those in the cultural sector  with city politicians and staff;

• Support opportunities for national and international arts and cultural collaborations and exchange;

• Increase our efforts with the creative industries and the cultural sector to build bridges among business people, artists, and institutions and to maximize our artistic and entrepreneurial talent;

• Allocate our public art resources to focus on public gathering places and public service systems (e.g., transit, greenways) where people can experience and connect with art in their daily lives;

• Support capacity-building among organizations by encouraging the use of shared resource models and by finding ways for organizations to offer skill enhancement opportunities to their staff and volunteers;

• Facilitate finding  new opportunities for partnerships and/or strategic alliances that can enhance long-term viability for arts and cultural organizations y;

• Explore viability of a community cultural reuse and recycling facility as well as collaborative support systems (e.g., bulk buying) to ensure resources are inventoried and made available for shared benefit;

• Enhance our online capacity for feedback and suggestions and create an online cultural networking community to provide information on resources and activities and exchange ideas on a regular basis.

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Suggestions under the theme of “neighbourhoods”:

• Support information-sharing and capacity-building among neighbourhood cultural organizations by encouraging shared resources and regular information sessions;

• Ensure that festivals, special events and exhibits can take place in accessible traditional and non-traditional venues in our neighbourhoods;

• Support  and facilitate the sharing and coordination of programs, services and resources to support those neighbourhood festivals that have a strong arts and cultural mandate, are open and accessible to the general public and are representative of our rich diversity;

• Introduce cultural “pods” or forums to bring together local artists, businesses, residents, community associations, institutions and others to explore new ways in which culture can be rooted and developed in the City’s neighbourhoods and to take advantage of the diversity of cultures which reside in our neighbourhoods;

• Support neighbourhoods to undertake cultural mapping – to inventory the existing cultural and community assets including artists, organizations, festivals, facilities, institutions, and business improvement associations (BIAs);

• Assess the opportunity to use the City’s neighbourhood assets – libraries, parks, schools, community centres – for their potential as future cornerstones of neighbourhood cultural planning and activity;

• Support the development of cultural clusters or precincts which bring together arts and cultural activities with complementary restaurants, shops and services that create  vibrant, safe and complete audience experiences;

• Support neighbourhoods in developing their own cultural plans, by integrating a Cultural Planner into neighbourhood planning processes and by facilitating planning and implementation of cultural activities, programming and events.

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Suggestions under the theme of “valued and valuable”:

• Develop a Cultural Tourism Strategy building on our unique competitive advantages, including the rich cultural tradition of First Nations, the cultural diversity of the city and artistic excellence of the creative sector to build awareness internationally of our cultural assets to attract visitors, businesses and investment to Vancouver;

• Utilize the City’s unique planning and development tools to integrate arts and cultural facilities into all major downtown developments;

• Encourage, with neighbouring municipalities, the GVRD to implement equitable cultural development strategies for the region that support the creation, development and distribution of arts and culture as well as access to and participation in arts and culture;

• Work with other levels of government – regional, provincial and federal – to leverage civic investment to attract investment of additional resources, financial and non-financial, in support of the non-profit cultural sector;

•  Establish Vancouver as a destination for national and international touring exhibitions and performances; 

  Develop cultural indicators to benchmark the sector, enabling us to assess progress and measure changes to our cultural landscape and vitality over time;

• Build a strong relationship with individuals and public and private funding bodies to explore joint funding opportunities, risk capital and micro-loan initiatives;

• Increase financial support of the creative sector by increasing public participation in cultural events and activities and increasing opportunities for the sale and distribution of cultural products and services;

• Ensure that our public spaces, places and buildings are valued by investing appropriately in quality design and quality materials that stand the test of time;

• Enhance all Vancouverites’ awareness of and participation in the wide array of diverse cultural activities,  including heritage and traditional art forms as well as multicultural, intercultural and cultural fusion forms of expression;

• Foster a strong sense of philanthropy among Vancouver’s citizens and businesses to support  the implementation of  this Culture Plan;

• Encourage the Provincial Government to adopt “Status of the Artist” legislation that recognizes the significant contribution that artists make to the creative economy and foster a better financial environment for our artists to live and work.

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