CCNC Table Topic Session Notes - Creative City Network of ... · C.!! What!statistical ......

Facilitated Session Discussion Topics: Roundtable with Peer-‐Experts

CCNC Ontario Meeting

May 13, 2015

Table A: Why should Municipalities measure local impacts of culture?

-‐ Outcomes are expected and measures illustrate the impact of the investment that the City is making -‐ Should measure impacts to showcase the actual outcomes of your work and to support notion /

importance of ongoing culture development -‐ Measuring the impacts shows progress -‐ There are many audiences

o The ultimate audience is the public !our Councils are connected to the public o Politicians are important too but they represent an audience o The audience is both people working in the cultural and non-‐cultural fields

-‐ It is expected that investing in culture brings greater returns – that it attracts people -‐ In addition to numbers, stories are important too. Stories help to shift thinking and reflect values (and

changing values). This is part of the transformation. -‐ Measuring the impacts of culture is a chance to educate, to open up minds -‐ Small wins can also show progress – you should not only measure once a year. Best to do an annual

and then touch-‐points throughout the year that reinforce the message. -‐ The Ministry is releasing “5 to 10 key measures that should be used as frequently as possible” in

speeches and report. -‐ There is a difference between reporting on the progress of a cultural plan and showcasing the impact

of culture. -‐ A cultural plan is a roadmap and in government, it gives you the opportunity / ability to say “yes” or

“no” – that something is or isn’t our role or a priority. -‐ Measuring the impact of culture is about accountability. Public money is being invested and the public

deserve to know how money is being spent -‐ “Local” is an important word ! some impacts are measured on a national basis and this can seem too

far removed or “academic”. -‐ Mississauga has a research section in the planning unit and this has been critical for measurement -‐ Ministry of Tourism and Culture doesn’t have a research unit for culture (it is a gap). Tourism

colleagues have a department for research. -‐ Not having a research unit is a barrier…how do we start, where do we start? Lack staff and expertise.



May 13, 2015

B. What databases do you use to evaluate the overall health of your community's culture sector?

HAMILTON

Tourism division uses IDSS as a customer resource manager.

Tracks attractions, events, activities and businesses such as restaurants. The city also uses Dashboard tools.

BARRIE

They have a cultural inventory from 2012; it is tied to GIS and tracks number of artists employed, employees and volunteers, ages of attendees to cultural attractions, number of memberships; publications and programs are also tracked as well as funding sources.

They list businesses, councils and attractions – including their websites and contact information.

They have a community based database which tracks fundraising efforts, volunteers and community engagement.

RICHMOND HILL

“CLASS” – a registration system for Recreation activities provides a database of municipal programs. They have a Culture Map that tracks similar stats as Barrie’s system, along with cultural assets.

Budget tracking is done through the City.

York Region Arts Council has a database of information as well.

They use Microsoft Access for museum collections.

ST. CATHERINES

They have an Asset Map – which is tied to GIS.

Use The Museum System to track collections and exhibit information.

They have a regional website which houses a cultural calendar of events for attractions and events.

Grants Program stats are keep in an excel spreadsheet; tracking attendance and what funds are leveraged.



May 13, 2015

TORONTO

Use Stats Canada (for a fee) and the Labour Force Survey for GDP and Jobs information on an annual basis. They find that definitions of jobs are important and find that art related jobs are on the rise.

Conference Board of Canada is used to predict GDP.

Capita Investment for Culture is as self-‐generating database from sector partners.

CADAC tracks organizations that have been funded.

Hill Strategies work is an excellent resource.

Ontario Municipal Benchmarking Initiative (OMBI) measures investment for a city as a whole. It does not refine down to cultural activities.



May 13, 2015

C. What statistical tools do cultural attractions in your community use to get market-‐ready?

Cultural attractions statistical tools to get market ready

Provincial Data as many attractions such as African Lion Safari are provincial attractions

Statistics Canada demographical information eg languages needed for interpretive wands, ages, gender of those attending

Physical site: bathrooms, parking, way finding signage

School programing at living history sites which focus on specific school ages

Think of Cultural Attractions as Businesses -‐ they are partnerships to leverage funding

Trends within the attraction industry for both tourists and residents:

-‐ target market and rate of changes, identify where attendees are coming from

-‐ what is unique or different to make an attraction set apart?

-‐ package and brand the experience

-‐ attendance at attractions through ticket sales

-‐ how much funding does a municipality contribute to it?

-‐ website and social media usage

-‐ number of cultural organizations and events looking for space



May 13, 2015

D. How do you measure the results of municipal cultural planning in your community?

• Scorecard -‐ How many of the XX recommendations have been completed is the most common way.

• Can be challenging as many recommendations are never “complete”, they are often ongoing or in progress and sometimes spur new projects or directions.

• Waterloo-‐ Culture Report Card – it is challenging to find good performance measures that “we” can control

• Meaningful comparison between municipalities would be useful

• Often it’s a challenge to link up documents and plans. Oakville’s Cultural Plan did not have outcomes and the KPI’s outlined as part of the budget process do not directly link to it.

