The City of Moose Jaw’s Parks and Recreation Department is embarking on a several-year project to produce a cultural plan for the city. 

With grant funding from SaskCulture, work on the project got underway in June following the green light from city council. 

The project was the brainchild of the Cultural Advisory Committee bringing forward a recommendation to city council to apply for the SaskCulture funding. That led to a project planning team representing over 15 individuals and organizations from across the city for the first phase of planning. 

All together the plan will have four phases.  

The first phase is taking inventory of the cultural resources within the city. This includes cultural centres, museums and art galleries as well as cultural organizations, assets such as public art, events, food and restaurants.  

The idea is to bring together the arts and culture, heritage, business, social and environmental sectors. 

“There are going to be some key deliverables that are coming from the plan that we're going to be able to take action right away,” said Director of Parks and Recreation Derek Blais.  

“And it's not just going to be city initiatives, it's going to be community LED initiatives, it's going to be initiative led by the organizations that are sitting around our project planning team table, but also any other organizations that come through throughout the process.” 

A survey is expected to be going out before the end of the year to organizations that offer cultural services to help gather inventory and define what culture is in Moose Jaw. 

The second phase will be community engagement. The hope is for the committee to interact with the community to learn about the long-term and short-term goals when it comes to culture in the city. 

Phase three is the developing of the plan, putting together drafts and recommendations while organizing initiatives-based research and the information retrieved from the community. 

The final phase is the implementation phase where the wheels will be put into motion to achieve these goals, both the goals that can be achieved right away as well as working towards the long-term goals. 

Blais said having a cultural plan will also have an economic spinoff for the city. 

“To ensure that Moose Jaw is culturally vibrant, it's an attraction for people to come here to our events, to come to visit Moose Jaw to see our tourist attractions, but also an opportunity for us to attract people to move to Moose Jaw because we are a culturally vibrant community and that community that everyone is proud of,” he said. 

Anyone interested in more information or would like to join the project planning committee can call the city’s Parks and Recreation Department.