The Ontario Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport continues to seek public input on its formulation of a strategy for supporting Ontario’s cultural sector. Developing a provincial culture strategy has been part of the Ministry’s official mandate since 2014.
As a result of the Province’s first round of consultations (fall and early-winter, 2015) the strategy has become focused on three core objectives:
- increasing the role of culture in Ontario communities, through promoting local arts and heritage
- enabling culture to strengthen and inform Ontario’s creative and competitive knowledge economies
- making the Ontario culture sector more inclusive by creating greater opportunities for participation
Working toward a summer deadline, the government is once again consulting with the public to determine the best ways to serve local artists and cultural businesses in Ontario.
Citizens are encouraged to participate the second round of consultation by submitting feedback on a draft Culture Strategy via Ontario’s website prior to May 13, 2016.
(To read the Culture Strategy Draft in .PDF format, click here.)
No definitive statements have been made about the use of resources in the Strategy, other than that funding will be allocated on a more targeted basis.
Going forward, the strategy will be developed and executed with assistance from Ontario’s new Deputy Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport, Maureen Adamson.
Adamson is a former public service professional as well as Chief Administrative Officer (Women’s College Hospital), VP Corporate (Mohawk College) and CEO (Cystic Fibrosis Canada and the Michener Institute for Applied Health Sciences). She replaces former interim DM, Richard McKinnell.
In December 2015, CIMA submitted feedback to the provincial government explaining why and how music must play a key role in the Ontario Culture Strategy. For an overview of this position, click here.
CIMA maintained that the music industry should be centrally included in the Strategy, such as by:
- strengthening the connection between music and the tourism industry
- contributing greater overall resources to music education
- facilitating artistic expression within communities and across different cultural sectors
- drawing on international policy agreements like the UNESCO Convention on Cultural Diversity
CIMA applauds the Ontario government for how its policies have supported local artists and music companies to date, including the permanent establishment of the Ontario Music Fund in its 2015 budget.
CIMA will recommend that proactive steps continue to be taken in this direction as Ontario’s Culture Strategy is further updated and formalized over the next several months. Check this site for updates as the project goes ahead.
