Culture Plan for Saskatoon
The City of Saskatoon is developing a Culture Plan for Saskatoon. The Culture Plan will help strengthen, harmonize, and raise the profile of cultural endeavours in our city. One key outcome will be a clear vision for Saskatoon as a creative and cultural city. Another goal is increased collaboration between the City, the cultural community, residents, tourism and business. The Culture Plan will also identify priorities for future investment in arts, culture and heritage.
A Culture Plan had been identified as an important legacy of the 2006 Cultural Capitals designation. In fact, one outcome of the Cultural Capitals initiative was the preparation of a series of key research documents that are now helping to inform the Culture Plan. Three of these documents, “Crescent Development Strategy”, “Cultural Tourism and Marketing Strategy” and “Cultural Capitals: Lessons for the Future” can be viewed by selecting the links on the right.
The Culture Plan project is being managed by the Community Development Branch. The Plan itself is being developed by consultants the Office for Urbanism in collaboration with Greg Baeker of AuthentiCity. Work has now started on the third and final Phase.
Phase 1, an audit and analysis of existing cultural activities in Saskatoon, culminated in a major report that focused on Nine Drivers for Change. As identified, these Drivers are the factors or forces that are shaping the direction of the Culture Plan. For more details see the Phase 1 Report by selecting the link above.
Phase 2 included a Cultural Planning Forum that was held for over 100 arts and cultural stakeholders at TCU Place on March 4 and 5, 2010. The event was designed to introduce the project to stakeholders and to provide an opportunity to collaborate. A draft Vision Statement, along with Guiding Principles and some early Strategic Directions were developed at this Forum. Thanks to our Steering Committee and Advisory Committee for their work refining these documents. Their revisions are included in the Phase 2 Report, available by selecting the link above.
With the start of Phase 3 we are now able to align the development of the Culture Plan with the Saskatoon Speaks, Shape Our Future community visioning initiative. The Saskatoon Speaks City Summit, being held on September 29, October 1 and 2, 2010 at Prairieland Park, will provide the opportunity to discuss culture within the larger context of how recreation and culture contribute to the overall quality of life in Saskatoon.
Then, as part of the Saskatoon Speaks - Focused Visioning Workshops planned for November – December, our consultants, the Office for Urbanism, will facilitate a Culture Plan workshop to review and discuss vision, principles and strategic directions. Following this workshop, the Consultants will write the Culture Plan, complete with an action plan and an implementation strategy.
A draft Culture Plan will be available for public review and comment at the Saskatoon Speaks: Listening to You City Summit, scheduled for winter 2011.
The final Culture Plan will be presented to City Council for approval in the spring of 2011.
Please check back here soon for further updates on the Culture Plan.
For more information contact: Frances Westlund, Arts & Grants Consultant, City of Saskatoon, (306) 975-3391.