Creative Placemaking outside of Toronto’s downtown core

This month, the City of Vaughan held its 17th annual Vaughan Business Expo, an opportunity to strengthen local enterprise and connect entrepreneurs, which included a Creative Industries Summit for the first time this year.

The Summit focused on creative placemaking in the City of Vaughan by facilitating discussions with arts and culture leaders around making space for creativity and helping artists thrive.

Artscape’s Creative Placemaking Lab was invited by Vaughan Economic and Cultural Development to participate in a panel discussion.

Gil Meslin, Creative Placemaking Lab’s Research and Development Manager, participated in a panel that included Samantha Weinburg, Executive Director of York Region Arts Council; Antonio Ienco and Mark Pagliaroli, Vaughan Film Festival Founders; Christopher Lane, award-winning film and television writer, director and producer; and Alx Veliz, Toronto-based Canadian-Latin singer.

Each of the panelists had an opportunity to speak. The Artscape presentation focused on its two newest projects – Artscape Daniels Launchpad and Artscape Weston Common – looking at how the model for Artscape Daniels Launchpad has created a hub that connects creative talent to opportunity, while Artscape Weston Common connects a community with  arts and culture, each playing a role in creating an ecosystem of local creative talent.

The panel also discussed how Vaughan can build a city of place, how it can nurture a stronger culture of creative innovation and entrepreneurship and how it can become know for developing and attracting diverse high-end talent.

The Summit begins an important dialogue around how the City of Vaughan can grow economic development opportunities in arts and culture. Artscape looks forward to future opportunities to contribute to that conversation.