shot from the hip

last week i had the honour of attending a media event at the centre for social innovation, co-organized by cultural policy consultant and dear friend mark kuznicki. the event was in recognition of the ontario trillium foundation’s recent $230,500 grant to launch a new project with the municipal cultural planning partnership that intends to impact local creative communities over the next two years. ontario minister of culture caroline di cocco was present to announce the grant and offer her support.

this project intends to unify and bolster cultural development and programming through municipal cultural planning – leveraging present resources and identifying new ones by encouraging collaboration between organizations, community leaders and government, and by developing cultural policy infrastructures that recognizes the unique needs and goals of local creative communities. this will happen through cultural planning forums, workshops, and by developing community-driven initiatives, focusing on five key areas – local capacity building, communications and advocacy, knowledge building and sharing, public policy environments, and finally organization and governance.

i’m looking forward to seeing how this unfolds over the next 2 years – and am hopeful that the project will affect and inspire communities at the heart.