MOOSE JAW - Consultants are in the final stages of creating the City of Moose Jaw’s cultural action plan (CAP), which is expected to guide the community’s culture-related activities for the next 30 years.
Prairie Wind Consulting (PWC) and the city had a booth outside city hall during Sidewalk Days to speak with residents about the project and acquire feedback about what else people wanted to see in the plan.
The two organizations also held an evening open house at the Kinsmen Sportsplex on July 4 to hear from residents.
Both locations had posters displaying the draft goals, actions to complete the goals and methods to determine success.
This engagement session is the third phase of the project’s four-phase development, which began in 2021. Once the city has acquired further feedback, it will incorporate suggestions and then implement the new policy this fall.
“We’re just building the foundation in terms of understanding … culture in Moose Jaw. So just asking folks, like, ‘What does culture mean to you in Moose Jaw?’” explained Samantha Mark, PWC’s senior manager.
Other questions the consultants have asked people included what they like to do in Moose Jaw, what places they like to visit and want to keep for the future and where they like to gather, she said. Sidewalk Days answers the last question since the event attracts thousands of people over its three days.
Furthermore, the engagement sessions identify the city’s cultural and heritage assets, how people define culture today, and their hopes for tomorrow.
The cultural action plan identifies a 25-year vision, along with values and themes or goals, with PWC visually creating each goal — surrounded by actions surrounded by measures of success — to look like an interconnected quilt piece, said Mark.
The CAP will be a “living, breathing plan” that the city can use to guide policies for decades, similar to the other master plans being created now, she continued. Therefore, the cultural plan will “actionize where Moose Jaw wants to go into the future.”
The open houses have shown that there is plenty of community spirit and a willingness among residents to do new and different things, such as co-operating among community groups, increasing communication and better supporting others, said Mark.
“Accessibility is probably another (important goal) in terms of being able to access different cultural programs, events (and initiatives),” she added. “So creating an inclusive community for everyone.”
The quilt analogy is a guiding metaphor for the CAP and emphasizes the collaborative and sustainable nature of cultural planning in Moose Jaw, a poster board said.
“Just as a quilt is a communal creation, so too is our cultural landscape, crafted with care by many hands working together. Each goal, action, leads and partners, and measure of success represents a part of the intricate design that reflects our culture,” it added.
Hayden Austin, a planning assistant with PWC, said he has enjoyed hearing from people about what they want to see for culture in The Friendly City. He noted that this project couldn’t have happened without community input from the top to the bottom.
“The people of Moose Jaw have (also) shown throughout the entirety of this process how much they love their community, love its diversity, love the various events and programs that are available … and feel involved in and reflected in the creation of the cultural action plan,” he added.
Prairie Wild Consulting will incorporate the feedback from Sidewalk Days and the Sportsplex open house into the draft document before presenting it to city administration and then city council for final approval in September.
