Durham Cultural Mapping Project

AuthentiCity working with The Breken Group/YLM completed baseline mapping of cultural resources in Durham Region, working with staff of Durham Tourism. The mapping consolidated data from a range of sources and organized the data using the Cultural Resource Framework (CRF) currently forming the basis of Provincial Cultural Mapping Guidelines being developed for the Ontario Ministry of Culture and Municipal Cultural Planning Inc. The study also used Canadian Business Pattern data to assess the size and growth/decline in Durham’s creative cultural industries: the five top creative cultural industries were (in order of numbers of enterprises) Design, Advertising, Motion Pictures and Video Industries, Printing and Independent Artists.

The cultural mapping project was presented at a major economic development forum called The Art of Transition in November 2009 that attracted more than 600 participants. In a priority setting session at the end of the forum, cultural mapping and municipal cultural planning were among the top priorities identified in transforming Durham’s economy. (March 2010)

Windsor-Essex Cultural Mapping Project

This project was undertaken by AuthentiCity working in collaboration with its partners The Breken Group/YLM and Trajectory for the Essex Community Futures Development Corporation with funding provided by the Federal Government’s Community Adjustment Fund (CAF). The project was a partnership with the City of Windsor and the Connecting Windsor Essex Smart Community Portal. Baseline data on cultural assets across the region was consolidated and fed to the community portal where it will be available alongside other important community information on immigration, youth, economic development, and more.

The project also launched a community identity mapping process that will continue with invitations to the community to contribute the stories that contribute to defining Windsor-Essex’s unique identity and sense of place. Among the final deliverables was a report setting out a long-term community engagement and capacity building strategy to build awareness and participation in cultural mapping.