• Hamilton will be doing a report card with checkboxes

• Sub Projects that are not captured in the plans are often difficult to report on and get overlooked when reporting.

• Cultural Roundtable oversees the Cultural Plan and then worked with MCPI document to identify and choose indicators and will report on that moving forward.

• Develop KPI’s and Indicators as part of a plan.

• Some things are easy to measure e.g. Build a theatre – (either yes or no) but a check yes or no does not give any indication other other steps and projects that are involved

• Make sure other organizations are helping you gather your data – such as your Arts Council or organizations you are giving grants to.

• Make sure you are measuring investment into groups and organizations.

• Mississauga – annual report card, they are keeping the report card but the process has evolved.

• Mississauga – developed framework within the development of the plan.

• Mississauga – has a “data” department that provides them with information – it is very useful to have staff with the skills and knowledge to work with this type of information.



May 13, 2015

• St Catharines – not doing so yet – plan was approved and they will now be defining the indicators using the MCPI as a starting point.

• TIP – look for what information is already being captured by you and your municipality – there is often a lot that is already there that can be useful. Remember to look interdepartmentally!

• Question – Do you measure what the city does or do you measure external measures

• Mississauga is now starting neighbourhood cultural plans – Malton is first – they will have different measurable that the Mississauga Cultural Plan – however some measures will be the same so they can be benchmarked to the overarching plan.

• Knowing what measures in the MCPI other communities are using would be very helpful – could there be a database? It would be very helpful to know what other communities are measuring and then when you are using the same measurements you could reach out to benchmark.



May 13, 2015

E. What cultural measures speak to your members of City Council and Mayor?

Financial Measures

• Return on Investment (ROI), Dollars

• # Jobs created

• Measures of Economic Activity, contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

• Indices that mirror private business; tax credits, stimulus funding, zoning

• Culture often has to work harder to satisfy reporting needs and proving ROI

Legitimize and change the collective view of culture

• View not-‐for-‐profit sector as highly functioning and highly contributing sector

• Educate not-‐for-‐profit boards, so that participation is not just a volunteer item on a resume, but that it is a serious business and serious work

Cultural Participation / Consumption

• Attendance #s at Galleries and places of cultural consumption

• # tickets sold

• # Library items borrowed

• Create opportunities for people to do and participate in culture

Stories around the impact of culture on Youth

• True/ unique story experience of a cultural activity

• Something that creates an emotional connection

• ‘Not all kids play football’, comparison of sports investment to arts investment; sports facilities are very costly to maintain, arts and not-‐for-‐profit facilities have a competitive edge



May 13, 2015

Affordability

• Affordability of space as a percentage of market rate

• Number of units, affordable models of rental, ownership, etc.

• Amount of subsidy to the cultural sector

• Not-‐for-‐profits money spent doing their work/program rather that fixing the roof

Community Engagement

• # and type of activities the community is engaged in; start early, keep it going

• # of volunteers and volunteer hours contributed

Leadership and Communication

• Passionate people are key

• Compelling photography can convey impact of a project and capture the ‘buzz’ that is hard to quantify

• Showing engagement and participation communicates impact

Quality of Life

• Indices that have a social and economic impact can be powerful

• We need advocacy for culture’s role in developing and nurturing healthy minds



May 13, 2015

F. Beyond the numbers, what are other ways to communicate the local impacts of culture?

Oakville

-‐ Events Strategy contains 16 recommendations regarding special events and community events. -‐ Evaluating each community event to garner support: indicates community impact -‐ Set of surveying activities that ask how inclined participants are to participate again and at other

events and why. Responses allow for planning in economic development, capacity building and links back to impact of community capacity/ interest

Mississauga

-‐ Now conducting cultural planning at the neighbourhood level -‐ Example: Malton – residents are creating videos to contribute and document oral stories where they

speak to their experience in the city o Youtube based project with tagging o Once videos are uploaded a hip hop artist will be taking the videos and making a song of them.

-‐ Result of each neighbourhood will be a song reflecting that communities story/ interest/ identity.

St. Catharines

-‐ Blank postcards circulated in community; asked community to explain what culture meant to them. o Made an exhibit out of all the comments and feedback – comments also fed into cultural plan

engagement o Created a wordle which gave an impression of the City

Waterloo Region

-‐ Recommends accessing non-‐traditional sources of info and using it in documents/ communicate to community (e.g. Newcomers statistics)

Mississauga

-‐ Use of Twitter data and tweets to create a custom 3D map of the City and where comments are generated from

General ideas/ Thoughts:

-‐ Use of images/ photographs to communicate impact



May 13, 2015

-‐ Civic Squares – as a space how you can engage and watch how people interact, monitor pedestrian behaviours

-‐ Use of big data -‐ Trail counters – shared project in Headwaters (?) area where now events are borrowing trail counters

to monitor traffic/ participants -‐ Use of comments from Trip Advisor to support research, good indicators -‐ Greater use of social media interactions -‐ Develop Report cards -‐ Cultural Summits -‐ Open Houses -‐ Discussion groups

CCNC Table Topic Session Notes - Creative City Network of ... · C.!! What!statistical ......

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