Arts, Culture and Heritage Strategy

The Arts, Culture and Heritage Strategy serves as a practical and actionable guide, helping us navigate the challenges and seize the opportunities ahead. Together, we can build a culturally enriched future for the County of Brant, one that honours our past, supports our present, and inspires our future.

Vision Statement

The County of Brant is a cultural landscape, reflecting the interplay between its physical context (buildings and landscapes) and longstanding and ongoing cultural practices, traditions, events and activities. The strategy lays out a vision for the conservation, celebration and amplification of these specific physical elements, and the
activities that occur on and within them, that shape Brant’s culture and make this place unique.

Overview

In May 2023, ERA Architects were engaged to lead in the development of the Strategy. The primary objective of the Strategy was to create an informed alignment of Council, County staff and stakeholders, for the most effective strategy to support arts, culture and heritage to prosper and support healthy local economy.

Part one (1) of the Strategy reviews existing conditions, providing an economic and demographic snapshot of the County, mapping cultural assets, and summarizing public engagement feedback.

Part two (2) sets out the vision, objectives and actions of the Strategy.

Part three (3) outlines considerations for implementation, including a timeline for the actions. The timeline prioritizes foundational changes and phases larger projects that may require the allocation of staff and financial resources in the future.

Process

In response to the 2019 Strategic Plan, Council authorized the preparation of an arts, culture and heritage strategy in 2023. Developed between June 2023 and January 2024, the resulting Brant Arts, Culture & Heritage Strategy (“the Strategy”) relies on public feedback, stakeholder input, background research and industry best practice to present an action plan for the County’s support of the arts, culture and heritage sectors over the next ten years.

Public feedback was gathered through both online and in-person engagement. This engagement included:

• Interactive engagement boards at 14 community events in summer-fall 2023
• Online surveys completed by general stakeholders and arts / culture / heritage professionals
• A public open house at Wincey Mills, Paris in September 2023 with community discussions and cultural mapping exercises
• A multi-disciplinary Steering Committee engaged throughout the project to provide feedback on the arts, culture and heritage context, public engagement results, and draft Strategy.

This Strategy is also informed by the feedback of representatives from the neighbouring Six Nations of the Grand River, the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, and the Woodland Cultural Centre.

Strategy Objectives

Objective A: Support the Truth and Reconciliation through arts, culture and heritage initiatives, in connection with broader municipal Reconciliation programs.

Objective B: Provide an infrastructure of support for individuals, institutions, businesses, and organizations undertaking cultural initiatives.

Objective C: Facilitate a spoke-and-wheel model to support and promote the diverse, vibrant cultural activities occurring both with a central cultural hub and county-wide throughout Brant.

Objective D: Foster a broadly inclusive cultural sector that supports residents and reflects their diverse experience, perspectives and cultural traditions.

Objective E: Conserve and celebrate Brant’s unique buildings, landscapes and stories as cultural heritage assets.

Objective F: Standardize municipal heritage planning practice with the Ontario Heritage Act and with municipal best practices across Ontario.

View the Arts, Culture and Heritage Strategy at a Glance (PDF).

View the full Arts, Culture and Heritage Strategy (PDF).