Council adopted a comprehensive and, for the most part, well-considered Cultural Plan for the municipality in March of 2006. Unfortunately, little has been done since that time to advance that plan. The main reason appears to be related to inadequate funding to support its recommendations. We believe in dedicated and predictable funding for the arts and culture community. We believe a strong and healthy creative class is essential to building Canada’s most vibrant and liveable city. The development of a rich creative class is a core strategy to attracting and retaining more people to our community in our judgment.
Our analysis indicates that the municipality spends only a tenth of one percent of its annual budget on arts and culture. We advocate committing 1% of the annual municipal budget to this sector and implementing the already approved Cultural Plan that will foster the creative economy by investing in programs and infrastructure that will allow it to thrive and grow. Consideration should be given to the possible designation of creative areas or districts within the city where creative businesses will be encouraged and supported, to investment in key infrastructure and long-term sustainable financial support of key cultural activities. We also support the creation of an Innovation Award program to recognize the most creative and innovative solutions to the issues and challenges being faced by our city.