Evidence of meeting #100 for Canadian Heritage in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was artists.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Julie Dabrusin
Good morning.
Since it is 8:45 a.m., let's begin.
This is the 100th meeting of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage.
We are doing our study on cultural hubs and cultural districts in Canada. Today the first witness who were were expecting, Ateliers créatifs Montréal, is not here, but we do have with us today Small.
Isn't your name a fuller name than Small?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Julie Dabrusin
That's what I thought, Culture of Small. We have Philip Evans, founder, and Heather Campbell, program manager.
From the University of Windsor, we have Ms. Veronika Mogyorody, professor.
Why don't we begin? Each group will have 10 minutes and we can begin with Culture of Small, please, for 10 minutes.
Program Manager, Small
Thank you, everyone, for having us here today.
We are from Small. We are an organization that works with cultural heritage in small communities across the country. We look at the existing assets within small, rural, or remote communities, and we work with people within the communities to leverage those assets to help move their communities forward.
We're looking at revitalization strategies, often in communities that are facing resource closure or other transitions within their communities. They're facing economic transitions that need to happen. Often what we have seen in these communities is that cultural assets and cultural facilities can help with those transition strategies and help rejuvenate and revitalize the communities.
We're looking at some cultural hub ideas in small communities. I want to share with the committee today what we've seen and what we have seen as best practices within a lot of these communities. We wanted to propose a working definition of “cultural hubs” that is a bit beyond infrastructure or it's a different take on infrastructure. Instead of just looking at the physical infrastructure of buildings, we wanted to look at a more holistic approach towards infrastructure.
We will touch on five things today. The first one is the physical infrastructure. The second is the idea of educational infrastructure within these facilities. The third is social infrastructure, support systems within the facilities. The fourth is operational infrastructure, which helps the facilities keep going into the future. The last one is market infrastructure, to help bring cultural products or cultural producers to a broader marketplace.
The first is physical infrastructure. This is something I think we're all familiar with when we talk about cultural hubs. It's the facilities that can be used for cultural activity. One of the things we see in small or rural communities is that a lot of physical infrastructure already exists. There are buildings in rural communities that are being underused and could be leveraged or repurposed as cultural facilities.
We're looking at things like churches, schools, and community centres. One example of this is the Grand Theatre in Indian Head, Saskatchewan. This was a theatre that fell on some hard times, and the community ended up buying the building and repurposing it as a bit of a cultural hub. Now not only is it a theatre, but it runs programs for local schools. It brings people from other regional communities together. It's more of a hub facility now, but it's reusing what already existed. It's not new infrastructure; it's a building that already existed within the community.
The second is educational infrastructure. We find it's important that these types of hubs provide programming for the community that reaches out to youth and newcomers. It provides broader programming to engage people in cultural activities. This goes beyond the bricks and mortar and really reaches into the world of innovation, and that helps support new businesses, cultural businesses that are operating within these communities.
One example of the educational style of programming is the Falls Brook Centre in Glassville, New Brunswick. It has a lot of educational programming that focuses on environmental and ecological programs, bringing in school groups, youth, to learn within the centre, which helps support and revitalize the community.
The third component is social infrastructure. This is about building networks within communities, reaching out beyond the physical infrastructure again. This has a lot to do with engaging new residents in rural communities, attracting new residents to rural communities, and retaining youth within rural communities, so retaining current residents within these communities.
Developing these types of networks leads to volunteerism, which leads to mentorship within the communities. Again it's programming that goes beyond the physical bricks and mortar of a cultural hub. One example is the Canadian Centre for Rural Creativity, which is under development right now in Blyth, Ontario. One of the main focuses of this centre—it's a cultural hub, a cultural facility for the community—is about retaining youth. That's something the community really struggles with right now. A lot of youth are leaving Huron County, in Ontario. One of the programs that they want to have encompassed within this facility is something that can help retain youth within the community. Again, it's a very small community, so it's a challenge that a lot of these communities face.
