Past Projects

Centre of Expertise on Culture and Communities, 2005–2008

The Centre of Expertise on Culture and Communities (CECC) project was administered under the auspices of the CPCC from 2005–2008. The CECC conducted research and brought together academia, policy, and practice in four areas:

• The state of cultural infrastructure in Canadian cities and communities;
• Culture as the fourth pillar of community sustainability;
• Culture in communities: Cultural systems and local planning;
• The impacts of cultural infrastructure and activity in cities and communities.

An archive of the Centre's activities is available here.

Arts in Rural Communities

Through the Creative City Network of Canada’s partnership with the Alberta Recreation and Parks Association (ARPA) to develop a project on cultural development in rural communities, the CPCC has directed a major research paper titled "Rural Revitalization through Arts and Creativity". ARPA is engaging in a four-year project whose goal is to encourage and develop active and creative communities. ACE (Active Creative Engaged) Communities is a community development initiative of ARPA made possible with funding provided by the Rural Alberta Development Fund(RADF). The ACE initiative is designed to "enhance the quality of life in rural Alberta by strengthening community leadership, collaboration, and innovation through recreation, parks, arts, culture and heritage."

The CCNC Rural Research project is a partnership with the Alberta Recreation and Parks Association (as part of the ACE Initiative) and the Department of Canadian Heritage. The research was directed by Dr. Nancy Duxbury and Heather Campbell at the CPCC, with insightful contributions from three international collaborators:

• Australia – Kim Dunphy, Program Manager, Cultural Development Network, Melbourne
• United States – Dr. Patrick Overton, Director, Front Porch Institute, Oregon
• Europe – Dr. Lidia Varbanova, Laboratory for European Cultural Cooperation, Amsterdam; and the Centre for Intercultural and Social Development, Montréal

Papers: www.creativecity.ca