The Town of Amherstburg Cultural Strategy February 22, 2011 PLANSCAPE Prepared by: Planscape Inc. 104 Kimberley Avenue Bracebridge, ON P1L1Z8 The Town of Amherstburg Cultural Strategy Funding Provided By: Ontario Ministy of Tourism and Culture The Town of Amherstburg Contents 1.0 Study Context ............................................................................. 1 1.1 Strategic Cultural Vision ................................................................................................................ 1 1.2 Definition of Municipal Cultural Planning ..................................................................................... 2 1.3 Study Objectives ........................................................................................................................... 3 1.4 Methodology ................................................................................................................................. 4 2.0 A Portrait of Amherstburg .......................................................... 5 2.1 Community Profile ........................................................................................................................ 5 2.1 Community Trends ........................................................................................................................ 9 2.2 Existing Cultural Mandate ........................................................................................................... 11 2.3 Economic Development .............................................................................................................. 14 3.0 Amherstburg Cultural Resources .............................................. 16 3.1 Cultural Inventory ....................................................................................................................... 17 3.2 Cultural Mapping ........................................................................................................................ 18 4.0 Community Consultation .......................................................... 19 4.1 Advisory Group ........................................................................................................................... 19 4.2 Questionnaire Implementation & Results .................................................................................. 19 4.3 Public Workshop & Results ......................................................................................................... 23 5.0 Vision, Goals and Actions .......................................................... 25 5.1 Strategic Cultural Vision .............................................................................................................. 25 5.2 Goals ........................................................................................................................................... 25 5.3 Actions ........................................................................................................................................ 26 1.0 Study Context 1.1 Strategic Cultural Vision The Town of Amherstburg recognizes the fact that creativity and culture has the ability to build the local economy. Quality of place has become a core competitive advantage for communities in attracting and retaining residents, which in turn attracts new businesses and investment. In 2010, Town Council formulated a shared vision as a first step in establishing a more systematic and strategic approach to cultural development in the Town of Amherstburg. “We see a Municipality in which culture is understood to be central to making Amherstburg a place where people want to live, work, play and invest. We see a Town that is a regional hub for tourism and economic development built on the quality of its natural and cultural environment and the vitality of its arts, heritage and cultural activities. We see a Town where growth and development are managed in a way that preserves the community’s natural and cultural assets and its unique ambience and identity. We see a Town that values art in public places, supports and values a dynamic cultural sector of arts, heritage, business and cultural organizations as well as individuals committed to collaboration and shared resources. We see a Town who is in pursuit of cultural advancement by creating an environment that encourages the attraction, retention, rehabilitation and expansion of businesses and cultural institutions by adopting a Cultural Planning and Mapping Strategy.” The Corporation of the Town of Amherstburg Approved by Council, September 2009 It is clear that the Town of Amherstburg has a rich set of cultural resources and strong community support to protect and promote those resources. The Town wishes to utilize and leverage culture more effectively in the community by making culture central in the decision‐making process, using culture to boost tourism, improving the preservation of cultural assets, increasing cultural collaboration and partnership, and generally creating a culturally favourable environment. In order to achieve these goals, The Town of Amherstburg has embarked on an initiative to collect a comprehensive inventory of cultural resources, to map those resources and to develop a cultural strategy which will form the basis for cultural decision making now and in the future. To be successful this strategy must respect the limitations of funding while capturing and building on those attributes that contribute to the prosperity of the community. A successful strategy implementation will require many components coming together and working as a whole, including support from the rural community. PLANSCAPE INC. 1 February 22, 2011 1.2 Definition of Municipal Cultural Planning According to the Ontario Ministry of Culture, culture is increasingly being recognized as essential to prosperous, liveable and sustainable communities in the 21st century. The Ministry now recommends that when communities develop their municipal plans, they include culture as part of public planning and consider culture when planning for municipal priorities such as land use, tourism, youth engagement, economic development, transportation projects and downtown revitalization projects. In order to practice municipal cultural planning, municipal staff and elected officials work with the community to identify cultural assets. These cultural assets are then used to develop creative solutions to the community’s economic, social and environmental needs and goals. The Municipal Cultural Planning Partnership is an organization of provincial government agencies, municipalities, cultural service organizations, post secondary institutions and others specifically dedicated to promoting Municipal Cultural Planning across the province. This organization defines Municipal Cultural Planning as: “The strategic and integrated planning and use of cultural resources for economic and community development.” They also reveal that there are several defining features of Municipal Cultural Planning including the identification of cultural resources, cultural mapping, municipal participation, community and business partnerships, and network and engagement across the community. The Municipal Cultural Planning Partnership provides a proposed framework to study cultural resources within a community. These resources are built on a consistent set of categories which are shown in Figure 1.1. Each category is also divided into sub‐categories based on the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). These sub‐categories are shown in Appendix A. Figure 1.1: Cultural Resources Diagram Source: Municipal Cultural Planning Partnership The Town of Amherstburg /2…...Cultural Strategy Cultural Resources form the basic building blocks for Municipal Cultural Planning. The goal is to collect, assemble and classify these resources into a complete set, called a Cultural Inventory. The Cultural Inventory stores and manages all cultural resources into a list or database. Cultural Mapping is then used to store, manage and visualize cultural resources using traditional or computer based mapping methods. Finally, a Cultural Strategy examines statistics, planning policies, and community input to create a cultural vision, identify opportunities and recommend actions to implement the vision, and establishes measures to ensure success. 1.3 Study Objectives The Town of Amherstburg has identified culture as a critical component to community success. The goal is to utilize and leverage culture more effectively in the community by making culture central in the decision‐making process, using culture to boost tourism, improving the preservation of cultural assets, increasing cultural collaboration and partnership, and generally creating a culturally favourable environment. In order to achieve these goals, The Town of Amherstburg has embarked on an initiative to collect a comprehensive inventory of cultural resources, to map those resources and to develop a cultural strategy which will form the basis for cultural decision making now and in the future. The five key objectives of the study are to: 1) Define the Town’s cultural mandate as it applies to specific areas of Town administration and planning; 2) Promote and increase accessibility and awareness to culture among local residents, and tourists; 3) Support the case for further investment in the cultural sector; 4) Prepare for a cultural planning process that would determine strengths, gaps and opportunities for further development; 5) Build stronger, more effective relationships