OAC Strategic Plan 2008-2013
Connections and creativity: A vision for the arts and the people of Ontario
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Strategic Plan
WHO WE ARE, WHAT WE DO
The Ontario Arts Council (OAC) is guided by the far-seeing mandate it was given in 1963 – to foster the creation and production of art for the benefit of all Ontarians. Although our priorities have evolved over the years, the OAC has always played a leading role in developing and sustaining Ontario’s arts sector and in initiating opportunities so all Ontarians have access to the arts.
Although many programs are organized primarily by artistic discipline – craft, dance, literature, music, theatre, media and visual arts – others are organized by sectors – Franco-Ontarian arts and Aboriginal arts. Some programs focus on particular kinds of arts activity – arts education, community and multidisciplinary arts, touring, and the distribution/exhibition of artistic work. Still other programs have a particular goal, such as Access and Career Development, for artists who face systemic barriers; Compass, for arts organizations that want to increase their capacity-building and sustainability; or Northern Arts, which is specifically for artists and arts organizations based in Northern Ontario. OAC also administers the selection process for several privately funded awards, scholarships, grants and prizes.
The OAC develops its programs in response to the changing needs of artists and arts organizations in the province. In 2007–2008, the OAC funded 1,300 individual artists and 874 organizations through more than 50 programs. These grants supported artists and arts organizations in 252 communities across Ontario.
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OUR VISION
We believe that the arts contribute significantly to the quality of life, the cultural identity and social well-being, as well as the economic prosperity, of Ontario’s people and communities.
We envision an Ontario where:
- The lives, careers and work of individual artists flourish.
- Arts organizations are creative, viable and healthy.
- People of all ages and in all regions actively engage and participate in the arts.
- Aboriginal, francophone, culturally diverse, new-generation and regional artists and arts organizations are recognized for the value they provide to all of Ontario’s people, cultures and creative sectors.
- The creativity, innovation and excellence of Ontario’s artists and arts organizations in all their diversity are seen and acclaimed locally, nationally and internationally.
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INTRODUCTION
Our previous plan, Stability and Strength, contributed to the success of the arts community in achieving just that – a degree of stability and strength. Our new plan, Connections and Creativity, will guide us as we build on existing strategies to make our new vision a reality.
We launch our new plan with more resources. In March 2007, the Ontario government announced a $15 million increase to OAC’s base funding over three years. This increase was followed a year later by an additional $5 million, which will bring the government’s total annual investment in the Ontario Arts Council to almost $60 million by 2009/2010.
We are strengthening OAC’s capacities to support the arts in this province to reflect our vision. The following strategies, grouped under three main themes, emerged from our community consultations, interviews, and staff discussions. These strategies will guide our work for the next five years. Each year we will evaluate our progress in accomplishing these strategies.
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THEMES AND STRATEGIES
Build Connections
The OAC will take a greater role in advocating for the arts and in building connections that advance Ontario’s artists and arts organizations.
Strategies
- Seek partnerships between the arts and other sectors, including education, social services, health, tourism and business.
- Build stronger relationships with communities, municipalities, and provincial and federal governments to leverage support for Ontario artists and arts organizations.
- Build relationships with Aboriginal band and tribal councils, agencies, elders and community leaders to increase the support, viability and recognition of Aboriginal artists and organizations.
- Support artists and arts organizations to build actively engaged audiences who reflect the changing generational and cultural demographics of Ontario.
- Work with partners, including arts service organizations, to improve services to artists and arts organizations.
- Share research to advocate for the value of the arts in people’s lives.
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Increase Investment and Support
Our increased provincial funding allows OAC to bolster investment and support in many important areas.
Strategies
- Increase investment in arts education in schools and communities through artists’ residencies, youth arts and other initiatives.
- Increase investment in provincial, national and international touring, dissemination, residencies and other opportunities.
- Increase support to individual artists through funding, services and professional development.
- Increase support to arts organizations through funding, services and organizational development.
- Increase support to emerging and new generations of artists and arts organizations.
Improve Outreach and Access
Inclusiveness means ensuring that all Ontarians have equal access to the OAC’s programs, resources, and services.
Strategies
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Develop a province-wide outreach plan for artists and arts organizations to improve their access to OAC programs, resources and services.
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Support local, regional and rural arts activities through programs and partnerships.
- Increase funding to Aboriginal, francophone, culturally diverse and regional artists and arts organizations.
- Make the application process more user-friendly.
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CONTEXT
- Today Ontario, with 13 million people, is Canada’s most populous and culturally diverse province and home to vibrant francophone and Aboriginal communities. Half of all immigrants to Canada between 2001 and 2006 settled in Ontario. In the 2006 census, Ontarians reported more than 200 ethnic origins, and 2.7 million Ontarians identified themselves as a member of a visible minority.
- This number represents more than half of Canada’s total 5.1 million visible minorities. Almost a quarter of a million people in Ontario are Aboriginal. Of that number 62 per cent live in urban areas. Ontario’s francophone population is the second largest in North America, and of Canadian francophones who don’t reside in Quebec, more than half live in Ontario. According to the 2001 census, Ontario has more than 52,000 professional artists.
- Ontario’s cultural sector accounts for $20 billion in economic activity; that’s 4.2 per cent of the province’s GDP. (Stats Canada 2003)
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- OAC’s vision of the arts in Ontario is inclusive and reflects our continued commitment to create innovative programs for all Ontarians. There are more than 52,000 professional artists in Ontario. These artists and arts organizations are based in communities large and small throughout the province, from Windsor to Cornwall, from Thunder Bay to Moose Factory. Toronto, with more artists than any other Canadian city, is one of North America’s major arts centres. Artists and arts organizations contribute immeasurably to the quality of life in their communities and across Ontario, as well as nationally and internationally.
