The New West Progressives have committed to better promoting local artists and cultural activities in order to make arts, culture and community services a higher priority at City Hall.
Ellen Vaillancourt, a NW Progressives city council candidate, believes more needs to be done to empower these creatives and unleash the imaginations of the New Westminster community.
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\”Our city has an incredible arts and culture community that has demonstrated it is capable of producing top-quality festivals, events and products,\” says Vaillancourt. \”If we are able to better promote this vital community, it will encourage them to play a stronger leadership role when it comes to the development of the city’s arts and culture strategy, which can only have positive and far-reaching results.\”
Vaillancourt is herself a designer, who trained as a couturier in Paris. She has run multiple successful apparel-manufacturing and design-consulting businesses, written curriculum and taught for local design schools and has also launched several international development initiatives while working with Simon Fraser University. She is currently mentoring Syrian refugees with their dream social enterprise
The NW Progressives are committing to:
- Establishing a long-term arts and culture funding strategy and moving away from year-to-year fiscal management by no later than 2021.
- Implementing effective and meaningful ongoing dialogue with the local arts and cultural community.
- Reducing and/or eliminating duplication between city-operated arts programs and those run by community groups and agencies – with an aim to supporting community groups as a first priority.
- Developing more affordable ‘live-work’ housing, unlike what has been put on the market in the past.
- Increasing public signage directing people/tourists to local artisans and their studios. This would include more permanent public signage and promotion of farmer’s markets and similar events.
- Making accessible city land to foster the development of a new summer “Art Market” which would showcase local artisans.
- Making Anvil Centre more of a regional hub for concerts and plays and bringing the gallery to street level for greater interaction with the works.
\”If the arts and culture community are given a stronger voice in City Hall, we believe it will result in vast improvements when it comes to the development of the Art Strategy and lend to a broader Culture Framework,\” says Vaillancourt. \”This would include performance art, public and environmental art and would be ripe with opportunities for collaboration and partnership.\”
The NW Progressives have released several key policy platforms on other topic areas which are posted on their website. Additional policy announcements are planned for the coming weeks leading up to the October 20th civic election.