Co-Creating Arts Ottawa
We’re reimagining governance at Arts Ottawa with collaboration, transparency, and community input at the core.
Photo: Quest
Arts Ottawa is taking a new approach to addressing both the new and old challenges the arts sector faces. We are committed to driving change through a collaborative and inclusive model, fostering deeper community relationships and promoting innovation. Our new organizational model is founded upon the belief in collective action as the pathway to innovation and solutions for the complex challenges facing the arts sector today. The new model promotes a shift from centralized to distributed decision-making through collective leadership.
Our Learning Labs and Co-Creation Labs will introduce key themes: governance, advocacy, artist leadership, trust-building, and cross-sector collaboration. To collectively shape Arts Ottawa’s governance structures, Arts Ottawa interest holders (artists, culture workers, and community members) will work together in co-learning and co-creation. This work will directly shape how the Core Leadership Circle (CLC) and Community Advisory Circle (CAC) will be formed, recruited, and run.
Throughout this process we aim to create solutions that are inclusive, sustainable, and impactful. And we want to do this together.
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Built with the results of 2023-24’s Community Conversations and Co-Creation Workshops, we have introduced a model for shared leadership, distributed decision-making, and collective action for the organization.
THE NEXT STEPS: → Launching Learning Labs:
Learn and explore innovative ideas around collective advocacy, governance, leadership, and collaboration.
→ Convening Co-Creation Labs:
Workshops where the community uses the learnings and insights from the Learning Labs to contribute in shaping governance structures.
Labs will play a crucial role in how we structure governance within our organization to best prioritize the community’s needs.
→ Forming the Core Leadership Circle:
The CLC will be responsible for strategic decision-making and organizational direction. They will work with staff and board of our Arts Ottawa.
→ Assembling the Community Advisory Circle:
The CAC is built from what we’ve learned about community needs in the Labs. They report directly to the Core Leadership Circle and advocates for the community’s priorities. These groups will be formed based off the insights and results of the Learning and Co-Creation Labs.