The fourth component is operational infrastructure. Often we see hubs start up in small communities and they get funding or a capital campaign comes together for the bricks and mortar, yet they struggle when they come to operational programming. Moving forward with their programming, they do not have the same level of support or the same level of funding as they did for the actual bricks and mortar campaign.
When we're looking at hubs in smaller communities, it's important that we consider the future and how that programming can reach into the future and what kind of challenges are going to arise from a new building or a repurposed building.
One example of this is a project in Chapleau in northern Ontario. This is a church building. The church now has a restaurant and a little artisan market in the basement. They've really diversified what they offer to the community. As the church found a new use, it was hit with a high level of municipal taxes. A church itself is tax exempt within a community. Now that it has new uses in there, it has to pay a high level of municipal taxes. This isn't something that they saw the impact of going into this process. They've responded to the community's needs. They're offering a service to the community, and they're being forced to pay something and to impose these costs on their user groups that they're not really prepared to manage at this point.
The last thing we want to touch on is market infrastructure. In small or rural communities, and remote communities especially, there's often not an audience or a significant market that can support a lot of cultural activities or cultural small businesses. What we see is a need for market infrastructure that can connect rural communities to urban centres or connect networks of smaller communities so that they can build their market capacities, build their audiences, and build connections with collectors or supporters. Again, this is a form of infrastructure that goes beyond just the normal hub concept and really connects different hubs or different facilities.
One example of this is Dorset Fine Arts. Dorset Fine Arts is located in Toronto, but they are a marketing or sales branch of the West Baffin Eskimo Co-operative, located in Cape Dorset. This is a physical extension of their marketplace. They're able to reach into the Toronto marketplace through this facility in Toronto, but the hub, the creation, and the artists are located in Cape Dorset. It's just extending that market reach, which is quite important.
Those are five examples of different forms of infrastructure that we see the need for, again, going beyond the typical definition of infrastructure when you look at cultural hubs. We wanted to give those examples to the committee today just so you can understand the specific components that we see in small and rural communities when you look at cultural development and cultural rejuvenation.
I'll leave it there.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Julie Dabrusin
Thank you very much for that.
I got excited when I saw that, because Cape Dorset Fine Arts is based in my community. I went to visit them recently; that's an interesting spot.
Our next witness is Professor Mogyorody, and you have 10 minutes.
Dr. Veronika Mogyorody Professor Emeritus, University of Windsor
I want to thank the committee for inviting me to speak about cultural hubs and districts. I come as a citizen of the city of Windsor, a former member of several non-profit organizations, and as the founder of the visual arts and the built environment program for the University of Windsor.
Over the last 30 years, there have been ongoing discussions about the revitalization of older industrial cities like Windsor, Ontario, and the role cultural hubs can play in reinventing communities within the context of downtown rejuvenation, historic preservation, and tourism. We have learned about the importance of nurturing urban distinctiveness, providing a workforce for cultural industries, and attracting a creative class. Yet despite the theoretical rhetoric in urban planning, economic development, and arts and culture literature, significant city initiatives have proven to be difficult to pull off. The discourse has outpaced our communities' ability to implement change. The buzz around creative hubs is certainly promising. What is difficult is strategically addressing public investment and careful use of resources.
Few small to mid-size cities have the expertise to bridge the various federal or provincial bureaucratic structures, or work with the multitude of constituencies in developing effective cultural policy. Recognizing their lack of relevant resources, they enthusiastically commission cultural master plans from consultant planning and management firms, with the goal of creating strategies that match their community's vision. In some instances, these professionally produced plans have been helpful in gathering input and generating ideas. In other instances, they've had little impact and a short afterlife.
Occasionally, useful cultural asset maps are produced and potential cultural districts identified. However, because of their cost and the effort required, they are often not updated or maintained, making their usefulness short-lived. Those areas labelled as cultural districts are seen as important anchors, recognized for their facilities and their mixed-use amenities and services. Enthusiasm for cultural districts is generally quite high, but the necessary ongoing resources to support their needs and monitor their success is regularly left wanting.
