Past Engagement Findings

In September 2009, the Coordinating Body on Arts, Heritage and Culture (CBACH) convened the North Bay Growing the Arts Focus Group sessions that were facilitated by Lila Cano. The discussions generated many ideas and actions to strengthen cultural groups and activities in North Bay.

A summary of these discussions can be found below:

North Bay Growing the Arts Focus Group Sessions – September 2009 – Consultation Summary

CHALLENGES ACTIONS
Awareness and promotion

  • No directory/website of arts, heritage and cultural assets
  • Lack of visibility for the arts as a whole
  • Accessibility of information and knowledge of information is limited
  • Local media/newspaper does not support the arts strongly enough
  • No arts/heritage/culture information awareness newsletter/weekly newspaper article/monthly publication
  • Not a strong enough lead by Nippissing University and Canadore College to stress the importance of arts heritage and culture in the community
  • Marketing difficulties both internal, external and collaborative
  • Lack of awareness and understanding of the importance of heritage at the arts and culture table.
 Awareness and promotion

  • Strong unified voice  – set up a communication network
  • Arts newsletter/article once a month
  • Co-promote with arts heritage and cultural organizations and also with cross-sector organizations (sports/health etc )
  • Create a directory and website of arts heritage and cultural assets – interconnections, collaborations and partnerships will develop due to information being easily accessible
  • Respect the sector – all disciplines are equal and represented – all areas (arts, heritage and culture)
Advocacy, politics and support

  • Volunteer burnout – need payment for work – then the work is valued
  • Absence of reliable volunteers
  • Absence of a strong municipal arts supporter to run in the next election
  • Stronger cultural policy is a must
  • Overall municipal cultural strategy development is crucial
  • Lacking knowledgeable/qualified municipal leadership in arts culture & heritage
  • Need an arts, heritage and culture department at a municipal level and a full time well paid staff person to properly grow the arts/heritage and culture sector in our community
  • Lack of connection between organizations/individuals/disciplines working in the field
  • No economic study done in the community of the local/regional economic benefits of arts heritage and culture
  • Need more funding at a municipal level to support the local projects, individuals and organizations both established and emerging
  • Organizations all working somewhat in isolation – no calendar of events established for encouraging partnerships and collaborations within the arts/heritage and cultural sector as well as other sectors in the community
  • Lacking support for the outlying regions
  • No place/location that currently houses (in hard copy) shared resources for arts, heritage and culture
  • CBACH not as strong as it could be
  • High school community hours not being realized in support of heritage, arts and culture
  • Heritage, arts and culture must be included in the waterfront development process
  • Approachability – make people feel welcomed into your space.
 Advocacy, politics and support

  • Full time well paid staff person at the municipal level for growth in the arts heritage and culture sector
  • Run an arts supportive candidate in the next election at a municipal level
  • Municipal cultural plan / strategy must be created in an inclusive way with wide consultation at all levels
  • Study report done on the economic impact of arts heritage and culture in North Bay and surrounding area and on heritage, arts and culture as a “sector”
  • Inform ourselves about study reports that will help back the cause- find and gain the necessary knowledge
  • Lobby for an “arts heritage culture” reporter/ representative within the media
Engagement

  • Need more engagement of all citizens in the arts…not just the converted
  • Lack of arts programming in health centers
  • Lack of leisure education in the arts
  • Few arts programs for seniors
  • Engagement for families – first hands-on experiences in the arts are crucial
  • Almost no on-going programming for children and youth
  • No organized cohesive organization or group that has information or a system set up about what is or is not happening in the schools in the arts at a local level
  • No artists in the school program that addresses the arts in an equal and accessible way
  • Not enough patrons – where are they? Who are they? What do they want?
  • No big local/regional multi-disciplinary arts heritage and cultural festival that brings everyone together to celebrate our own
  • Lack of engagement of children and youth in heritage, arts and culture.
 Engagement

  • “Public Art” policy created – art/heritage/culture is visible in the community
  • Engage the general public in art – not just the converted – development and implementation of activity based/project based/community based and program based arts and heritage experiences in the community
  • People need to participate in the development of the growth of the sector.
Partnerships & collaborations

  • Need more events that are integrated
  • We need to sing a unified song in arts heritage and culture – strength in numbers
  • Not enough partnering and collaborations with other sectors in the community through arts heritage and culture
  • Few partnerships and collaborations
  • Not enough of North Bay partnering and bringing in others from the region and vice versa
  • No arts gathering space for partnerships and collaborations to grow and for support
  • Lack of strong partnerships being developed with school boards
  • Not enough media and promotion partnerships
  • Big picture arts, heritage and culture connection is not happening yet within the community – generally we operate in isolation.
 Partnerships & collaborations

  • Arts gathering space – frequent a public space where meetings/launches/openings/readings can happen spontaneously or where meetings can happen once a month for artists, heritage and culture supporters to encourage the “creatives” to meet, share, chat and collaborate – set up a partnership with the space/restaurant – co-promotion and culture is visible and out in the community
  • Grass roots to take the lead – with necessary top down support from municipality – then others will come on board
  • Round table discussions set up with potential partners (i.e: education/health/sports seniors etc) about how we can best work together, collaborate and address the needs within the community.
Professional development

  • No or little access to workshops in grant/proposal writing skills
  • Not enough professional development for artists and heritage programmers etc
  • Lack of education opportunities in arts heritage and culture in the community (workshops/professional development/projects/programs etc)
 Professional development

  • Workshops offered based on plan identified) i.e: grant writing/governance/npt-for-profit status/charitable status/collaboration and partnership development/artist and heritage programmer professional development/cataloging for heritage & museums/program development and implementation models/funding knowledge etc.
Funding/sustainability

  • Everyone fighting over the same crumbs – competition for dollars pits like-minded groups somewhat against each other due to the funding models
  • Nipissing Arts Council for dollars
  • Cannot always go to the Trillium trough – how do we diversify
  • More $$ makes more happen – how do we access more $$
  • Need equity at municipal level with cultural policy and strategy
  • More $$ support from municipality, province and federal government
  • Sustainability dollars are not the same as project grants and operating funds are integral to the cultural health of a community.
 Funding/sustainability

  • Research done on sustainable funding information in support of the community
  • Lobbying to change the funding models (some work well – others do not)
  • Develop and implement excellent projects and programs… and funding will come to support these initiatives

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