Les Arts et la Ville network declaration
During the first Culture and Sustainable Cities Summit held by the United Cities and Local Government (UCLG) international organization in Bilbao, Spain from March 18 to 20, 2015, representatives from Les Arts et la Ville network submitted the Declaration of Les Arts et la Ville - Culture 21. This declaration bears witness to the Quebec municipalities' commitment to the efforts surrounding Agenda 21 for Culture.
Les Arts et la Ville network is a not-for-profit organization founded in 1987, which brings together players in municipal and cultural sectors from Quebec and Acadian and French-speaking communities in Canada, with the aim of supporting, promoting and defending local cultural and artistic development.
In Quebec, several local and national players are recognized as world leaders in applying the links between culture and sustainable development, and in adopting integrated visions of cultural development. In fact, several projects have been recognized as good practices in terms of local sustainable development and culture by the UCLG's Committee on Culture. In that context, and in the wake of Agenda 21 for Culture for Quebec, Les Arts et la Ville network would like to help support and highlight this dynamic and this commitment with 575 municipality members, as well as 170 members from the arts and cultural allies in Quebec.
By adopting the Declaration of Les Arts et la Ville network - Culture 21: Actions, the network committed to developing a community awareness strategy (link available in French only) for all of Quebec to promote knowledge and the implementation of tools locally. In this way, the network hopes to increase related good practices.
The results expected through this measure are the creation of a local cultural development dynamic that fosters prosperity and quality in citizens' living environments by adopting a global view while focusing on the specifics and aspirations of each environment. This will also hopefully lead Quebec municipalities and civil society organizations to engage in a more significant concerted effort and mobilization concerning developing integrated visions of local cultural development.
The first phase of the awareness strategy was unveiled on June 1, 2016. The results may be included in the next periodic four-year report that Quebec and Canada submit in 2020.
A total of $CAD 24K was granted for this initiative by the Ministere de la Culture et des Communications through the reception component of its Projects Assistance Program in 2014-2015.