As is the case in Windsor, the major cultural institutions are used in promotional material for the downtown core. The survival of these non-profit organizations relies heavily on support from established foundations, local, provincial and federal granting agencies, arts and cultural philanthropy, and incomes such as memberships, performances, art sales, and community events. They are pressured by the constant threat of financial reductions by their patrons and funders, as well as by decreasing earned income that could affect their continued existence.
Survival has meant doing more with less and doing some things differently. These have included shortening performance runs, relying on permanent collections, altering hours of operation, sharing production and facility costs, and in some instances, merging institutions. Now, not all of these are problematic, but they are certainly taxing and stressful.
Frequently, the argument is made that granting agencies focus their efforts on larger public cultural organizations rather than on modest neighbourhood and community cultural hubs. The concern is that if cultural placemaking is actually important, then creating more humble spaces specifically for the arts is absolutely essential. Artist centres that provide a multitude of services and opportunities can contribute to downtown revitalization. Providing spaces to work, produce, rehearse, meet, learn, and mentor are cost-effective ways to contribute to the cultural economy.
These centres play an important role in encouraging innovation and production, by becoming an asset to the neighbourhoods where they are situated. Understanding the social dimension of cultural production is critical in encouraging the development of cultural hubs and the emergence of cultural districts.
Centres contribute to interaction, the exchange of ideas, collaboration, and the testing and manufacturing of new products. The activities within these centres have a positive effect on the individuals using them and can spill over into the communities in which they are located. The formation of informal relationships between users of the centre could encourage the participation of neighbourhood residents and strengthen new ties.
Just this past Thursday, the University of Windsor formally opened the School of Creative Arts in its downtown location. The City of Windsor has been active in forming partnerships with both the university and college, in searching for creative solutions to revitalizing its downtown. It is noteworthy that it has been arts and culture that have made the bridging between town and gown a real possibility. St. Clair College's Centre for the Arts, its MediaPlex, and now, the university's School of Creative Arts are potential catalysts for stimulating new development, but this is just the first step in any renewal process.
Residents and businesses in the urban neighbourhoods surrounding these newly created cultural hubs deserve access to the opportunities these facilities offer. This requires academic institutions, the artists, the existing non-profit culture sector, the local BIA, and neighbourhood citizens and leaders to seize this moment in continuing the conversation about arts and culture as a critical element of the city's life.
Academics, like Florida and Spencer, have written about the connection between population size and a creativity index and how larger cities and regions have a built-in advantage, in terms of cultural economic development. However, for those of us who reside in small to mid-size cities, it is time to align land use, zoning, building codes, housing, and transportation planning, so that we can build a new cultural infrastructure.
Many of the tools that enable artist spaces are lodged within various municipal departments, like cultural affairs, planning and building services, economic development, parks and recreation, district school boards, and multicultural agencies. According to Markusen and Johnson, local governments and agencies need to transcend traditional turfs to help facilitate culture-driven urban revitalization. Arts and culture need to be able to operate in several domains at the same time, thereby challenging and transcending traditional borders and promoting new life in the city.
As you may be aware, Windsor shares a border with the city of Detroit and we have been carefully watching our U.S. neighbour. For some, the large-scale purchases, refurbishment, and upgrades in downtown Detroit have been phenomenal. The transformation of the once-desolate urban core into a hip corridor of real estate investment has certainly drawn international recognition and much praise.
For others, the complex problems that have faced Detroit haven't disappeared. They've simply been relocated elsewhere. The argument made is that although racial and ethnic segregation is beginning to decrease, economic segregation is still a major issue. This is a factor that Windsor cannot afford to ignore.
In conclusion, all this raises the question, is this a zero-sum game? Does this necessarily put the smaller centres in competition, especially economic competition, with the larger centres and institutions? Why not see them as complementary? Can we not design a support for the arts in such a way that we encourage a synergistic relationship benefiting all?
Thank you.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Julie Dabrusin
Thank you.
We will now begin the question and answer period. Each person will have seven minutes.
We will start with Mr. Breton.
Liberal
Pierre Breton Liberal Shefford, QC
Thank you, Madam Chair.
My thanks to the witnesses for being here and for their presentations.
