The Strategies for Creative Cities Project, launched in December of 2004, was funded by the Ontario Ministries of Economic Development and Trade (now the Ministry of Research and Innovation), and Culture, as well as the Economic Development and Culture Divisions of the City of Toronto. The project was undertaken collaboratively with the London Development Agency and
Graeme Evans, Director of the Cities Institute, London Metropolitan University, UK.

Led by Meric Gertler of the University of Toronto, the Toronto component of this project set out to:
— Learn how cities around the world are harnessing creativity to enhance their quality of place, innovative capacity, economic health and social inclusion.
— Develop a strategy to stimulate Toronto’s creative economy, nurture and grow its creative assets and leverage those assets for economic and social development.

The project proceeded in three phases:
— Phase I: Identify and evaluate the key levers used internationally to nurture creative activity for economic and social benefits in cities (desk research).
— Phase II: Analyze and evaluate the strategies pursued by six cities (three in Europe, three in North America), asking what Toronto can learn from abroad (field research).
— Phase III: Develop a strategy to stimulate and support creative activity in Toronto and thus improve the city both economically and socially.

A novel feature of this project was the central role of the Strategies for Creative Cities Leadership Team, a group of creative industry leaders drawn from the arts, educational, non-profit, community-based and business organizations (see list of members on page 2). This team played a triple role as advisors, participants in the research discovery process and collaborators in strategy development.