Toronto Cultural Policy and Plans 1974-2008: Examining the Legacy

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2016

Rather than the term "original," I use the term "originate community" to indicate the community or communities that have grown out of a space, flourish in a space, or carry a strong attachment to a particular space. The term "original" imports the idea of the first or earliest claims to space or land, which is not necessarily the correct claim for the sites and venues I am discussing, especially since Toronto is built on traditional Indigenous lands.

This paper investigates issues of national identity and multi-level governance within Confederation Boulevard, the heart of Canada's National Capital Region. We develop a framework that combines the literature on cultural districts and multi-level governance and analyse the plans written by the National Capital Commission (NCC) from the 1980s to the 2010s. Through the lens of cultural districts, we focus on urban form as a whole, instead of considering just specific artifacts or buildings, and uncover how over time the NCC is designing a representation of national identity moving towards multiculturalism. Moreover, the lens of cultural districts delineates a space for multi-level governance revealing the emergence of dynamics of negotiation among different levels of government towards territorial cooperation. This analysis of Confederation Boulevard contributes to the literature on planning capital cities beyond the specific case, adding to our understanding of (1) urban representation of national identity and (2) dynamics of a layered governance.

Social Science Research Network, 2015

We are happy to present the fourth annual analyses of the 2015-16 provincial and territorial budgets from the perspective of arts, culture and heritage. This initiative was originally launched in 2012 by the Canadian Conference of the Arts (CCA) in partnership with the Centre on Governance. While the CCA was forced to suspend its operations in late 2012 due to the loss of decades federal support, we are happy that the CCA caretaker Board has decided to come back on board by funding not only the research and writing of this year's document, but also its companion document Analysis of the Federal Budget from the perspective of Arts, Culture and Heritage. All four annual provincial and territorial analyses can be found on the Centre on Governance's website. Since September 2014, the Canadian cultural sector can now count on Statistics Canada's Canadian Culture Satellite Account 2010 (sponsored by the Department of Canadian Heritage and a number of provincial jurisdictions and partners) for information on culture's contribution to the Canadian economy. However, our modest analyses are still the only compendiums that trace government expenditures on culture. Their purpose is to fill as well as possible the gaps left by cuts to Statistics Canada's other culture statistics programs, particularly the survey of Government Expenditures on Culture. Like many others in the cultural field, we welcome the reinstatement in 2016 of the compulsory long-form census, which was eliminated in 2010, as it will help to fill other statistical gaps on cultural production and consumption. We are aware of the limitations of these analyses and of the many problems attached to doing inter-provincial and inter-territorial comparisons of cultural policies and programs. However, our intention from the beginning was not only to trace trends in cultural funding at the provincial and territorial levels of government, but also to analyze the political, economic, and social conditions that influence the levels of support they provide. With this fourth set of analyses, we address this objective by examining how the concept of the creative economy is influencing funding of arts, culture and heritage by the various provincial and territorial governments. Since the 2015-16 Budgets were presented almost a year ago, the economic and political environments have changed a great deal. Will these changes have an impact on levels of support for culture at the national and sub-national levels? We expect they will, but the direction of change is not a foregone conclusion. Our analyses show the many challenges faced by the provinces and territories as they attempt to navigate a course between their "old" economies and the new one based on creativity that appears to be emerging. .

Canadian Journal of Film Studies, 2012

With the increasing importance of film and screen media industries to Toronto’s post-industrial economy, the city has encouraged culture-led redevelopment as a potential engine of economic growth. This article charts a trajectory of heightened instrumentalism within the city’s municipal cultural policy since the 1970s, employing a close reading of key policy texts to argue that this embrace of culture on economic terms has enabled policymakers to redefine culture so as to facilitate increased direct governmental support for film and screen media. In the second part of this article, I specifically consider TIFF Bell Lightbox, the new permanent home of the Toronto International Film Festival. Through an analysis of Bell Lightbox, I demonstrate how the rhetoric of economic growth has permeated cultural discourse to the extent that the value of cultural organizations is now largely a function of their economic impact for the city.

2014

With the rise of the post-industrial economy, cities worldwide have increasingly turned to cultural flagship development in an effort to attract capital and build an image of a worldclass metropolis. This paper examines an instance of such development in Vancouver, Canada: the proposed relocation of the city's major art museum, the Vancouver Art Gallery (VAG), in order to explicate the politics of cultural policymaking and urban development as they unfold in the Vancouver context. While the VAG proposal was predominantly justified as key to building a globally competitive vision of Vancouver as a liveable and creative city, this paper illustrates how this vision breaks down when confronted with the consequences of its pursuit-such as gentrification and displacement-as an urban planning strategy. This paper ultimately points to the complex and contradictory ways culture is implicated in neoliberal urbanism, arguing that culture is unevenly valorized as a central component of contemporary city building in Vancouver.