Let me start with you, Ms. Mogyorody. In your presentation, you indicated that you were one of the people who took part in revitalizing several buildings at the University of Windsor. I am interested in knowing how that helped the young people enrolled in your institution to learn and how it may have helped the institution attract those students. I think that was one of the purposes people had in mind.
Has there been a study on the effects of the major revitalization that was done as a result of your expertise?
Professor Emeritus, University of Windsor
The School of Creative Arts just opened. We don't have a great deal of information at the moment. What we're excited about is that many community groups have started to introduce themselves to the centre. By doing so, they're starting to use it for activities.
With St. Clair College, the centre for performing arts and the arts has been downtown for several years now. There has been considerable literature talking about the impact upon a city when you bring universities to the downtown.
The problem with it is that it's a very short-term component, in the sense that it helps very small restaurants and businesses in that area, but if it's not effectively done by working with community organizations in planning in a holistic manner, the community will only experience a very small benefit. I thus think your question is very timely.
I think it will have a benefit. We have a team in place at the moment that is going to do a longitudinal study of the impact. We're hoping that by working with some of the other groups, including the Windsor arts council, we'll be able to move forward.
Liberal
Pierre Breton Liberal Shefford, QC
Thank you.
Before I move to Ms. Campbell, I would like to congratulate you on your professional career, Ms. Mogyorody, as well as for the prize you received in 2015.
Ms. Campbell, I am trying to understand the nature of your organization. It is not clear to me. It does not seem to be a cultural centre, but rather an organization that seeks to help rural communities to revitalize themselves or to develop their most valuable assets in their regions.
What is the exact nature of Small? Is it a not-for-profit organization, a private institution, or something else? Can you give us an example or two of the things your organization has done in municipalities or rural villages?
Program Manager, Small
That's an excellent question.
As a not-for-profit organization, Small grew out of a heritage architecture firm based in Toronto called ERA Architects.
A heritage architecture firm often looks beyond the bricks and mortar of a heritage building when we work in the architectural world, and that's why there's the focus on cultural heritage. This focus extends beyond just looking at a building. It's looking at the use of a building, the memories people have of a building, and the value of a building to a community.
Taking that framework and that frame of reference, this not-for-profit—Small—applies that to communities. In applying that kind of cultural heritage value assessment to communities, when we consult with small communities, we identify the values within that community and how they want to bring that forward. It's looking at the roots of a community and where it evolved from and then understanding how that can move forward.
Again, we're looking at a lot of post-resource communities that are going through transition as they lose natural resources or their reliance on natural resources. That's the type of consultation work we do.
We do a lot of consultations with community groups. For example, for the Chapleau church we saw earlier, we worked with them to do a community consultation to understand what they wanted to see and what was lacking within the community and then to bring some new uses into that building to help answer some of those needs.
We're working with a series of churches in northern Ontario right now that are facing a similar situation. The congregations and the population are declining, but the buildings and the symbolism they have are of great value to the community.
It's understanding what can happen next with those buildings that can speak to the community needs and extend that cultural use of the building. That's why we're looking at this idea of cultural hubs. Could those buildings become cultural hubs moving into the future?
You're right that we do not operate a cultural hub building—that's not the role of the community—but we're galvanizing, attracting, and trying to support that type of use within the community, because we see it as an answer to a lot of those transitional questions or situations that these smaller communities are in now.
Does that help clarify it?
Liberal
Pierre Breton Liberal Shefford, QC
Yes, absolutely. Thank you.
I really wish you operated in my constituency. A number of municipalities could greatly benefit from expertise such as yours to create added value and to showcase the heritage that already exists. My congratulations for what you do.
Do I have any time left, Madam Chair?
Conservative
Peter Van Loan Conservative York—Simcoe, ON
For my seven and a half minutes, I'll start with Small, and ask you briefly. In Ontario they have an initiative for community hubs. We're talking about cultural hubs.
In the context of small towns, it occurs to me that perhaps there should be a combination or merger of these ideas, because it's hard to think of small towns producing stand-alone, viable cultural hubs that can float on their own. I'm wondering if you could comment on that.
Program Manager, Small
Yes. I think that's an excellent question and point.
