Cultural Development Policy: At the heart of civic and economic life
Culture, at once hybrid, vibrant and innovative, is among the cornerstones of Montréal’s identity. The city’s 2017-2022 Cultural Development Policy reflects its commitment to a culture that is creative, inclusive and responsible, and acts as a driver of economic dynamism.
Montréal, cultural capital par excellence
The 2017-2022 Cultural Development Policy, Combining creativity and the citizen cultural experience in the age of digital technology and diversity, was adopted by city council in June 2017. The city has taken steps to ensure that culture remains a core component of Montréal’s identity and plays a key part in providing residents with a quality living environment, notably by:
- Fostering a stimulating living environment through contributions from artists, craft artists, creators, workers, companies, organizations and cultural industries.
- Providing optimal conditions for an environment that is conducive to creation.
- Relying on creativity that projects strength and excellence, as a signature feature of Montréal, and inspires richness and pride.
The four pillars of the Cultural Development Policy
The 2017-2022 Cultural Development Policy is based on four pillars:
- A cross-cutting approach that draws on culture as a vector for social cohesion and economic development. It features three themes: Cultural and creative entrepreneurship to ensure the long-term liability of creation; the use of digital technology to enhance citizen cultural experience; and living together, embodied in cultural neighbourhoods.
- Inclusion and equity, to ensure that all professional artists in Montréal, particularly those who hail from the city’s ethnocultural diversity and Indigenous peoples, can contribute fully to the city’s development.
- The High-Tech/High-Touch principle aims to strike a balance between technological innovation and cultural outreach with residents.
- Sustainable development includes cultural development among the principles of Agenda 21 for Culture.
Diverse areas of action
This policy calls for vast and diversified areas of action:
- The network of maisons de la culture arts centres
- Public art
- Cultural neighbourhoods
- Libraries
- Le Conseil des arts de Montréal
- Cultural recreation and amateur artistic practices
- Cultural facilities
- Cultural and creative companies
- Cultural mediation
- Festivals and events
- The audiovisual industry
- Design and fashion
- Museums
- Tangible and intangible heritage
- Gastronomy
- Cultural tourism
- The Quartier des spectacles
- Espace pour la vie
- Old Montréal and Mount Royal
The development of the 2017-2022 Cultural Development Policy is the fruit of a participatory, unifying initiative carried out in the fall of 2015, and a major public consultation held in the spring of 2017.