OTTAWA 20/20 ARTS AND HERITAGE PLAN RENEWAL

(City of Ottawa Culture Plan Renewal)

STEERING COMMITTEE

TERMS OF REFERENCE

January 25, 2010

Arts and Heritage Services

Parks, Recreation and Culture Department
City Operations
City of Ottawa
1
Background

Council Direction
In April 2003, City Council adopted the Ottawa 20/20 Arts and Heritage Plan (AHP), within the broader
context of the Ottawa 20/20 initiative. The basic premise of Ottawa 20/20 was to balance social,
environmental, cultural and economic agendas so that Ottawa could grow in a way that served current
residents while being responsible to future generations.

The Ottawa 20/20 Arts and Heritage Plan was one among five Council-approved growth management
plans. Together with the Economic Strategy, the Environmental Strategy, the Human Services Plan, and
the Official Plan, the Arts and Heritage Plan provided long-term strategic direction and formed a
comprehensive blueprint for the future of Ottawa and its communities.

The Ottawa 20/20 Arts and Heritage Plan included strategic directions, policy statements and specific
actions. A detailed 5-year action plan (2003-2008) was approved along with medium and longer-term
actions. The Arts and Heritage Plan was to be reviewed and renewed for relevancy every five years.

Ottawa 20/20 Arts and Heritage Plan Five-Year Report

A five-year Ottawa 20/20 Arts and Heritage Plan report will identify accomplishments, indicate ongoing
gaps and needs, report on various cultural indicators and outline additional relevant issues following the
first five years of AHP implementation (2003 to 2008). Work currently underway (2009 to 2011) will
also be summarized.

Planning Connections

Choosing Our Future

Choosing our Future is an innovative joint planning initiative of the City of Ottawa, the City of
Gatineau, and the National Capital Commission. The goal of this multi-year project is to help Canada’s
Capital Region face the challenges of the 21st century, and integrate concepts of sustainability and
resiliency into all facets of regional planning and design.

Choosing our Future will produce a 100-year long vision and strategic directions for the next 30 years.
“Culture and Identity” is rooted as one theme within this planning initiative and a related foundation
paper has been produced in partnership with municipal cultural personnel. This high-level, long-term
planning initiative will provide ongoing connection and overall framework for the Ottawa 20/20 Arts
and Heritage Plan renewal.

Economic Strategy
The Ottawa 20/20 Economic Strategy renewal was launched in October 2009 with a tabling of a
strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis of the city’s economy and its
prospects for the future. “Increasing the City’s interface with the arts, culture, science and technology
sectors” was one area identified as needing further exploration as part of a refreshed economic strategy.
This will ensure ongoing connection and collaboration between culture and economic spheres.

Environmental Strategy
The Ottawa 20/20 Environmental Strategy is currently in the process of being refreshed. Strong
connections exist between heritage and environmental agendas, in the areas of preservation,
conservation and cultural heritage landscapes. Connection between municipal cultural and
environmental personnel has been initiated, and further collaboration will be sought.
2
Parks and Recreation Master Plan
The City of Ottawa is in the process of developing a Parks and Recreation Master Plan that will provide
a new of principles and strategies to guide the delivery of recreation services for the next 10 to 20 years.
Culture in a city exists on a continuum that stretches from recreation/leisure to amateur to emerging to
professional non-profit to industry. All major Canadian cities deliver programs/services that address the
full cultural continuum, as does the Ottawa 20/20 Arts and Heritage Plan. Ongoing connections and
collaboration between culture and recreation spheres (recreation/leisure component of the continuum)
will be maintained.

Ottawa 20/20 Arts and Heritage Plan Renewal Process

A high-level Ottawa 20/20 Arts and Heritage Plan Renewal process has been crafted in partnership with
Ottawa’s local cultural community. The following are key points:

1. Municipal cultural staff and cultural community leaders will work in partnership throughout the
process.

2. A small, working team of municipal cultural staff rooted in various cultural practices will be
guided by a diverse, community steering committee.

3. Individuals that carry content expertise will collaborate to develop draft strategies/actions for the
next 5-year period (2011-2016).

4. Connected content individuals from other sectors will participate in the development of strategies
and actions.

5. The full and broad-based community will participate actively during the consultation process.

6. Connections to “Choosing Our Future”, the Economic Strategy, the Environmental Strategy and
the Parks and Recreation Master Plan will be maintained and nurtured throughout.

Municipal Cultural Planning and Mapping

Creativity and culture build local economies. Across Ontario, municipalities are turning to municipal
cultural planning (MCP) to support culture-led economic and community development. MCP is a tool
for identifying what is unique about a community and using it for economic prosperity and improved
quality of life.

Cultural mapping is widely recognized as an effective tool for development and planning. This method
of describing the resources and assets of a specific community and the relationships between them
promotes connectivity and community development.

The Ottawa 20/20 Arts and Heritage Plan Renewal process will employ cultural planning and cultural
mapping approaches/tools to implement a renewal that engages broader and wider collaboration. Youth,
media and grassroots engagement will be sought and nurtured. Visualization tools will be developed
and used for engagement and decision-making purposes. A renewed cultural performance measurement
approach and practice will be developed and launched.

