Leadership, collaborators, and partnerships

While developing the strategy, we collaborated, co-hosted and worked with the arts, culture, and creative communities to identify priorities to guide Vancouver’s future efforts and investments.

Creative City Strategy

By City of Vancouver

Connect different communities and align interests

By City of Vancouver
Identify priorities to guide our future efforts and investments

By City of Vancouver
Address critical needs and opportunities in a phased action plan

By City of Vancouver
Create fair practices that reflect and connect the diversity of our city

By City of Vancouver
Build a culture of reconciliation throughout Vancouver

By City of Vancouver

Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations

We have a concurrent, formal City-to-Nation intergovernmental relationship with Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh.
External Advisory Committee

The external advisory committee played a key role in helping guide the development of the Culture|Shift.
The committee met monthly and their input helped inform public engagement and policy development.

Together, the intent was to offer a holistic view of Vancouver's cultural ecology.

Advisory committee members reflected diverse perspectives from arts, culture, and the creative sector.

Members
- Am Johal, SFU Office of Community Engagement
- Barbara Chirinos, Granville Island Cultural Society, Vancouver International Film Festival, Hogan's Alley
- Brian McBay, 221A
- Cecily Nicholson, Gallery Gachet
- Claire Sakaki, Bard on the Beach
- Dani Fecko, Fascinator Management
- Dory Nason, First Nations and Indigenous Studies, UBC
- Ingrid Valou, Vancouver Economic Commission
- Kate Armstrong, Emily Carr University of Art and Design
- Lisa Ono, Granville Island
- Ted Lee, Tourism Vancouver
- Mark Gifford, Kiwassa Neighbourhood House
- Megan Lau, Telus StoryHive, Future is You and Me
- Michael Schroeder, Nimbus School of Recording, Music Strategy Steering Committee
- Norman Armour, consultant for the Australian Council for the Arts
- Prem Gill, Creative BC
- Sirish Rao, Indian Summer Festival
- Sharon Fortney, Museum of Vancouver Curator of Indigenous Collections
Internal research and alignment

Culture|Shift aligns with existing City initiatives and strategies.

Interdepartmental alignment

• City of Reconciliation

• Community Plans

• Digital Strategy

• Engaged City Strategy

• Greenest City Strategy

• Healthy City Strategy

• Heritage Action Plan

• Historical Discrimination Against Chinese People

• Housing Vancouver Strategy

• Indigenous Design Guidelines

• Places for People Downtown

• Places of Worship Study

• Social Infrastructure Plan

• Special Events Motion

• VanPlay

Cultural Services

• Artist Studio Guidelines

• Industrial Lands Study

• Making Space for Arts and Culture

• Music Strategy

• Organizational Health and Capacity Survey

• Vancouver Civic Theatres Business Review

Collaborations

Working in collaboration with members of the arts and cultural community was a value for the Culture|Shift engagement process.

We collaborated with:

PuSh Festival for the Launch event (January)
Lunar Festival for an English and Chinese audience survey (February)
Talking Stick Festival on hearing strategic recommendations at their industry series (February)

Host Your Own engagement events

Part of the Culture|Shift engagement process was to invite nonprofit arts and cultural organizations to hold or facilitate their own conversations on arts, culture and creativity. In April 2018, a call for expressions of interest was made for the Host Your Own engagement grant. With a total budget of $100,000, the one-time only grant supported organizations to convene, plan and host their own engagement activities between May to September 2018. All findings and insights informed the process.

A subcommittee made up of the External Advisory Committee and City staff reviewed 100 applications. Ten organizations were shortlisted and asked to submit a full proposal. Priority was given to organizations and activities that engaged with underrepresented groups.

Organizations were selected based on their ability to deepen existing consultation on our early findings, broaden consultation with underrepresented groups, provide strategic recommendations and strengthen relationships across artistic & cultural communities.

Grant Recommendations
Chapel Sound Art Foundation (CURRENT)	Engaging women; Black, Indigenous, People of Colour (BIPoC) ; gender-nonconforming/nonbinary; and LGBTQ2+ intersectionality in electronic music and art around barriers and needs.
Chinese Canadian Historical Society of BC	In partnership with Heritage BC and Dr. Sun Yat Sen Classical Garden. Engaging cultural and social groups in Chinatown (English and Cantonese) around better understanding of and support for culture.
Collingwood Neighbourhood House	Engaging non-English speaking people, visible minorities and low-income earners and other residents of Renfrew-Collingwood neighbourhood in understanding barriers to participation in arts and culture.
The Frank Theatre	Engaging LGBTQ2+ with intersectional lens to understand challenges, concerns and commonalities facing local queer artists.
Hogan’s Alley Society	Engaging Black communities and allies in how the City can support black culture and the preservation and creation of creative space for Black communities.
Kwi Awt Stelmexw	Engaging practitioners, cultural keepers and artists, and knowledgeable elders from the Squamish People around developing interpretations of growing Squamish culture.
Love Intersections Society	Engaging artists from different disciplines, ages, cultural backgrounds, ability, gender, sexuality and Indigeneity to broaden conversations on Indigenous and diversity in arts.
Other Sights for Artist Projects Society	In partnership with Carmen Papalia - engaging DTES communities, abilities and multiple-barriered artists and holding an intersectional dialogue about accessibility in Vancouver.
Savage Production Society	Engaging creative Musqueam community members, Elders, knowledge keepers around equity and access, reconciliation for Musqueam peoples.
Vancouver Native Housing Society	Engaging Indigenous and artists of colour, performers, producers, arts administrators, directors, instructors, curators, to identify barriers to equity and access experienced by Indigenous artists living in Vancouver.