Community Plan

While we were creating the Community Plan with hundreds of voices from across Guelph, we hosted an Arts and Culture sector workshop on December 18, 2018. This work contributed to the foundation of the culture plan to come.

There we heard that the arts and culture scene in Guelph inspires people to become residents of this great community.

• Art is extremely important to communities.
• It breaks down barriers, creates safe places to explore and express yourself and brings community together.
• “Art is not a beautifying element—it is core to the success of a vibrant and growing community as well as an economic driver.”
• Funding is the major barrier/obstacle for most arts and culture organizations.
• Arts and culture builds bridges across all generations.

We also heard about gaps and barriers getting in the way of the arts and culture community achieving success, including funding, connectivity and partnerships, supports and facilities. We also heard need for a strategic plan for culture.

Then what happened?

Over the course of the pandemic, engagement on the culture plan occurred as sub-conversations as we worked on in a number of other projects including the Central Library in the Baker District development and the Parks and Recreation Master Plan.

Create, Play and Stay

In 2022, we teamed up with Tourism and Economic Development to explore where culture and creative industry fit into the landscape of a thriving network of businesses and opportunities that attract people to our city.

Here we hosted further conversations with leaders in the culture industry and online engagement for the broader community to explore:

• What’s working well already
• What are our weaknesses
• What are our primary cultural assets
• What Guelph could look like in 10 years
• Partnership, and
• Community priorities

What now?

And now we’re back to fill in some gaps in what we’ve heard and who we reached in earlier engagement activities, and to dig a little deeper and understand what may have changed over the course of the last five years.