Municipalities, both urban and rural, can play an important role in the growth of the Culture Days. Whether you are an elected councilor, reeve or mayor, band council leader or municipal staff, here are a few things that you can do to support the movement in your own community:

1)      Get the word out about Culture Days to your local arts and cultural sector. Encourage your local artists, artisans, arts organizations, festivals, galleries, museums, heritage sites, community arts groups, choirs, libraries, community centres, universities, colleges, schools and cultural groups of all stripes to join the movement by registering an activity on the Culture Days website  www.culturedays.ca

2)      Contact your provincial Task Force about hosting and organizing an info session in your community about Culture Days. Invite representatives from your local arts sector as well as business improvement associations, local media and politicians to work together to creating an amazing Culture Days weekend. (If you represent a municipality in Ontario, contact me – Aubrey Reeves, OAC Culture Days Animator/Coordinator – to organize an info session).

3)      Provide space on September 30, October 1 & 2, in municipal-owned or operated facilities to artists and cultural groups that want to offer Culture Days activities. Some artists and cultural groups would like to take part but don’t have their own spaces that can accommodate the public. Examples of ideal municipal-owned facilities for activities include: parks, community centres, libraries, town/city hall, town squares, empty storefronts, heritage sites and museums. Be creative: Consider opening up a space that is not usually open to the public; this tends to draw crowds.

4)      Help to concentrate activities within walking distance of each other into “hubs.” You are likely to draw bigger crowds to Culture Days activities if people are able to browse and sample a variety of drop-in activities all in one easily accessible area. It’s a great way to revitalize a main street, downtown core or an under-appreciated area of your community.

5)      Discuss Culture Days with your local business improvement association (BIA) and how the arts and culture strengthen your community and economy. Encourage businesses to sponsor local Culture Days activity by providing in-kind donations of space, materials or promotion. The Creative City Network of Canada and the Ontario Municipal Cultural Planning Inc. offer some valuable resources that can help you describe the social-economic impacts of supporting cultural development to business owners.

6)      Develop partnerships with local media including community newspapers, regional radio stations and local bloggers. The main components of the Culture Days national media campaign will roll out starting in August on multiple national and provincial platforms. Local coverage can complement that campaign with a focus on what’s happening in your own backyard.

7)      In September, please invite your municipal councilors and Mayor or other elected officials to attend Culture Days events in your community. Culture Days events will make for fun photo-ops and give politicians a chance to demonstrate active support and participation in the local arts and cultural life of their communities.

8)      If you work for a municipality or a regional community, encourage your municipal cultural planning department to make Culture Days part of its annual programs. In Québec, where the inspiration for Culture Days originated, 276 municipalities have signed the official Declaration of Journées de la culture and 234 municipalities directly organize cultural activities during the weekend-long celebration of local arts and culture.  Download the simple, 1-page official Declaration of Journées de la culture and let us know if you think this would be a useful tool to help bring every municipality and regional community on board as a Culture Days collaborator.

Written by Aubrey Reeves, Ontario Arts Council’s Culture Days Animator/Coordinator.