More festivals and events, public art and stage plays are coming to Port Coquitlam.
At least that’s what the public wants from the city, which last week officially launched Imagine Port Coquitlam — a new high-level document that aims to shape the arts, culture and heritage scenes over the next decade.
At a special meeting last Wednesday night, Mayor Greg Moore, city councillors, consultant Patricia Huntsman and the city’s new arts and culture programs manager, Carrie Nimmo, presented the vision before a select crowd of 45 people.
But they also invited artists and stakeholders to be a part of the vision by joining a new cultural roundtable.
Nimmo, who will facilitate the meetings, told The Tri-City News the roundtable’s first gathering will be held on Nov. 24 from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. at Leigh Square; it is expected to meet up to 10 times a year.
“The format will be open and we are looking for diverse representation from the community,” Nimmo said, adding a dozen representatives have already signed up.
Still, “we are looking for a few more members to represent specific areas such as young people in theatre and music. The cultural roundtable will be an opportunity to network, share ideas and resources and work together to develop new cultural initiatives.”
Imagine Port Coquitlam also calls for a new festivals committee, an external body that will look at organizing current and future events; its scope and makeup will be determined by the city’s healthy communities committee, which is chaired by Coun. Darrell Penner.
Meanwhile, the city of Port Moody is also retooling its arts and culture plan for the next decade.
Tomorrow (Tuesday), Forum Research will start its telephone survey of 300 randomly selected Port Moody residents to gauge their views of arts and culture beat.
As well, starting next month, MDB Insight Consultants will interview city staff and local arts, cultural and heritage clubs about its activities; it will culminate with a public forum on Dec. 7 at Old Orchard Hall (646 Bentley Rd.) and an online survey at portmoody.ca. (from Dec. 8 to Jan. 31, 2017) as well as focus groups throughout December.
The input will go into a draft arts and culture master plan, to be presented to city council next spring.
jcleugh@tricitynews.com
