Representatives from a wide range of Toronto cultural attractions and festivals met at City Hall February 9 to share their thoughts and suggestions regarding an update of the City’s Culture Plan. Reps from the Pan Am Games, Ontario Place, the Ontario Science Centre, the Toronto Zoo, the Royal Winter Fair, Pride, Scotiabank Caribana, the ROM, TIFF and many others, put their heads together to brainstorm about how best to bolster the city’s cultural prospects.
Creative Capital Initiative co-chair Robert Foster, left, welcomed the group with thanks “for making time in your busy schedules to come and share your ideas, enthusiasm and passion for this city we all love.”
As with each of the sector-specific focus groups, the discussion was corralled into five main topic areas (see below). Some common themes started to emerge . . .
Karen Carter (Heritage Toronto), Claire Hopkinson (Toronto Arts Council) and Denise Hererra-Jackson (Scotiabank Caribana)
ACCESS, INCLUSION AND ARTS EDUCATION
One of those themes was the issue of how to make attractions more accessible to students: the ROM, AGO and MOCCA were all put forward as examples of facilities that partnered with private sponsors or foundations to offset or cover the cost of student visitors.
The City’s Winterlicious and Summerlicious programs were cited as models of public/private partnership where participants pay an administration fee in exchange for a collective benefit; the uniform price point was also mentioned as a helpful draw for the public.
“As organizations we need to move beyond our competitive mindset,” suggested one participant. “We need to collaborate and cross-promote, possibly in the form of a cultural passport that provides access to a variety of venues.” One example is the Institute for Canadian Citizenship’s distribution of museum passes to new Canadians during citizenship ceremonies each month (the Cultural Access Pass Program).
Another participant suggested that arts organizations partner with community centres and libraries to host mini-exhibits that could stand alone or act as teasers for larger exhibitions elsewhere in the city. “Can the community service required of all high schools be leveraged by arts and cultural institutions?” asked one attendee.
The subject of promotion was also pervasive; beyond cultural passports, other ideas included holding “stroller days” for Moms and infants, “seniors days” for the elderly, possibly promote a particular day each week, for instance Wonderful Wednesdays, or maybe give discounts during the winter months or special family packages during March Break.
Mark Engstrom (Royal Ontario Museum), Rita Davies (City of Toronto Cultural Services) and Andy McLean (North By Northeast)
BIG OPPORTUNITIES AHEAD
Again, partnership was a focus: some participants wanted to know if the City could help broker sponsorships and whether City Hall could make allowances for cultural events when applying rules and bylaws such as those pertaining to signage. “What about municipal investment in cross-promotions and/or digital and print collateral?” asked one participant.
The Pan Am Games in 2015 were cited as an obvious opportunity to highlight Toronto’s culture scene. “The world will be looking at Toronto,” someone pointed out, “we need to make a good impression.” Ideas included artist residencies before and during the Games as well as “sending artists abroad afterward.”
Several participants saw a role for the City in terms of organizing and hosting “regular” meetings where cultural institutions could collaborate and cross-pollinate. “Quarterly meetings to discuss upcoming events would allow for long-term collaborative planning,” suggested one participant. Someone else wondered whether business could be included in the mix to encourage sponsorship. A City-funded monthly event for networking was proposed: “The City could act as a matchmaker between arts organizations and corporate funders.”
Bob M. Jadavji (Royal Agricultural Winter Fair), Bradley Lepp (Luminato), Robert Foster (Capital Canada) and Alexandra Montgomery (Gardiner Museum)
TORONTO’S POSITION AS A CREATIVE CAPITAL
Several attractions reps stressed the need to frame cultural investment in economic terms. “The case for the economic and employment benefits of the sector has not been made strongly enough,” said one participant, a theme that would crystallize during the discussion of how we measure and value culture. “We need to tie the sector to all the other industries that benefit from these activities, like transit, restaurants and hotels.”
Toronto’s cultural diversity was cited again and again as one of the City’s prime strengths and defining characteristics: “We need to blow that horn louder. Celebrate the diasporic nature of Toronto’s cultural life, this is what makes us unique.” Similarly, how do we get ethno-cultural communities to cross over and go to each other’s events?
Because arts and culture are multi-jurisdictional, someone suggested the need for a body like Waterfront Toronto to coordinate government efforts and to encourage collaborations and market Toronto artists outside the city.
It was suggested that we need to expand our support for all phases of cultural production from the R&D stage (emerging artists and creators) through to the marketing and presentation phase.
Grant Troop (Ontario Science Centre), Karen Black (City of Toronto Museums) and Don Shipley (Pan Am Toronto 2015)
MEASURING AND VALUING CULTURE
Many questions on this subject were asked during the February 9 focus group: How can we ensure that metrics are uniformly applied across the sector? How can we measure something less tangible like local awareness? What about the number of original works created here? Funded here? Celebrated here? Look at the City’s profile, the media coverage to which culture contributes. What is the value of culture in drawing new businesses to relocate? To answer these and other questions the City was encouraged to do best practice research culled from other municipalities.
One attendee suggested that the culture sector “is not healthy right now – salaries are low making it difficult for people to live in Toronto. We need a business development strategy for the sector that can be a catalyst for growth.”
The subject of branding also emerged repeatedly: “Toronto should push its reputation as an arts city, we need consistent messaging and we need marketing,” said one participant. “Why not invest in bringing international media to the City to see first-hand the rich the cultural offerings here.”
QUICK WINS AND URGENT MESSAGES
In this discussion attendees were asked, “If you could make one recommendation to the Mayor and Council regarding culture in Toronto, what would it be? What are the greatest challenges facing your sector today? What are some easy things City Hall can do to support your work and the value you create?
- Branding/communications strategy for inclusiveness and clarity and long term planning for arts organizations.
- Toronto’s cultural community wants an ongoing dialogue with the Mayor.
- Don’t let the Toronto Museum die!
- The City could tap into provincial initiatives and support communication between organizations and proactively reach out to private donors.
- Think regionally – culture can’t be relegated to downtown.
- We must get funding for culture up to $25 per capita.
- Engage all ages in cultural activities.
- Leverage sport as inherently linked to culture.
- Open up the discussion with the private sector.
- City could be a broker of relationships and cross promotions.
- Leverage the opportunity for Bollywood Toronto.
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You cannot pretend to be an outstanding art and culture city and expect results. It takes major change in the public realm, a different mindset than mere commerce, and the use of creative people rather than left brain types and bureaucrats. The plaint of the city is the cry of the homeless beggar with its bowl out to the feds and provs. It is not necessary, the city does not need to beg, it can begin to stand on its own feet and upload that which is controlled by others. The number one project to begin change is an international art and architecture symposium to create a new public realm with ongoing research and a place for the prototypes as an international reference site. Our architecture is outdated, and the need for change is long overdue. To be locked into the circle of status quo which I note so far , is guarranteed failure. Where are the creative people?