3
Ottawa 20/20 Arts and Heritage Plan Renewal Steering Committee

The Parks, Recreation and Culture Services Branch has recommended the establishment of an Ottawa
20/20 Arts and Heritage Plan Renewal Steering Committee in the first half of 2010.

Parameters and Mandate

The Ottawa 20/20 Arts and Heritage Plan Renewal (Culture Plan Renewal) Steering Committee mandate
is for a term of 16 months, beginning in April 2010 and extending to August 2011. The Steering
Committee will:
1. champion and provide direction to the Ottawa 20/20 Arts and Heritage Plan Renewal
(Culture Plan Renewal);
2. provide high-level guidance, advice and support for the Renewal, as development and
consultation is carried out;
3. collaborate, challenge, debate, troubleshoot, resolve issues and provide clarification as
required;
4. identify gaps and assist in making links to the community, to other levels of government,
to the private sector, and to other agencies;
5. oversee the transition of the renewed Culture Plan into the City’s Strategic Plan, once
City Council direction has been given in June 2011.

Membership and Representation

The Steering Committee will be composed of twelve community leaders and a non-voting project
manager. A membership selection process will employ the following selection criteria:

Positioning and Productivity:

Leadership and/or leadership potential in the community;
Recognized expertise and productivity within a cultural field (emerging or established);
Awareness of and perspective on a broad range of cultural activity;
Engaged in the community in a multi-nodal manner (ie. carrying more than one connection point to
culture and/or connecting sector);
Communication capacity (positioned to communicate outwards and to receive communication)
 
Representation:
Representative of the cultural community he/she serves;
The representation screen includes the following:
Arts-heritage-festivals and disciplines within
Continuum of practice from amateur to professional
Geographic (rural, urban, suburban)
Age (youth, adult, senior)
Language (francophone and anglophone)
Gender
Diversity (racialized, indigenous, new Canadian)

Qualities:
Generous of spirit, trustworthy and open-minded;
Able to work collaboratively towards consensus in a group decision-making situation; and
Capacity to think and act strategically

4
Roles and Responsibilities

Chair
The Chair will act as facilitator and final authority for disposition of items. He/she will ensure that
meetings run according to schedule and that items considered by the Steering Committee have a clearly
defined decision or output. The Chair will be responsible for providing the Project Manager with clear
and concise direction for next steps, as a result of Steering Committee decisions taken. The Chair will
communicate with the appropriate staff from the Deputy City Manager’s Office.

Project Manager
The Project Manager will be responsible for managing the agenda and timeliness of Ottawa 20/20 Arts
and Heritage Plan Renewal deliverables. The Project Manager will work in collaboration with the
Working Team, and will provide a communication link between working team and steering committee.

Decision Making
The Steering Committee will operate on a consensus decision-making model wherever possible. Where
there is disagreement on a subject, the ‘voting members’ of the Committee will take a vote and the
working teams will pursue the direction of the majority. The Chair can, where deemed appropriate,
direct the Project Manager and working teams to pursue multiple options.

Frequency of Meetings
Meetings will be held monthly, subject to change at the discretion of the Steering Committee Chair.

Deliverables and Timeline

April to May 2010 - Development of White Paper

In February and March 2010, the Culture Plan Renewal working team will be carrying out interviews
with cultural community leaders, leaders from connected sectors, municipal senior management,
political leaders, and youth and grassroots leaders, to gather current priorities, issues and potential
solutions. These interviews will inform the development of a white paper (April 2010) that is intended
to float potential strategies, solutions and actions outward; in an attempt to seed and spark thought,
dialogue and discussion. Distribution will be broad, in order to ensure that a wide cross-section of
players can be engaged.

May to Summer 2010 - Expert Focus Groups

Based on potential strategies from the white paper, expert focus groups will gather and work together on
specific themes/thematic threads. "Content experts" will be drawn from the diverse cultural sector and
from connecting sectors. Specific focus groups designed to engage youth, grassroots, nightlife players,
media, new Canadians and indigenous peoples will be included. Professional facilitation will be
employed. Results from all focus groups will be integrated and reported on together.

Summer 2010 - Draft Plan

Results from all expert focus groups will inform the writing of a renewed draft Culture Plan, and
specifically a new 5-year action plan. Results from the youth, grassroots, media, nightlife, new
Canadian and indigenous peoples' focus groups will be integrated and will help to close gaps in
communication between emerging and established. This integration will also foster greater mutual
recognition of actors in the region, facilitate inter-sectoral organization and allow for wise decision-
making around draft plan direction. The draft plan will be distributed broadly in September 2010.

5
September 2010 to March 2011 - Broad Community Public Consultation
Based on the draft plan, a series of public meetings will be organized, in partnership with community
cultural umbrella organizations, to present the draft plan and to receive reactions, feedback and input.
Rural, suburban and urban consultation meetings will be planned. Opportunities for web-based
dialogue/input and social networking feedback will supplement direct meeting consultation.

March to June 2011 - Final Plan and Approval

The final plan will be informed by the public consultation period, and will seek Council approval in June
2011, immediately following the "Choosing Our Future" Council report. Visualization tools developed
for public engagement will be retooled to focus on political decision-makers.

June to August 2011 – Evaluation and Implementation Launch

Following Council direction, the Arts and Heritage Plan Renewal process will be evaluated and
implementation will be launched.