Big changes have come to former city of Dryden councilor Gwen Kurz.  Leaving her position as councillor with only months left of her term, Kurz has taken on the role of Municipal Cultural Planner (MCP) for the city.

“It’s a big decision that anybody makes to run and commit to council for four years and your life changes in that time,” says Kurz.

After completing her education in Community Economic and Social Development, Kurz found the MCP position a perfect fit in her life both personally and professionally.

“I’m optimistic that I can do more in terms of community development from this perspective as cultural planner, compared to completing my term on council,” Kurz says.  “I was not planning to run this year again, anyway.”

With the availability of funding through the Ontario Ministry of Tourism and Culture, through the Creative Communities Prosperity Fund, this is only a one-year term, with an ending of March 31, 2011.

The creation of this position began in 2006 when a group of community residents attended a workshop in Kenora relating to municipal cultural development. The group formed a local committee under the name of the Dryden Area Cultural Partnership.

The partnership approached council and received a small amount of seed money to organize cultural fairs and do the initial legwork of the project.  Following the initial start, the group lobbied Council to include the development of a cultural policy in the 2007 strategic plan, organized workshops in the community, began cultural mapping, and developed a cultural strategy.   The newly created strategy went to council for adoption, which formalized the municipality’s role in this concept.

By fall of 2009, the province had released the funding opportunity and the city jumped on the chance to hire a planner to get the work done.  Two members at large were appointed to the initial roundtable, including Mardi Plomp and Marjory Salavich.

With funding in place, and the MCP hired, the goal of the committee is now to develop a roundtable group of an additional 2-6 members, with appointments of aboriginal members as well as a youth member between the ages of 18 and 30.

The principle task assigned to Kurz and the roundtable is guidance in the development of a Cultural Policy for the city of Dryden.  This policy, unique to the community, will be a formal policy developed through consultation with the public, cultural community, municipal managers, and elected officials.

The policy may include sections regarding ongoing municipal resources for MCP, cultural mapping, public art, art inventories, heritage and archeological sites, green space development, official plans and zoning amendments. The adoption of the Cultural Policy by the Municipal Council will complete this stage of the planning process and lay the groundwork for how this community will look and feel for many years.

Ally Dunham