GEOG 346: Day 6 Arts, Culture, and Place-making

Housekeeping Items  The deadline for WDCAG abstracts has been extended until February 1st, 2012 at midnight. Check out for more information!  Jino Distasio from U. Winnipeg will be speaking on homelessness in Matt’s class in 243 at noon. All are welcome.  We’ll finish the last few minutes of the film from last time.  Reminder that the outlines are due in class a week from today.  Jan Barham, mayor of Byron Shire, Australia’s first Green mayor, has been promoting economic localization (see guide.com.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=56&Itemid=58 ). guide.com.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=56&Itemid=58  I dug up some stats from the Nanaimo Economic Office report. Unfortunately, they don’t show a long enough span of time to get a sense of major shifts.  For the rest of the class after the film, and any discussion, we’ll start in on the topic of the role of arts and culture, and the importance of place-making in urban and regional management.

Stats from Economic Development Office Report  p. 26  p. 28  p  p. 54

Arts, Culture, and Place-Making  One of the sectors of the economy that has grown enormously is the arts and culture sector. According to the Canadian Council for the Arts, in in 2007, the economic footprint of Canada's cultural sector was $84.6 billion or 7.4 percent of Canada's gross domestic product. Even though it receives limited support from government, it has considerable multiplier effects. For every dollar invested by the provincial government, there is a return of $1.36. The average provincial expenditure on the arts in Canada is $26 per capita; in B.C. it is $6.50. At the municipal level, the multiplier effect is between $7 and $13.  A healthy arts and culture sector is one of the factors that attracts members of the creative class, while making life richer for the rest of us. What would your assessment be of the relative richness of the arts and culture scene in Nanaimo – including in relation to its size?

Arts, Culture, and Place-Making  In the final analysis, is the presence of an arts and culture scene all that important? What aspects are most important to you? Can we perhaps get everything we need off cable or the Internet?  There are numerous cases of artists and activists using the arts to heal or revive a community. Here is a sampling:  City Repair in Portland;  Mosaic Creek Park in Vancouver;  Beckoning Cistern in Seattle;  Heidelberg Project n Detroit;  Other?

Arts, Culture, and Place-Making Heidelberg Project, Detroit Beckoning Cistern, Seattle

Places vs. Spaces  If we are going to build a sustainable society, we need to be able to inspire people, not create environments that program them to be consuming robots.  A genuine place does not maximize profits, facilitate the passage of cars, facilitate maximum consumption, or alienate people from nature. It minimizes ecological impacts and even heals the human-nature divide, serves people not cars (the “8/80 principle”), is beautiful, and helps build community and civic engagement.

Places vs. Spaces