Facilities and infrastructure proved to be a hot topic at the fifth sector-specific Creative Capital Initiative focus group February 14. Members of the arts community, with an emphasis on galleries and theatres, assembled in a City Hall committee room to share their ideas about how to effectively maintain their organization’s physical structures and increase access to affordable space across the city.
Economic Development Committee Chair Michael Thompson (above, with Rita Davies, Executive Director of Toronto Cultural Services) was on hand to lend his support to the process. Said Councillor Thompson, “The Creative Capital Initiative is about the cultural industries working with city staff and with the private sector to fashion a plan that will be part of the City’s cultural strategy. It’s something that you’re all going to be very proud of because you’ve been instrumental in terms of making the recommendations it will contain.”
Added the Councillor: “Let’s ensure that what we do is part of the infrastructure foundation that we want to leave in this city so we can move forward instead of regressing.”
Left to right: Jini Stolk (Creative Trust), Gail Lord (Lord Cultural Resources), Rachel Nolan (Music Gallery) and Jenny Ginder (Ginder Consulting)
Many cultural organizations are housed in heritage buildings that pose significant maintenance challenges; they are struggling to maintain their facilities in a state of good repair, a difficult prospect in nearly all instances owing to the age of the buildings.
As one attendee stated, “We are creative programmers not property managers. The financial demands of maintaining a state of good repair are onerous enough but for an organization that has two or maybe four full-time staff members, the challenges are compounded. Let us focus on what we do best — creating and programming cultural content.”
The state of good repair issue is a serious and pressing concern. Research from the Creative Trust and Cultural Services indicate that $30M is needed over the next five years simply to bring these spaces up to basic building code standards. Provincial accessibility standards will add yet another big ticket item to the list of necessary improvements.
In a similar vein, it was noted that if the City helped finance greening initiatives it would aid in reaching municipal emissions targets and reduce organizational operating costs. To this end, participants called for a reinstatement of the Culture Build Investment Program, which provided nearly $2M in grants between 2002 and 2008; that funding in turn helped to leverage an additional $5.6M from other sources.
Left to right: CCI Co-Chair Robert Foster (Capital Canada), York Lethbridge (Mercer Union) and David Liss (Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art)
Fundraising for infrastructure was identified as another hurdle: “We simply don’t have the human resources knowledge and capacity necessary for effective fundraising,” noted one participant. “For a large organization, fundraising is a valuable way to diversify revenues, but most small to mid-size cultural outfits just don’t have the capacity. And capital campaigns negatively impact operations and programming.”
Arts organizations often have difficulty securing bank loans because they don’t own their buildings or even have long-term lease agreements, which would allow the tenant to raise financing for capital improvements.
Access to affordable space is a problem right across the city but focus group attendees suggested there is space to be had in community centres, public libraries and schools if usage restrictions could be loosened up. Participants urged the City to work with other agencies to compile an inventory of potential arts spaces.
Left to right: Mark Campbell (NIA Centre for the Arts), Todd Scarfone (Canadian Heritage) and Adele Dobkowski (ArtsBuild Ontario)
Apparent during the session was that arts administrators are not well versed with the complicated business of Section 37 as outlined in the Ontario Planning Act. Section 37 is a planning tool that the City can use to negotiate cultural benefits in exchange for permitting land developers additional height and density through a zoning bylaw.
Distinct from Section 37 is the provincial Development Charges Act, 1997, which levies fees against land to pay for increased capital costs for services. Under Ontario law, development charges may not be used for cultural facilities, as they are used for parks and recreational centres. And since the bulk of new development occurs in the city centre, this is one reason why some neighbourhoods lack access to cultural infrastructure where they live. Focus group panelists urged the City to advocate for changes to the law so that access to cultural facilities is considered as basic as swimming pools, arenas and libraries, a necessary part of a healthy community.
By the conclusion of the focus group it was generally agreed that cultural infrastructure, state of good repair investments and access to space are areas in which the City can have a significant role in advancing the interests of the creative and cultural sector.
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