Canadian journal of communication, 2002

The current state of municipal and regional cultural policies in Quebec represents a major evolution since the adoption of Quebec's Cultural Policy in June 1992. A "municipalization" of cultural policy has occurred. Over the past ten years, there has been a fourteenfold increase in the number of municipalities with cultural policies in Quebec (to 93 today), and this phenomenon appears to be growing and gaining greater influence as the new century begins. These cultural policies have become important strategic tools for cultural, social, and economic development in the province. This paper reports the main findings of a recent study that examined the content of 51 cultural policies of Quebec municipalities. Résumé: L'état actuel des politiques culturelles municipales et régionales au Québec représente une évolution majeure depuis l'adoption de la Politique culturelle québécoise en juin 1992. Une municipalisation des politiques culturelles a eu lieu. En dix ans, le nombre de municipalités québécoises ayant une politique culturelle s'est multiplié par quatorze, jusqu'à quatre-vingt-treize aujourd'hui. Ce phénomène semble s'accélérer et gagner en influence au début du nouveau siècle. Ces politiques culturelles sont devenues des outils stratégiques importants pour le développement culturel, social et économique de la province. Cet article rapporte les résultats d'une étude récente qui a examiné le contenu de cinquante et une politiques culturelles dans les municipalités québécoises. Michel de la Durantaye is teaching professor in the Programme de maîtrise en loisir, culture et tourisme,

2021

How has the COVID-19 Pandemic of 2020/21 altered the outlook for the performing arts in Toronto and for under-represented populations in the city and surroundings of the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts? This environmental scan will be used as a starting point to frame the conversation for a more in-depth consultation with interested neighbourhood and sector stakeholders. The research identifies a series of challenges and emerging conditions that suggest a shifting landscape in need of strategic response to prepare STLC for a resilient future

2015

This article explores the intersection of a revitalized independent music scene and competing urban visions in Toronto. After reviewing scholarly approaches to cultural scenes and their place in contemporary urban development, I examine how recording-industry changes in Canada impacted local musicians and contributed to an emerging “indie ethos.” From this, I consider the tensions between reluctantly intermingled municipal and grassroots urban visions, as well as divergent efforts to re-project the city's cultural identity. I argue that scene participants restructured their relationships with the city and advocate for more inclusive grassroots civic engagement that reaches beyond conventional scenic boundaries.

2013

1 Local government in Australia and New Zealand has long contributed to the cultural life of communities, particularly by providing services and infrastructure for creative activities. Yet there is little common understanding of the role and functions of cultural policy at the local government level. Through a historical literature review and four contemporary case studies, this research elucidated some of the goals, values, techniques and traditions that are embedded in municipal arts programmes and cultural strategies. 1 Photographs by Emma Blomkamp. NB. These images do not represent the case studies in this research.

Canadian Art, 2018

RACAR, 44 (1), Spring, 2019

This article maps and critically examines controversies surrounding permanent works of public art with a commemorative purpose, whether publicly or privately owned or funded, that have been put up across the city of Toronto to embody local and extra-national narratives connected with ethno-cultural groups. Through analysis of several case studies, I demonstrate how and why Canada’s growing and rapidly diversifying immigrant population has affected this country’s commemorative public art management. To conclude, I posit contemporary public art practices and strategies as alternative ways of remembering, and of achieving and maintaining social cohesion in a multicultural and diasporic city such as Toronto. //////////Cet article explore les controverses sévissant autour de quelques œuvres permanentes d’art public commémoratif, commandées ou financées par le public ou le privé, qui ont été érigées à Toronto afin de représenter des récits nationaux et extranationaux associés à des communautés ethnoculturelles. À travers l’analyse de plusieurs études de cas, nous démontrons comment et pourquoi la population immigrante au Canada, en pleine augmentation et diversification, a une incidence sur la gestion de l’art public commémoratif dans ce pays. En conclusion, nous recommandons l’adoption de pratiques contemporaines en art public comme un moyen de commémorer autrement et de maintenir la cohésion sociale dans une ville multiculturelle et diasporique comme Toronto.

ESC: English Studies in Canada, 2009

I  , controversies, debates, and changes of heart on the subject of arts funding have been prominent in the power plays of federal politics. Judging from news headlines, both the fundamentalist right-wing politics of Stephen Harper's Conservatives and the social democratic proarts positions of the New Democrat are moved to seek popular support by taking positions on whether or not government has a place in the arts. Precisely because this issue has surfaced again and again in the political battle for public approval in Canada, this debate reveals how much policy changes have punctuated and revised our understandings of art in relation to private and public good. In the period after World War II, arts funding was connected rhetorically to the collective search for cultural sovereignty and national independence. Refi ning the rhetoric fi rst attached to the campaign to form the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation after the First World War, culture was taken up as a collective resource for national development which would enable, and be enabled by, various kinds of national endeavours, including science and technology, agriculture, health, communication, and so on. Cultural industries were perceived as dangerous to the collective trust; they were calculated, profi t-oriented, geographically confi ned, continen

2005

Cultural facilities as important elements of a sustainable city : the example of Toronto, Canada

Toronto, like many cities worldwide, has significantly grown and changed in recent decades. But the transformation in Toronto has been especially sudden and dramatic. Its historic Victorian political culture, averse to public amusement and supportive of bourgeois virtues like thrift, family, and homogenous community, has been joined by new themes of individuality, public personal expression, and cultural diversity (Lemon 1984). Traditional self-conceptions like “Toronto the Good” and “Hogtown” now jostle and merge with “Toronto the Could,” “Creative City,” and “Visit Toronto, See the World.” This chapter uses two case studies to explore how local politics have been affected by these changes. One highlights the politics at stake in cultural work and consumption. In the case of the West Queen West Triangle, a vibrant independent art scene, supported by city officials, politicians, and influential media figures and professionals, sought to resist and alter proposed condominium developments that threatened to turn one of the city’s core post-industrial employment districts into a “bedroom community for the suburbs.” The other highlights the politics of residence and community. In the case of the Wychwood Barns, neighbors clashed over whether to rehabilitate abandoned and dilapidated streetcar repair barns into artist live-work space, an environmental educational center, and a farmers market or to demolish it for a traditional grass and trees park.