Room to Grow

Mississauga’s creative industries strategy

NRU
Sept. 14, 2016
By Leah Wong

Recognizing the economic and social benefits of a strong creative sector, Mississauga is trying to capitalize on Ontario’s success with a strategy to support and grow creative industries in the city.

Last week Mississauga’s general committee endorsed a draft strategy to drive growth and development in its creative sectors. The strategy focuses on three creative industries - film and television, live music and interactive digital media - with the greatest potential for growth.

In addition to the economic development benefits, having a vibrant creative sector is important for attracting a skilled, knowledge-based workforce. Creative industries strategy project manager Carmen Ford told NRU that the creative sector is an important part of a vibrant community where people want to live and businesses want to locate.

“One of the things creative industries do is help retain talent. Not just creative talent, but also that knowledge-based younger workforce that drives tech and innovation,” said Ford. She added that businesses want to locate in areas where the workforce wants to live and work.

Mississauga Arts Council executive director Mike Douglas told NRU he sees the strategy as a way to develop economic opportunities for creative people to make a living in Mississauga.

“The upside of that will be a shift in our perception of ourselves, as a more creative city, and the way we are seen by ... external audiences that will come to see Mississauga as an innovative home to the arts.”

Ford said that Mississauga is well positioned geographically, being located between Kitchener-
Waterloo’s information communications technology hub and Toronto’s creative cultural centre. Rather than competing with these other jurisdictions, Ford says there is room for Mississauga to define itself as a creative hub.

“Proximity is Mississauga’s biggest advantage,” said Ford. “And we’re going to use that proximity to our advantage.”

This advantage is seen in the film and television industry. When production companies go to Toronto for location shoots they look for locations across the GTA, not just in Toronto. Mississauga created its fi lm and television office about 14 years ago to streamline the permit process for production companies looking to fi lm in the city.

While Mississauga’s proximity to Toronto is beneficial, it also creates limitations. Consultants Peter Miller, Caroline Parkinson, David Keeble and Michelle McIver highlight in the strategy that the city will likely only be able to attract certain creative workers and creative industry companies.

Though Mississauga already has a strong fi lm and television industry, the consultants said there is room to grow. As location shooting in Toronto becomes more saturated there will be more opportunities for Mississauga. They recommend removing by-law and policy restrictions that limit location filming as a way to attract more shootings to the city. Given the number of under-utilized warehouses in the city there is also an opportunity to expand the city’s studio space and grow the industry.

To expand opportunities in film and television the city needs to connect local industry members, said Douglas. The Mississauga Arts Council is starting to develop these relationships through its recently formed Mississauga Film and Video Association. Douglas said there are a lot of talented and skilled people that work in this field and live in Mississauga, but they haven’t had an organization that brings them together before.

The city also sees opportunities to grow its live music industry. As the recording industry struggles live music has become a more significant source of revenue for musicians.

“We have three strong hubs for live music - city centre, Streetsville and Port Credit. We have a good base to build on,” said Ford. “The live music industry in the province is growing by leaps and bounds ... Live music seems to be taking off again.”

While there is a strong live music sector in Mississauga already, Ford said the city needs to identify more mediumsized venues to further expand the industry. She said these venues already exist, but connections haven’t been made between the venue owners and concert organizers.

Interactive digital media - including games, mobile apps and e-learning - is a rapidly growing sector with lots of potential. In Mississauga the base is there, with more than 40 interactive digital media businesses located in the city. Through the strategy Mississauga can position itself as an innovative, digital and creative city by making strategic investments in this sector.

Council will consider the strategy at its meeting later today. If approved, staff will request $40,000 in the 2017 and 2018 operating budgets to implement the strategy.