Our Culture Plan for 2020-2030 for the Town of Whitby serves to position arts and culture as a key economic driver through investing in our people, programs, services and facilities to promote and strengthen our relationship with local arts, culture, heritage and the creative sector.
Our Culture Plan was developed over three phases to ensure that community engagement and municipal staff review supports the success of the Cultural Plan.
Phase 1 – Background research and engagement summary |
The Background Research Summary Memorandum identifies the different planning, market and people contexts, researches cultural trends, best practices and overall understanding our current cultural state. The Engagement Summary outlines our process for public consultation and provides a detailed summary of the feedback given in response to our stakeholder interviews and surveys. |
Phase 2 – Vision and guiding principles |
Culture is at the centre of building communities within our Town. As we evolve, culture will be the connective tissue that brings people together through history, stories, creativity and community. The guiding principles to achieve this cultural vision include:
View our staff report to learn more about our approach to drafting the vision and guiding principles. |
Phase 3 – Drafted Culture Plan |
View our drafted Culture Plan that summarizes our process, identifies our cultural planning landscape, our vision and guiding principles, and their directions. |
We conducted research and consultation to discover our broader definitions of culture and ensure our cultural plan provides opportunities for people to experience arts and culture in less traditional settings. These experiences include:
We have five strategic directions that reflect our vision, guiding principles and desired outcomes for the cultural planning process.
Connecting creativity |
This direction focuses on strengthening and diversifying our local arts, culture, heritage and creative sector offerings through investments in people and programs. |
Connecting community |
Culture thrives when community is on board. This direction provides approaches to foster and build community and partner support in order to build capacity and resilience within our art and culture sector. |
Connecting places |
Our cultural spaces and places generate a sense of belonging and pride amongst a diversity you bring to our community. This direction offers actions that preserve and enhance our spaces and places. |
Connecting stories |
This direction outlines approaches to celebrate and engage with our culture so that you see yourselves reflected in the cultural landscape, narratives and daily life within our Town. |
Connecting the process |
To ensure culture connects our community, the structure and process within the municipality must work to elevate and integrate culture's role within internal processes. This direction provides tactics to better internally support culture, structurally and financially. |
We've issued the following staff reports:
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