Yes, we are following the community hub initiative within Ontario. I think a lot of the definitions we've laid out today in looking at a holistic cultural hub really are quite parallel.
When you look at community hubs, there often is an emphasis on community health and that type of programming. With successful cultural hubs in small communities you see that as well, that type of whole community engagement and that holistic view also, again, extending the definition of “cultural”.
There's a lot of overlap in small communities, even when you look at the people within them. The key players within these communities wear many hats and share many roles, so when you look at a community hub, you often see that type of human infrastructure that extends into many different roles.
People who are involved in what we consider arts and cultural activities are also often community builders, or they're involved in the health, the social services, or the educational sector.
In that type of overlap, I think you're quite correct. There's a parallel.
Conservative
Peter Van Loan Conservative York—Simcoe, ON
My next question goes to both witnesses.
In your case you're dealing with a lot of significant buildings, like churches and so on, that are running out of their original uses.
Professor Mogyorody, you referenced Detroit, where there has been a lot of restoration of genuine heritage buildings as part of their urban revitalization. In the American context almost all of those heritage restorations have involved something called the heritage restoration tax credit. Small, you've referenced some of the difficulties of viability in these adaptive reuses of heritage buildings.
What could be the role of a heritage restoration tax credit? Could that make a big difference in these contexts? I say this with some bias, having sponsored a private member's bill that originally had support at second reading, but then many of my friends on the other side changed their minds and did not support it, so it's now been defeated in the House.
I'll go to Small first. You probably know about—
Philip Evans Founder, Small
I can start with that. Thank you. That's a great question.
I think it would help. I should mention that the program we've been exploring here for some time now is one that was being mirrored south of the border with some institutions. Actually, Frank and Deborah Popper, out of Princeton, were taking a series of communities and trying to understand the impacts of tax incentives and individual risks taken by creative entrepreneurs, a program we were very much interested in and running with. These investments and these kinds of programs, and results of cultural products are an investment in people. They're an investment in a cultural economy. We've seen a focus on the adaptive reuse portion of these projects. This program has been set up to focus more on the idea of putting the use back into adaptive reuse, so it's a critical piece, but it's one that needs to be matched. It's about incentivizing risk as opposed to removing that risk, and that's a very delicate piece to play with.
Professor Emeritus, University of Windsor
At the moment in the city of Windsor we have core cultural areas, such as the Art Gallery of Windsor and the Windsor Symphony Orchestra, which is located in the Capitol Theatre, a restored building. The City of Windsor has spent a considerable amount of money refurbishing it.
There are small groups in the community that are in the neighbourhoods, not necessarily part of the core, but where there school districts community centres or cultural centres. They may not necessarily own their building—they rent their building—but they need incentives. We're hearing from some of the constituents that if there are property tax exemptions for them in terms of the rental of the unit, there's an extended tax rebate or there's a period where some of the organizations can be exempt from taxes for a certain period of time. Although I think there are many things in place for the larger institutions and the larger non-profits, it's the smaller ones that need help. I think Small—I think I would like to have them in our backyard—would be very helpful, but on a neighbourhood level rather than specifically on a city level.
Conservative
Peter Van Loan Conservative York—Simcoe, ON
Focusing on the downtown, you talked all around it, but you didn't talk specifically of it. Windsor has been working on this cultural district. You have your sculpture garden,you have the Chimczuk Museum, and the art gallery consolidated, you have a heritage building there, you have several university buildings and so on. Can you tell us a little bit about that Windsor experience, clearly trying to create this cultural hub district—not a single building, but rather a district?
Professor Emeritus, University of Windsor
I think the current mayor over the last while has identified the fact that we need resources. A sizable amount has been put into giving funds not only to the core elements but to the neighbourhood communities. For example, over the next three years, over $1.5 million each year is going to be designated. There's a new granting organization out of the city that meets twice a year to give funding for it, but I think effort has to be spent on the smaller areas. The cultural district does exist, but there are not services—
Professor Emeritus, University of Windsor
I'm not sure I can say that it's a success because I don't think it's come to its fruition yet.