Montréal deserves its title as an international cultural destination. Ten years after adopting its first culture action plan, Montréal is now working on a new cultural strategy. In our brief submitted to the Commission sur la culture, le patrimoine et les sports of the Ville de Montréal, we made the following three suggestions to help Montréal keep its cultural status.
Develop demand for culture
Montréal residents in general and creatives in particular would benefit from public policies to develop cultural demand. A lot of work has been done in the past ten years to support the cultural output of our creative minds. Unfortunately, public demand hasn’t always kept up. We need to invest in local cultural production that fits with Montrealers’ everyday lives through the development of cultural districts. Local businesses and commercial development corporations can play a big role in spreading culture throughout every sector of the city.
The city's policy should help our cultural products reach new audiences outside Montréal. There should also be a focus on Quebeckers from other regions as well as international tourists, which are two client types we struggle to attract outside the high season. We need to keep building on the yearly momentum from our festival season, grow diverse cultural offerings throughout the year, and ensure that these products raise our profile internationally.
Strengthen cultural development with critical masses
The city's cultural policy must also lead to critical masses and encourage the sharing of resources and infrastructure. The culture industry is known for its high level of fragmentation. Consolidating the industry would let smaller players reach a wider audience, offer a better-quality product, access international markets, and live more comfortably from their art.
The culture sector must also take full advantage of the digital space to both deliver products and secure funding. The Chamber also suggests that a portal be created to centralize information about crowdfunding campaigns to widen the pool of potential investors, particularly for smaller organizations. The goal isn’t to replace current crowdfunding sites but instead to better promote Montréal initiatives to a wider Quebec audience.
Stimulate partnerships with and between creative industries
The private sector must continue to play a significant role in supporting culture. This is why we recommend maintaining a platform for dialogue on the cultural sector to bring representatives from the public and private sectors around the same table. We also believe that the city’s next cultural policy should expand collaboration between artists and creative industries. More cooperation between artists from the city’s creative core and digital companies could lead to profitable partnerships.
By following these three suggestions, the city could create a policy that would cement Montréal’s status as a place where culture happens 360 degrees around us, 365 days a year.
Consult the Chamber’s brief by clicking here.