The idea for an arts hub in Kitchener raises a few questions
Back in June, Kitchener City Council directed staff to “proceed with community and stakeholder engagement on a range of options for a catalyst location for arts and creative industries.” In other words: an arts hub. The first step was a series of tours of the former Royal Canadian Legion building at 48 Ontario St. N., which is being considered as a possible location.
There have been two well attended open-call workshop sessions, first to define what a creative hub could be, and then to consider various possible locations.
The process continues to unfold. This week people were invited to a two-day “Drop In — Weigh In” event in the rotunda at city hall.
I’ve turned up for each stage of the process. I have to say, though, that I’ve been skeptical of this initiative from the outset.
To begin with, creative space needs and possibilities have been discussed many times, with no tangible results. The directive from council talks about a competitive process beginning with a call for proposals, which, experience has shown, can produce very unfortunate results.
Although 48 Ontario St. is certainly worth preserving, and can be adapted to serve many good purposes, the size, shape and location impose some serious limitations.
I also have misgivings about the very idea of a central hub, going back to my involvement with the city’s first CulturePlan more than 20 years ago.
When the idea of an “arts zone” was put forward, it was countered by a recommendation for precisely the opposite. We called it the “kilometre of culture” approach. The emphasis was on “building on what already exists.” The proposal called for setting the intersection of King and Queen, where east meets west, and north meets south, as the central point of reference, and from there, drawing a circle with a radius of roughly one kilometre.
The idea was to take stock of what existed within this circumference from Centre in the Square to Joseph Schneider Haus on the Queen Street axis, and from the east end to over the tracks on King.
Strengthening connections and filling the gaps became the primary objectives of any subsequent cultural planning.
Things have changed since then. To begin with, the city’s traditional business district appears to be thriving. The objective is no longer applying the arts as part of a downtown revitalization process, but making sure there is still a place for creative endeavour in the face of rising property values and declining vacancy rates.
The city has also chosen a much broader conception of what arts and culture entails than what prevailed in 1995.
For these and many other reasons, a circle with a radius of a kilometre or a mile is now too narrow as a frame of reference. The basic concept, however, of an integrated, multicentred approach seems even more relevant today than it did two decades ago.
Which is why, when I dropped by city hall by to weigh in on what has been done so far, I was pleased with what I found.
Instead of a clearly defined vision for 48 Ontario St. or any other location, the rotunda was filled with a display designed to serve as a “prototype of the creative ecosystem in Downtown Kitchener.” Various examples of “resources within walking distance” were included, like Themuseum, Centre in the Square, KPL Central, the Conrad Centre, Globe Studios, KwartzLab, and the new facilities at 44 Gaukel St.
The display looked like a model for what we imagined as a “kilometre of culture” in 1995. The conclusion is that there is a need for yet another creative hub among hubs, and the central question becomes how this “fits into the array of creative spaces and resources this community has to offer.”