Vaughan sets stage for cultural hub status

'A lot of exciting things happening in Vaughan in terms of arts and culture'

Yorkregion.com
Aug. 21, 2023
Brian Capitao

The City of Vaughan is looking to leverage the McMichael Canadian Art Collection and other creative assets to build out the city as a cultural hub, and its new downtown planned at the Vaughan Metropolitan Centre (VMC) will play a significant role.

The city’s involvement with the Ontario Culture Days Festival is but one example of officials building on a promise to make the city a centre for arts and culture. The three-week festival will run across the province between Sept. 22 and Oct. 15.

Dailyn Martinez, owner of the dance company ShumdeSalsa, talks about her experience with Ontario Culture Days in Vaughan last year.

Martinez said she was tapped by the organizer of the Dance Together Festival to “showcase the multiculturalism of the city.”

The city was quite supportive, according to Martinez, who says she was offered tech support, rehearsal space for two days and promotion for the event.

“The acceptance of the city to open (their) minds and try a different style and experience a different culture was amazing,” said Martinez.

Martinez noted Vaughan’s growing arts and culture scene, and how the city was open to working with different people and cultures.

Now, after years of participating in Culture Days and winning the notable People’s Choice Award last year for its Sister in Spirits vigil, Vaughan will now be a festival hub for the first time this year.

“We highlight communities throughout the province called festival hubs, and the hub concept is essentially a collection of activities in one situated area, whether it be a small town or a more urban centre,” said Kaitlyn Patience, sponsorships and programs manager at Ontario Culture Days.

“Vaughan was nominated for a number of categories, and I believe they actually ended up winning two. And so, I knew that there was a lot of exciting things happening in Vaughan in terms of arts and culture,” said Patience.

Ontario Culture Days and programs like it are an opportunity for the city to leave an impression as it continues to mature.

“This is a unique opportunity to continue to foster cultural understanding and promote inclusivity, all while exploring various forms of art, music, dance and literature in Vaughan,” said Anita Micoli-Falcone, recreation supervisor, for events at the City of Vaughan.

Just this past year, the City of Vaughan signed a memorandum of understanding with the McMichael Canadian Art Collection to leverage the space for programming, events and cultural experiences.

The creative and cultural industries have been identified by city council as pivotal for economic growth, according to March’s 2023 committee of the whole report.

Inside the white paper titled, “Partnership to Advance Vaughan’s Creative Industries,” it details how the Vaughan economic and development team see digitization in creative industries playing a key role in economic prosperity.

The paper also states, “cities can secure long-term economic growth by developing cultural amenities, which attract business and young ‘wealth creators’” and “cities with high density of creative activity and cultural amenities become highly attractive to educated, ambitious and energetic young people ...”

In an email response, a spokesperson for the City of Vaughan said, “council endorsed a hub-and-spoke model for the development of a cultural arts centre anchored in the Vaughan Metropolitan Centre,” back in 2022.

In addition to supporting the McMichael, the City of Vaughan is also looking to leverage the Vaughan International Film Festival (VFF). The City of Vaughan also signed a memorandum of understanding with them and are exploring the option of supporting the McMichael and VFF with various funding and grant applications with other levels of government.

The City of Vaughan will enter Phase 2 of its implementation strategy this fall, according to a City of Vaughan spokesperson.

“The proposed Phase 2 implementation strategy includes the creation of multiple, distinct, but connected spaces for arts and culture throughout Vaughan,” they said.