This announcement may be of interest to some AAO members and so I am
forwarding it.
Iona McCraith, AAO Preservation Consultant
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----- Original Message -----
From: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, November 25, 2003 8:53 AM
Subject: Re: Creative City Network presentation to Municipal Staff


> Dear Colleague:
>
>
> You are invited to learn about two new and exciting web-based tools - the
> Creative City Network and the Community Learning Space. These are exciting
> initiatives which will be useful to you in your day-to-day work.  (Sorry
> for the lateness of this notice, but the names of possible invitees keep
> filtering our way ... and we're sending out invitations as we get email
> addresses.)
>
>
> Community Services Division staff at the Region of Waterloo are pleased to
> offer this opportunity to all municipal staff across the region. This
> workshop is one action flowing from the Region's Arts, Culture and
Heritage
> Master Plan, in which facilitating communication and building support for
> arts, culture and heritage are cornerstones. Initiatives such as these
will
> help all of us in 'building vibrant urban places' and 'fostering a strong
> economy', two of the goals of the Regional Growth Management Strategy.
>
>
> Presentations on the Creative City Network and the Community Learning
Space
> will take place in Council Chambers, Regional Administration Headquarters,
> 2 nd Floor, 150 Frederick Street, Kitchener on Monday, December 1 st .
> Coffee will be available at 8:30 a.m. with presentations beginning at 9:00
> and concluding at approximately 11:30. Lunch will be available afterward
> for those who can stay to network with colleagues from other
> municipalities. Parking is available in the above-ground lot behind the
> building.
>
>
> So what are the Creative City Network and the Community Learning Space?
And
> why should you learn more about them?
>
>
> The Creative City Network (or CCN) at www.creativecity.ca aims to build
> capacity of municipal staff to contribute to the cultural development of
> municipalities across Canada. The CCN, based in Vancouver, is an
> organization of people employed by Canadian municipalities who work in the
> areas of arts, cultural and heritage policy, planning, development and
> support. John McLachlan, Executive Director of CCN will make the
> presentation.
>
>
> Membership in the CCN is open to municipal employees with responsibilities
> relating to arts, culture and heritage, and to staff in areas such as
> planning, clerks, facilities management, economic development, parks and
> recreation. Registered municipal staff have exclusive access to the entire
> Creative City Network website, enabling them to share experience,
> expertise, information and best practices.
>
>
> The membership fee is based on a municipality's population.To avoid
> duplication of expense, the Region of Waterloo has purchased a regional
> membership encompassing all staff at all area municipalities, so the
> workshop will be an opportunity to learn how to register yourself on CCN.
> CCN has also established a "Waterloo Region" regional discussion forum ?
so
> that all area municipal staff can discuss cultural heritage issues with
one
> another. That's another reason to get registered.
>
>
> The second tool is the 'Arts and Culture' section of the Waterloo Region
> Community Learning Space at learningspace.uwaterloo.ca the result of a
> partnership between the Waterloo Regional Arts Council and the University
> of Waterloo. Doug Mulholland from the Computer Systems Group at the
> University of Waterloo and Martin DeGroot from the Arts Council will
> demonstrate its capabilities. The site provides information about the
local
> arts community in Waterloo Region, including: a calendar for planning
local
> events;contact information for individuals and organizations; details
about
> venues that provide space for the visual and performing arts; and a
> repository of press releases and useful media information.
>
>
> Still not convinced that you should attend? Read how one or both of these
> web tools could help you in the following situations:
>
>
>        A Councilor calls to discuss the value of arts in the community.
The
>       Creative City Network includes dozens of documents on "making the
>       case" that will answer their question ? not just references to
>       documents, but the actual documents.
>       You want to post an upcoming municipally-sponsored event to as many
>       media listings and websites as possible, but every media outlet has
a
>       different format. It will take hours to enter the data. The Learning
>       Space is developing a template which will allow you to enter the
>       event information once, and the data will be reformatted
>       automatically and sent to multiple media outlets.
>       The Mayor asks you to review community grant programs, and your
>       Finance Department wants to compare your policies and procedures to
>       others in similar-sized municipalities across Canada. Not only will
>       you find examples of granting policies on CCN, but it will link you
>       to municipal staff from across the country who are exploring the
same
>       issue.
>       A community group calls you to discuss their fund raising event
>       planned for 2005. They want to know what other events are scheduled
>       in October. The Learning Space event planning tool will help you
with
>       the answer.
>       Your staff are working on quality of life benchmarks as part of the
>       Ontario Municipal Benchmarking Initiative. How do you compare? The
>       question is complicated by many factors, including issues of data
>       availability, comparability, contextual understanding, and
>       presentation. To begin to address these challenges, CCN is
developing
>       a comprehensive comparative framework for surveying and reporting on
>       municipal cultural investments and involvements.
>       You want to solicit the views of your colleagues across the region
on
>       a particular issue. You start a new topic on the CCN Waterloo Region
>       discussion forum and have a multi-participant 'virtual meeting'.
>
>
> Those are just a few examples of what the Creative City Network and the
> Community Learning Space can do for you and your municipality.
>
>
> We hope to see you on December 1st . Please RSVP to Susan Matthews at
> 575-4047 or [log in to unmask] , and indicate whether you will
> stay for lunch. Please pass this note along to anyone else who might be
> interested, or bring along your municipal colleagues.
>
>
> Sincerely,
>
>
> Lucille Bish
>
>
> Director, Community Services, Region of Waterloo
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>