On July 2nd our speaker was Terry Pender who recently became the Arts and cultural reporter at the Record on the topic of the Regions lack of a long term vision for planning and support to the local Arts and Culture scene.
Terry was also behind the Jazz festival when our club earned $1005 for selling tickets.
Terry compared the amount of money spent so far on the LRT ($1 Billion) and the estimated $3 billion of new development along the route. There has been no increase in spending on Arts and culture which is becoming an big issue for the high tech companies trying to hire and retain employees with a vibrant culture in our downtown's.
Lost our live theater space when the symphony took it over after leaving Centre In The Square.
Terry recounted the Sars epidemic in Toronto and how people stopped going out. The cost to the economy was large and only government intervention started events up and people returned. Now the economic impact of the entertainment business in Toronto is more than any other industry.
A report submitted to the Waterloo region and Kit/Wat, not Cambridge, suggested $1 million form each and the Federal government would be a great start. However nothing is happening now and there is not even an Arts Council anymore. The museum announced big plans moving forward but nothing has been heard for a while on that topic.
His view is that we need new leadership, a vision of where we would like to be and funding to get there. The number of recently wealthy companies in our communities should be involved in funding events their employees can participate in.
Shawna thanked terry and the meeting was adjourned