{"id":11513,"date":"2016-02-29T14:48:21","date_gmt":"2016-02-29T19:48:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/huntsville.dopperonline.ca\/?p=11513"},"modified":"2016-03-03T13:37:28","modified_gmt":"2016-03-03T18:37:28","slug":"spotlight-on-huntsville-pilot-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/spotlight-on-huntsville-pilot-project\/","title":{"rendered":"SPOTLIGHT on Huntsville pilot project will help grow cultural tourism"},"content":{"rendered":"

A community\u2019s culture is what makes it a vibrant place \u2013 where residents enjoy living and where visitors find delightful ways to spend their time. But it can be challenging to turn a town\u2019s cultural assets into economic opportunities.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn many communities, there are a lot of cultural assets but no one has identified them as commercial tourism products,\u201d explained Glen Loo of St. Clements Group, a consulting firm that was involved in the development of Huntsville\u2019s Cultural Strategy<\/u><\/a>. “Huntsville is different, though. It\u2019s been really proactive in following through on its cultural plan and that\u2019s why we wanted to prototype the SPOTLIGHT project there.\u201d<\/p>\n

The plan is to take a process that Loo has been using to successfully revitalize downtown business areas and apply it to combine and enhance the efforts of local cultural, tourism and economic development groups. In short, that means finding underutilized or little-known cultural elements in our community and turning them into money-making or job-creating opportunities.<\/p>\n

\u201cOften, we find the economic development people and the tourism people and the culture people all working in individual silos and we want to get them working together,\u201d said Loo.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not often that business consultants approach a municipality with an idea that will create opportunities at little or no cost, and Town staff jumped at the opportunity.<\/p>\n

As a municipality with limited resources, when someone with outside expertise knocks on your door and offers to help you grow a sector so that it becomes a more tangible economic driver in the community, it\u2019s something we\u2019ll take a serious look at.
\nScott Ovell, Town of Huntsville\u2019s Community Development Officer<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cHuntsville has been on the leading edge of municipal cultural planning for communities our size since 2009,\u201d added Teri Souter, Manager of Arts, Culture and Heritage for the Town of Huntsville. \u201cWe\u2019ll be able to leverage what we discover through this process to increase our momentum in the sector and, except for some of our time and some meeting space, we\u2019ll be able to do it without impacting our operating budgets. Any pilot project is uncharted territory, but we are excited for this potential.\u201d<\/p>\n

With approval from the Town\u2019s General Committee and its Arts, Culture and Heritage and Economic Development Committees, the project has the go-ahead to proceed. Town staff will create a small steering committee \u2013 eight to 10 people \u2013 from stakeholders within the cultural, tourism and economic development sectors for a three-day session to identify the top 10 cultural opportunities for this project.<\/p>\n

Those opportunities will be assessed against five criteria do determine if they are:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Commercial \u2013 will they create employment and draw people into our community to spend money?<\/li>\n
  2. Authentic \u2013 will they use our existing natural, cultural and historic resources without needing major new capital or infrastructure?<\/li>\n
  3. Sustainable \u2013 will they contribute to rather than degrade our natural and historic resources?<\/li>\n
  4. Educational \u2013 will they give visitors insight into our history and ecology, and an appreciation for our unique sense of place?<\/li>\n
  5. Experiential \u2013 will they be an engaging experience for visitors and users?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Once those opportunities are identified, the committee will be looking for people to champion those projects. \u201cWe\u2019ll need that grassroots buy-in,\u201d said Ovell. \u201cPeople who are willing to be ambassadors for what we are trying to do. We also need to figure out how to bridge the gaps that can hinder success \u2013 funding is one of them. We\u2019ve started talking with Muskoka Futures about it and the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport has expressed an interest in participating in the process.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Loo talked about the potential for a Dragon\u2019s Den-like funding process if there are multiple groups who are interested in spearheading an identified opportunity. \u201cWe are also talking with some government agencies about seed money and we\u2019ll see if we can get these things going.\u201d<\/p>\n

    These aren’t going to be huge projects requiring thousands of dollars in capital and many years to implement, however. Rather, the committee will be looking for small initiatives to boost existing cultural assets that will begin to deliver results within 12 months.<\/p>\n

    The exact results of the project can\u2019t be known \u2013 it will depend on what the steering committee identifies as the top cultural opportunities \u2013 but it will be a valuable exercise regardless of the outcome.<\/p>\n

    We can\u2019t continue to do the same things and expect different results. This is new and unknown but there is very little risk and a lot of potential reward.
    \nTeri Souter, Manager of Arts, Culture and Heritage for the Town of Huntsville<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    One of those rewards is simply an outsider\u2019s view. \u201cI think one of the benefits of having a bunch of outsiders come in is that local people sometimes think \u2018oh, that\u2019s not so special, we\u2019ve been talking about that for 100 years,\u2019 but we can look at it and say \u2018that\u2019s really great,\u2019\u201d said Loo. \u201cAnd it works the other way, too \u2013 you may think (a cultural asset) is really good and an outsider might not actually care.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Loo said his company enjoys taking on projects that will make a difference in small or rural communities. \u201cI always loved working in Huntsville and in Muskoka. I think this has a 95 per cent chance of working out really well.\u201d<\/p>\n

    This is a sponsored story paid for by the featured advertiser<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

    \"TOH-Spotlight-Doppler-BannerAd2\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    A community\u2019s culture is what makes it a vibrant place \u2013 where residents enjoy living and where visitors find delightful ways to spend their time. 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