History

This first plan, the impacts of which are in many ways still being felt today, presented an exhaustive range of strategies: to upgrade and dedicate facilities for cultural performances and exhibition; to revitalize neighbourhood centres around cultural themes; to integrate public art into the built infra-structure of the community; and to embed arts and culture into the three municipalities’ official community plans.

The plan also offered a decision-making framework of guiding principles and policy objectives to shape how cultural planning should happen. And, finally, the North Shore Arts Commission was formed to serve as an arms-length agency for the three municipalities, specifically as the regional delivery agency for the Cultural Plan.

Looking back with the full benefit of hindsight, although the 1988 plan realized a number of successes in local terms and while it still informs some of the “big picture” thinking around arts and cultural needs for the North Shore in a general sense, the coordination of planning priorities and support services across all three North Shore municipalities proved problematic and the list of recommended strategies too broad to implement successfully. In 1996, while a number of the recommendations remained valid, West Vancouver pulled out of the tri-municipal agreement.

In the late 1990’s, with West Vancouver no longer at the table, the Arts Commission re-structured as a bi-municipal agency (the Arts & Culture Commission of North Vancouver), and began work on a second Cultural Plan—focussed this time only on the City and District of North Vancouver.

Finally, in 2002—following an extended planning and consultation process—the City and District adopted the North Vancouver Cultural Plan. Phase One of the 2002 plan (Goals and Strategies) articulated for the first time a vision for North Vancouver as a community that understands and values the arts and cultural activities; it also proposed a detailed collection of strategic directions, outcomes and priority actions intended to realize the vision. In an attempt to address some of the implementation issues that had undermined the 1988 plan, Phase Two of the 2002 Plan provided a detailed Delivery & Management Plan.

In May 2007 following an extensive period of research and community consultation, both the District and City Councils voted to establish The North Vancouver Office of Cultural Affairs in order to consolidate all arts and culture services previously offered by the District, the City, and the old Arts and Culture Commission. In 2010, the name was changed to The Arts Office.

Acting as a bi-municipal agency of the City and District, the Arts Office is uniquely positioned to provide integrated support programs, advocacy and cultural development services to the creative and cultural communities of North Vancouver (including—where appropriate—to the broader North Shore), as well as coordinated policy and planning capacities for the two ‘parent’ municipalities.

The Arts Office provides a single point of entry for arts funding and cultural development services for the City and the District. Advantages of the bi-municipal model include improved coordination of policy and planning functions, more efficient coordination of municipal resources, more responsive service to arts groups, and a strengthened role of the North Vancouver arts community.

Currently, the Arts Office is in the process of reviewing, renewing and refreshing the existing cultural planning work that has been undertaken in North Vancouver to date with a view to creating a new Cultural Plan that will reflect changing community conditions. This work will connect to and be integrated with efforts at both the City and District of North Vancouver to develop new Official Community Plans through to 2030.