What Are Your Arts Space Needs?

To know where you’re going, you must first understand where you’re at. For this reason, Arts Habitat is working diligently to uncover the current status of arts space in Edmonton for creating change that is impactful and dynamic. The process we are embarking on is not only based on industry best practices, but we are researching and gathering information from artists, cultural industry workers, space managers, and organizations that live, perform, or work within Edmonton city limits. We have looked to other municipalities, such as Vancouver, Calgary, and Seattle, for examples of Cultural Infrastructure Plans they have created and spoken with those involved for advice and insight, as we look to create the first ever Culture Infrastructure Plan for Edmonton.

We must look at this from different angles to gain the full picture and there are a number of ways we will be collecting the data we believe is required for creating change.

Looking to the past to predict the future, we know that in 2016, Edmonton had one of the highest arts attendance rate percentages across Canada. From that data, we know that approximately 78% of our citizens attended an art performance. With the growth rate we have experienced since then, we know many more are using the City’s current arts infrastructure. Combined with the 76% growth rate of artists and cultural workers over Alberta’s past few years, and it is easy to see that the infrastructure we currently use may need improvements and/or additions to accommodate that growth. ((https://hillstrategies.com/resource/cultural-participation-provinces-cmas-2016/))

We have also identified the need to explore evaluation metrics and discuss critical dimensions in defining space from an Indigenous perspective and for this reason, we will continue to meet with our Indigenous Voices Circle. The Culture Infrastructure Plan will reflect and support the importance of Edmonton’s Indigenous communities’ principles, art, and cultural presence.

As outlined in Connections and Exchanges: A 10-year Plan to transform Arts and Heritage in Edmonton, Edmonton isn’t a finished city. We know there is room to create impactful, dynamic change in our cultural infrastructure as our city continues to grow. We believe that the Culture Infrastructure Plan we are building will be a resource and source of motivation to help this growth for years to come. As we work through identifying challenges, vulnerabilities, needs, and priorities for space, we are encouraged by other cities that have gone before us in creating such a plan.

Arts Habitat knows the importance of hearing from our arts community, and we encourage you to register your space needs as we lay the foundation for the discovery phase of our plan. We recognize all good things take time and energy, and as we embark on this long term project, we are excited as we look to the future.

Click here to register your space needs with Arts Habitat.