Vancouver's Creative City Task Force | Culture Plan for Vancouver

Wow! The City of Vancouver has a Culture Plan for Vancouver 2008-2018! Having only recently stumbled into the local scene of political and social issues, the first assault came from the Strathcona Arts Community being affected by the loss of studio space as developers level old structures for new condos. Prior to that, news of the Culture Crawl made Strathcona quaint and wonderful, then vandalism tainted the soup and editorial stew spewed forth.

Now with the Save 901 Main Street issue, we have a Facebook Cause, a Petition Online to be signed, and online discussions to rally the troops. Continuing this role of disseminating information to local communities, invitations to city meetings, planning and work groups, and the occasional resident's association have yielded more news, more information, more history, and more involved parties.

Having discovered a segment of the City of Vancouver Planning Department devoted to Heritage Planning, new information demonstrates that the slow wheels of change are in motion. In Mount Pleasant, a Heritage Working Group is evaluating city planning processes in light of the Mount Pleasant community and along the way defining heritage beyond physical structures and incorporating more intangibles such as the Arts, a look & feel of a neighbourhood, block, or organization. There is still much uncertainty communicated in the meetings as this new venture of joint-planning-processes unfolds and the lines-in-the-sand begin to reveal what is truly important, where there is flexibility, and where there is compromise.

Have a look at the City of Vancouver's Culture Plan for 2008-2018 and decide how you can best be involved in constructive ways that move the agenda forward for everyone. I'm all for living up to the idea that Vancouver can be a livable city.

Links:
Strathcona Arts Pages
Facebook Cause
Georgia Straight reports loss of studio space
Save 901 Main Street
Petition Online
City of Vancouver's Culture Plan for 2008-2018
Mount Pleasant Heritage Working Group