Cultural Policy Update: the process is underway!

The Town of Sutton’s current Cultural Policy was developed and adopted in 2007. Its last action plan for cultural development was produced in 2012. Our community has greatly evolved since then, leading us to a complete revision of the whole policy based on a new cultural portrait of the municipality.

Timeline

In February 2022, the Town of Sutton signed an agreement with the Ministère de la Culture et des Communications for financial assistance to renew its Cultural Policy and Action Plan. The financial assistance totals $20,000 to which is added a $20,000 of the municipal contribution provided for in the 2023 budget.

In December 2022, the firm ARTENSO was chosen to assist the Town in this update process, which will be carried out in six major stages.

Monitoring committee

Beginning in January 2023, the organization of the process was carried out by setting up a monitoring committee for the cultural policy and its action plan. The composition of this committee was ratified during the municipal council meeting. In the interest of providing representation from both the cultural and municipal milieux, thus ensuring overall engagement of concerned parties, the committee is made up of eight members:

  1. Dashiele Haskin, involved in the organization Ballet-Théâtre Sutton, will represent the cultural leisure;
  2. Almut Ellinghaus, involved in the Tour des Arts for many years and an artist herself, will represent the cultural presenters;
  3. Stéphane Lemardelé, author and cartoonist (or in his absence, Éliane Excoffier, professional photographer), will represent the voice of professional artists;
  4. Charles Constantin, President of the Board of Directors of the Sutton Museum of Communications and History, will represent heritage;
  5. Carole Lebel, Councillor for District 4, will represent the Municipal Council;
  6. Pascal Smith, Director General of the Town of Sutton;
  7. Elizabeth Deit, Director of Recreation, Community Life and Culture for the Town of Sutton;
  8. Marie-Claude Plasse, cultural agent for the Town of Sutton;
  9. Jonathan Rouleau of ARTENSO, external consultant for the process.

Cultural portrait

Since the beginning of the year 2023, ARTENSO has been working on the cultural portrait of Sutton. The collection of information from documents, studies and data will allow us to draw up a status report on the actions undertaken by the municipality in terms of culture. During this stage, three discussion groups made up of targeted individuals from the cultural and municipal milieux, will be called upon to enrich this portrait.

Between now and the summer of 2023, the Town of Sutton will invite its citizens to participate in public consultations (online and in person) in order to fully explore the issues and aspirations of the population and organizations regarding culture in our community. Information will be communicated as it becomes available.

Sutton is known for its wide range of cultural offerings, whether it be through the artists who live and work here, or through its dedicated organizations that offer numerous cultural activities. The Town intends to continue to promote this characteristic, which is the pride of Sutton.

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