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Background
The Creative City Workprint lays out the facts about the current state of the arts, culture, and heritage in Toronto, and looks toward opening a public discussion on the development of Toronto as the Creative City of the future, one of a select group of leading international cultural centres.

Toronto: The Creative City
To date, Toronto's cultural development has given it a competitive advantage in the global marketplace - but long-term success is not assured. The opportunities are great, but the challenges to overcome are real.

The Workprint identifies the following major cultural challenges, and the questions arising from them:

Asset rich but cash poor
Since the last recession, the City and the cultural community have been starved for cash, deferring maintenance on cultural facilities.

The City of Toronto owns 78 cultural facilities. When combined with those owned by the non-profit and private sectors, they provide the venues that have allowed the performing arts to grow and flourish. Many of these venues, however, are in a poor state of repair and neither the City nor the non-profit theatre companies have the funds to fix them. When the resources cannot be found to fix the facilities that already exist, how can the City find the resources that are needed for future growth and change?

The public's art
Public art, or art that is the public realm, is a crucial aspect of The Creative City - through the compelling redesign of public squares, fountains, amenities, landmark structures, we can revitalize the way we interact and change the way the world sees us.

The streets of Toronto contain an important collection of public art. Great art in public places is a strong statement from the City to its citizens and the world that it values and celebrates creativity. The private sector and the community are willing to join the City in a public art partnership, but the City has to make its commitment clear. How can the City use its capital initiatives to provide leadership for this public art partnership?

On the edge: the cost of cutting
New York spends $63 per person every year on culture. Vancouver, which is half our size, spends $21 per person. Toronto spends on culture the equivalent of six adult subway tokens per person, or $11 per capita a year.

Cutbacks by all governments over the last decade have left cultural organizations close to the edge. An increase in private sector support has not replaced this lost income and the withdrawal of tobacco sponsorship money will only make the situation worse. Toronto's major competitor cities invest much more per capita in culture. How can the City bridge this gap when funding is tight for all City services?

Preserving the past: supporting the future
The more we intelligently preserve what we came from, the greater the sense of our local identity and particularity. Creative use of the structures of the past will set the framework for the whole Creative City.

The Creative City finds inspiration by preserving and understanding its past and by nurturing those things that make it truly unique. But the City does not have the power to stop the destruction of heritage properties that it does not own. How does the City find the right mix of incentives so that heritage preservation makes economic sense?

Telling the Toronto story
New ethnocultural communities are determined to be included in the city's presentation of its own history. We need to create a forum where the Toronto story is told.

Toronto needs to tell its diverse and complex story in a compelling way. Toronto's museums tell the story of the city in the nineteenth century, but the twentieth century represents Toronto's true coming of age. As Toronto prepares to redefine its waterfront, can it find a way to make the telling of the Toronto story our invitation to the world?

Selling Toronto to ourselves and the world
We have to make great things happen first, and that means our creative community needs more and better resources. As the New York Times said, "People expect to be wowed." No amount of marketing can attract audiences to productions or venues that are not worth visiting.

During the past decade, Toronto enjoyed a strong period as a desirable tourist destination. As investment into arts and culture in Toronto has slipped in recent years, Toronto's competitor cities have caught up. Toronto needs to find a way to both reenergize its cultural tourist attractions and to market them to the world. Where can Toronto find new sources of revenue to support this vital economic activity?

Next steps
All these questions really boil down to one: how do we transform ourselves into a productive, creative, attractive global city with a sharply delineated, vital identity?

The Creative City Workprint raises these questions and others about Toronto's cultural future. The City of Toronto Culture Plan will propose specific actions to build and nurture the Creative City. We need your help to shape them.

During 2001, Toronto Culture will seek out your views, but please don't wait for us to call you. If you have ideas, comments or suggestions, please send them to us:

Contact Info:

e-mail: culture@toronto.ca
fax: 416-392-3355,
attention: Culture Plan
mail: Toronto Culture
Metro Hall
55 John Street, 24th Floor
Toronto, Ontario M5V 3C6