| The greatness of Toronto today can only be exceeded by the Toronto we imagine and create tomorrow. “The one responsibility a city has is the encouragement of the possibility of excellence. The extent to which it addresses this duty is how, in comparison to the great cities of the world, it will be judged. Excellence of education, excellence of health care, excellence of baseball, of public transportation, of commerce, of charity, of waterfront, excellence of art galleries, excellence of justice, excellence of opera — to name but a few of the impossible ambitions of a city that might aspire to greatness. It is not necessarily the city’s responsibility to achieve these goals, or to pay for them, but it is its job to make room for their possibility, and to celebrate when, against so many odds, that possibility becomes reality. That’s what cities are for.” David Macfarlane When Torontonians take cultural risks, the evidence suggests that the results are impressive. The $7 million restoration of The Carlu, a special events venue designated a National Historical Site, has seen the space returned to its 1930s glory to become one of Toronto’s most glamorous and distinctive venues. Similarly, the provocative architecture of OCAD’s new Sharp Centre for Design has made a well-deserved splash in the world of architecture and design.68 The Toronto International Film Festival and the International Festival of Authors have grown from shaky beginnings to earn a place amongst the premier events in their respective industries. The unique urban programming pioneered by CityTV is now admired and emulated by television stations around the world. Despite these impressive initiatives, Toronto remains largely risk-averse, charting a cautious course that limits the expression of our voice and vision as a creative city. Bold visions, daring projects and creative ‘firsts’ must be encouraged and celebrated. This encouragement must come from and also be offered to governments, agencies and enterprises. Toronto has plenty of bragging rights when it comes to creative and cultural achievements, but rarely exercises them. Humble, unassuming Toronto must overcome its hesitation to brag. It needs a more aggressive approach to tell and sell its remarkable creative story to its residents and to the world. Many of our creative assets have already moved into the spotlight under the City of Toronto’s ‘Live with Culture’ banner. The City has also recently launched its ‘face the arts’ recognition program to identify extraordinary individuals in the areas of community arts activism and other forms of creative expression – cultural mavericks who have enriched the life of the city.69 Recent provincial government moves to enhance Toronto’s creative reputation include a 2006 budget dedication of $49 million to support Ontario’s major cultural agencies and attractions. The Art Gallery of Ontario, Royal Ontario Museum, Canadian Opera Company, National Ballet School, Royal Conservatory of Music and Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art will all receive funding to help them realize their full economic potential as premier tourist attractions. Also, Premier Dalton McGuinty recently appointed a special advisor on the Future of the Greater Toronto Area and Creative Cities. Toronto needs to build on the success of such initiatives, broaden their scale and scope, and take the telling of the city’s story to the next level. Manchester achieved this by appointing a Creative Director whose job is to bring life to the creative expression of the city’s image.70 Another possibility would be to create the position of Toronto Publicist to promote the city both here at home and to the rest of the world. Embracing a culture of risk-taking and proudly proclaiming our creative story will help Torontonians to develop a proud vision of their city and the strong voice of a world-leading creative city. You can’t
enforce an attitude. You can’t legislate the human heart.
But, you can inspire it by an example of passion and risk-taking,
in an atmosphere in which passion and risk-taking can take place.
This is the job of the city at large, to understand that passion
and risk begin in daily encounter, on the canvas of everyday life. At the outset of this document, we framed an opportunity and a challenge now facing Toronto. The opportunity is to build on our already impressive assets and unique characteristics as a culturally diverse, socially harmonious, economically balanced and liveable place to enhance our position as a dynamic, attractive and globally-recognized creative city. The challenge stems from the increasingly aggressive strategic steps taken by competitor cities around the world to position themselves as creative economy leaders, at a time when the commitment to such actions in Toronto remains piecemeal, inconsistent, half-hearted and fragmented. By addressing the key opportunities identified in this report in a concerted, connected and strategic way, by engaging the energy, commitment, resources and ingenuity of a broad range of actors – public sector, private sector and non-profit alike – and by providing an appropriate level of funding to support these initiatives, this city-region is poised to become the dynamic centre of creativity and cultural expression imagined by the leaders whose letter introduced this strategy document. The time to act is now. |
