Celebrating and Embracing Culture

Priority: Celebrating and Embracing Culture
Definition: Uplifting all aspects of the city’s local culture, including Indigenous Peoples’ cultural histories and practices, the cultural histories and practices of all residents, and formal institutional arts and cultural expressions. Also, contribute to creating an inclusive, welcoming and prosperous culture that creates the conditions for harmonious demographic and economic growth. 

This forum allows for online feedback for the Future Owen Sound–Vision 2050 draft Strategic Priorities, which were identified following an extensive community survey that reached nearly 1,000 diverse community respondents who provided over 5,000 pieces of qualitative feedback. This is YOUR strategic plan, so your input and expertise is essential and welcome.  

The forum boards coincide with in-person Strategic Planning Sessions taking place in Owen Sound from November 8 to November 10, 2024. The forums will close for feedback end of day Monday, November 11, 2024.

Prior to providing feedback, please review the linked one-page information sheet prepared specifically for the Strategic Planning Sessions to provide additional context and ground discussions with evidence and examples.

Celebrating and Embracing Culture information brief

After reviewing the one-pagers, we encourage you to provide feedback related to the following questions, which mirror those that formed the discussion during the in-person sessions. You are welcome to provide feedback on as many of the Strategic Priorities on this forum as you would like.

• What are some immediate, mid, and long-term actions that could be taken to move the Strategic Priority forward? (i.e., What can happen in the next year? The next five years? The next ten?)
• Who are the community-based institutions/organizations and individuals with the expertise to support the implementation of these actions? (i.e., Who is best to lead the action? Who else should be involved?)
• What areas of growth or capacity building are required to effectively implement these actions? (i.e., Are there gaps in knowledge or skills that would prevent the action?)

The next step will be to analyze the feedback from the online forum boards and in-person sessions to inform the creation of an action plan for Future Owen Sound–Vision 2050, which will be presented in a draft report in early 2025.