News

On Friday, February 22nd, the UK Department for Culture, Media and Sport released its long-awaited strategy document for supporting the creative industries, Creative Britain - New Talents for the New Economy. It addresses the full continuum of creative development, from childhood and education through research and innovation and support for creative businesses. It has connections to MCP, specifically in relation to arts education and youth. The report notes efforts to position the UK as "the world's creative hub", including the launch of an annual international creative business conference intended to be the equivalent of Davos in this sector.

Thank you to Alida Stevenson, Policy Advisor in the Culture Policy Unit of the Ministry of Culture, for bringing this exciting document to our attention.

The concept of municipal cultural planning, the challenges it is poised to address and the potential outcomes of its implementation are so prevalent in current affairs that hardly a day goes by that I don’t read an article, hear a story or see a segment related to MCP. I recognize that I am hyper-aware of issues and topic relating to MCP, but I also think this observation reflects the energy, interest and currency of MCP.

Most recently, the Tuesday, February 26th edition of CBC Radio’s The Current was devoted to economies in transition—specifically the downturn in the manufacturing sector. The program focused on St. Catharines; the city once had a booming economy supported by factories and well-paying factory jobs. With cheaper labour elsewhere, many of these factories have moved, leaving people out-of-work or maintaining low-paying jobs.

The program then discusses how St.Catharines, is attempting to move from a resource-based economy to a knowledge-based economy. For example, Brock University offers North America’s only degree cool-climate grape growing and winemaking and entrepreneurial programs for students.  read more »