Draft Arts Strategy - Consultation Document. Executive Summary The arts are vital to creating a vibrant and innovative city. The arts contribute to the wellbeing of a city by the creation of exciting cultural and artistic initiatives and through the contributions made by the creative industries, developing new skills and stimulating economic activity with new and challenging ways of seeing and doing. A vibrant city is a healthy city, as it challenges and stimulates its communities in a wide range of ways, creating interesting destinations, exciting events and developing the social capital of its communities. The Arts Strategy 2008 is the result of a process of revising and updating the 2003 Arts Policy document. It sets the vision and framework for the provision and direction of Council-supported arts initiatives across the city, from dedicated arts facilities and events, to working with third party providers in order to support the growth and development of the creative industries across the city. The Arts Strategy 2008 is driven by the community consultation undertaken in 2005, when establishing the set of Community Outcomes which give direction to the Council’s Long Term Plan, the City Plan 2006 -2016. These outcomes express the community’s hopes and aspirations for the future, and the current Arts Strategy is a direct response to them. In addition, the Arts Strategy acknowledges and builds on the levels of service already provided to the community through a wide range of initiatives, some community-based and some Council-driven; Community Arts facilities, Community Coordinators, Libraries, Parks, Events, Community Boards, and various urban development projects.
These changes are accompanied by the increased desire for more attractive public open spaces with greater flexibility of use, an increase in demand on existing facilities, a greater interest in local and city-wide cultural events that brand the city as innovative and inclusive, and improved equity of access to arts and cultural amenities across the city. In response to these drivers, the Arts Strategy identifies some key outcomes for the Arts sector focused around community participation, city promotion, cultural diversity, and economic, community and amenity development. The Arts Strategy sets out four key objectives to meet these outcomes:
A number of actions or implementation mechanisms, for achieving each objective are identified. Some of these actions include:
The Arts Strategy 2008 will operate along side other Community Services Strategies, such as the Parks, Libraries and Events Strategies, and the future Youth Strategy. Although the North Shore City Council Arts Strategy, 2003 was implemented based on existing budgets, some key outcomes were progressed, including the employment of a dedicated Arts officer within the organisation and the development of a significant web-based arts portal in conjunction with several arts partners. However, a review of this document was required as a result of the adopted LTCCP (2006 -2016) and the associated Community Outcomes. Many of the issues informing the earlier policy are still pertinent to the current environment, and the local research that informed it has been included in the preparation of the current document, alongside a wide range of regional, national and international sector-based research. This research, combined with more recent consultation with sector stakeholders and the wider community has contributed to the creation of a well-supported, innovative and inclusive Arts Strategy for North Shore City.
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As well as the creative and cultural aspirations of the community identified in the City Plan, the Strategy is also a response to some of the evolving trends in society which have lead to significant changes in the growth patterns of the city. New centres are being created and there is a gradual move away from urban expansion towards the redevelopment and intensification of occupancy around existing centres.