The ‘cultural sector’ is made up of many diverse arts organizations, artistic disciplines and creative enterprises. The sector is increasingly seen as a driver of the ‘creative economy’, as a key resource to help renew the vitality of communities, and as a pillar of sustainability. However, the conundrums that inhibit full participation by all creators and cultural workers have yet to be solved.
The BC Cultural Sector Development Council draws on the experience and knowledge of individuals (artists, arts managers & board members, directors, academics, entrepreneurs and economists, etc.) who are champions of economic development in the cultural sector.
The Council uses economic development as a 'lens' through which to view the sector, focusing on issues that affect its creative human capital and the infrastructure they navigate to participate sustainably in the economy, including the employers of cultural workers and the businesses that rely on their products and services.
The Council invites the participation of allies who reflect the diversity of the cultural sector. By bringing together individuals from the various creative sub-sectors and from regions around BC, our core representatives form a cross-section of groups which collectively have a stake in the success of our creative human capital: educators, employers, professional associations, unions, small business and members of the cultural labour force.
But what cuts across all of the sector is the single most important resource without which the sector could not produce its unique impact on our society: its creative people. The compulsion to create and express has provided us with a seemingly inexhaustible and self-renewing pool of talent that – at best – we have been able to take for granted. And at worst, we have actively neglected.
No longer is it in our best interest to do this. We must make sure that communities in B.C. are places that enable creative people to benefit fully from their contributions to the community and the economy.
What are the conditions that will make this possible, and what can be done to facilitate them in each community around B.C.?
What resources and supporting structures already exist which may be appropriate for, but underutilized by, the sector and its creative entrepreneurs and cultural workers? What relationships can be built or strengthened for mutual benefit?
The B.C. Cultural Sector Development Council has been formed to examine these questions and develop strategies that work.
