'Creativity means business'

Report encourages Toronto to support arts community to boost economy

One in four of Canada's creative jobs are in Toronto, but the city must be more aggressive in promoting the arts to youth and making it easier for artists to live and work in the city if it wants to take advantage of existing talent and encourage the next generation, according to a new report.

"Creativity means business," said Meric Gertler, one of the authors of the report, Imagine a Toronto… Strategies for a Creative City, and a University of Toronto professor. "Creativity has become the ultimate economic resource, adding a new dimension to the competitive potential of cities around the world."

The report, commissioned by Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty and Toronto Mayor David Miller, was an 18-month-long joint venture between Toronto and London, England that brought together members of the business, arts and non-profit communities.

Drawing on international best practices from New York to Berlin, they developed specific strategies to enhance the growth of the arts and creative industries, including film and television, books and magazines, interactive digital media, and design and architecture, and maximize the role these industries in the competitiveness of both cities.

"Economic development and creativity are not separate entities," said Graham Hitchen, co-chair of the Toronto-London Creative Cities Project. "In London, there is increasing recognition of the role of creativity in economic development and growth."

The four main themes of the report are:

• People: expand creative programming for youth, transform local community centres into creative community hubs and fund arts and creativity in public education.

• Enterprise: provide specialized support and business skill development for creative industries, increase available cultural and creative 'risk' capital, advance Toronto as a centre of design and develop a creativity/innovation convergence centre.

• Space: systematically provide affordable and stable creative space so artists can afford to live and work in the city, create a mortgage investment fund for creative industries and support development of waterfront ground-floor strategy.

• Connecting Toronto's creative elements: create an infrastructure dedicated to connecting and promoting creative Toronto and provide ongoing, stable funding for creative projects.

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