The February 16 focus group on sustainable space and cultural entrepreneurship attracted perhaps the most diverse set of individuals of all the sector-specific meetings and included representatives from youth groups, creative hubs, arts and business incubators, galleries, performance spaces, even a successful independent music label.
Unfortunately, due to human error – mine – photos of the event were lost. Luckily our notes survive and have been distilled here.
Like previous sessions, the conversation was structured around four main headings: creative clusters and districts, cultural entrepreneurship and innovation, big opportunities ahead, and quick wins and urgent messages. All of this was aimed at answering two fundamental questions: 1) How do we increase the amount of affordable/sustainable cultural space in the city? and 2) How do we create an environment that supports and promotes cultural entrepreneurship?
It was generally agreed that Toronto is doing a reasonably good job of fostering creative clusters — Artscape (left), 401 Richmond (above) and the Centre for Social Innovation, were all held up as positive models. But as the City’s population grows, so does the demand for new space. And everyone agreed that the inner suburbs, in particular, require hubs of their own where interest in the arts can be sparked and fanned into entrepreneurial flames.
Said one participant: “Cultural entrepreneurship involves recognizing the continuum between not-for-profit and for-profit artistic enterprises.”
“All artists are entrepreneurs and all entrepreneurs are artists,” stated Arts & Crafts label founder Jeffrey Remedios.
The tension between art and commerce surfaced frequently in the discussion as several attendees noted the need to balance marketplace value with artistic value: “Please don’t mistake my artistic integrity as a sign that I don’t want to make money,” said one artist.
It was stressed that one of the key roles the City can play is in mapping cultural spaces to identify where hubs and potential hubs are located. Creating and maintaining an inventory of vacant, even derelict buildings that could be transformed into arts and rehearsal spaces was another popular suggestion. The City is moving in this direction as exemplified by local arts service organization Urban Arts taking over a former City of Toronto sign shop near Weston Road and Eglinton Avenue West.
The involvement of charitable organizations underscores the point that the municipal government can’t shoulder the entire burden on its own. “We need to get public and private companies working together,” said one attendee. “Even small donations can go a long way if they’re matched by government and harnessed creatively. Some arts organizations are particularly good at grassroots fundraising.”
One thing the City can do is help to eliminate barriers and bureaucratic red tape in matters of zoning, for instance. Some participants called on City departments – Planning, Parks and Rec, Transportation, the Toronto Public Library – to view all initiatives through a cultural lens and to work more closely with Cultural Services to facilitate and support cultural development.
“Could the City incentivize the creation of new spaces by waiving development charges on new arts and culture spaces?” wondered one participant. Someone else brought up the benefits of Tax Equivalent Incentive Grants (TEIGs), which provide tax relief scaled over a 10 year period.
This line of thinking dovetailed with a discussion of Section 37 funding, whereby the City negotiates cultural benefits in exchange for permitting land developers additional height and density through a zoning bylaw. Section 37 funds are directed by City Councillors in the wards where the development takes place: “Could we not have community-based priority plans for how and where to spend that money?” asked one participant.
But to provide space without program support is to hobble a venture before it finds its feet, argued several participants: “What kind of innovative programs would allow development money to be used for programming, not just bricks and mortar? What will make it possible for a redeveloped space to come with money for programming?”
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