- Over the past forty-five years, the province’s arts infrastructure has been built by arts organizations that today are the backbone of Ontario’s increasingly multi-faceted arts community. Ontario’s artists carry Canada’s standard throughout the world and bring visibility to the vital arts activity that has been nurtured here.
- Ontario’s arts organizations and the gifted individuals who work with them create, produce and present art. Many have integrated arts education into their activities, introducing young people to the transformative power of art. Some of these young people, inspired by Ontario’s dynamic mix of cultures and languages and by the possibilities of new media, go on to create exciting new art forms and arts practices.
- Ontario’s arts scene is shaped by extraordinary cultural diversity. The continuous flow of people moving to Ontario from other parts of Canada, and from countries around the world, infuses our province’s arts with fresh energy and ideas. These influences invigorate an already vibrant arts scene, as world cultures shape arts forms, from hip hop and opera, bhangra and ballet, klezmer and kathak, samba, salsa, dub poetry, tabla, animation, Aboriginal beading and porcupine quill work – and a host of others.
- While the historical legacy of colonization has created social and economic challenges unique to Aboriginal peoples, there has been strong artistic growth in Aboriginal communities in the past few decades. With wider recognition of both traditional and contemporary Aboriginal art forms, Canadians are just beginning to recognize the extraordinary contributions of Aboriginal artists to our cultural landscape.
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- Aboriginal art makers – members of the youngest and fastest-growing population in Ontario – are making important contributions to the arts in this province. Almost a quarter of a million Aboriginal people – the largest Aboriginal community in the country – live in Ontario, and 62 per cent of them live in urban areas. Art making traditions are woven into the fabric of Aboriginal societies and reflect the significant diversity within them.
- For many francophones, the arts are a critical link between language and cultural identity, and Ontario’s francophone artists are deeply valued by their communities. More than half the Canadian francophones outside Québec live in Ontario. Ontario’s francophone population is the second largest in North America, is culturally diverse, and includes people from countries all over the French-speaking world. Francophone people and communities are dispersed throughout Ontario, so fundraising and audience development are significant challenges for francophone artists and arts organizations.
- Artists in Northern Ontario are strongly attached to their communities, and their art is powerfully shaped by a strong connection to the land. At the same time, artists and arts organizations in the North face particular challenges, for example higher costs for equipment, material, and travel; less access to non¬government sources of revenue; and fewer opportunities for professional development.
- The OAC creates innovative programs to support intercultural and intergenerational artistic collaboration, and ensures that the artistic voice and creative expression of all Ontario’s many cultural communities are heard.
- Our challenge is to make OAC’s programs more accessible and inclusive to artists and arts organizations throughout the province. The OAC recognizes that artists who have felt excluded or marginalized by systemic barriers and regional disparities sometimes require additional support in order to connect with other artists, reach audiences, and be assured that public funders recognize their art forms and practices.
- The OAC has been doing more outreach to improve access and to make artists from all regions and cultural communities aware of our programs. We have also increased the cultural and regional diversity of OAC juries and assessment panels, so that our decision-making includes a broader perspective.
- The OAC is launching this new strategic plan in a spirit of celebration. Through the arts, we deepen our understanding of ourselves and of each other. Just as the creative process of artists is enriched by the synergy of intercultural collaboration, all Ontarians can enjoy the benefits of an arts scene that includes everyone’s voices and stories, where we all can experience the infinite possibilities of creative expression.
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STRATEGIC PLANNING PROCESS
- As part of the strategic planning process, the OAC consulted with more than 500 people across the province in numerous community consultation sessions and one-on-one interviews. Because we know that the arts are an important part of a community’s well-being, we also spoke to people who work with new immigrants, to people in social services, education and health, and to representatives of other government agencies or not-for-profit sectors.
- We worked with three consultants. Nanibush Innovations conducted sessions in Thunder Bay, Sioux Lookout and other Northern and Aboriginal communities; Equinox facilitated our French-language sessions; and DECODE facilitated 15 other sessions in small and large urban centres including Sudbury, Windsor and Toronto.
- An OAC staff and board member observed every session. Once the consultants’ reports were translated and posted on the OAC website (where they will remain for the first year of the plan), the community was given a month to respond to major themes identified by the consultants.
- Our many discussions were rich with information about the realities and needs facing artists and arts organizations everywhere in Ontario. While important and wide-ranging, they sometimes addressed issues that are not necessarily within the scope of OAC’s mandate.
- This strategic plan is the result of that process, and will guide the OAC’s activities for the next five years.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We thank Samir Khan and Robert Barnard (DECODE), Michel Rodrigue (Equinox), Wanda Nanibush (Nanibush Innovations), William Moore and Jerry Yoshitomi for their invaluable contributions and enthusiasm for this long and complex process. We also acknowledge all the arts community members who took the time to come and talk to us about their deeply-felt hopes and concerns. We thank those representatives of non-arts sectors who spoke to us and recognized the opportunities that could emerge from stronger ties to the arts. Thanks also go to OAC’s board and staff, whose energy, passion and commitment to this process resulted in the creation of what we believe is a powerful vision for the future.
Credits
Writers: Kirsten Gunter and Erica Simmons
Translation: Tsipora Lior
Revision: Michel Gabrini
Copy-editing (English): Edna Barker
Design: Tariq Sami, Histrionics
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