Shared Ground

Calling in Leadership on Cultural Spaces and Reimagining Downtown Through Arts and Culture

Photo by Jeffrey Eisen

Arts Ottawa is engaged in strategic conversations with public and private partners in relation to emerging cultural infrastructure development opportunities across the city.

This work focuses on ensuring sector-informed input is considered in broader planning processes by advocating for clear, consistent data collection and evaluation measures to be embedded throughout.

The goal is to build a practical evidence base that helps the sector better understand the logistics and feasibility of opening and sustaining arts-led spaces, including what is realistically achievable for smaller organizations and what conditions support long-term sustainability in independently run arts spaces.

This stream of work supports a longer-term horizon goal of positioning the arts sector to be ready to engage with, respond to, and help shape major civic cultural infrastructure as these opportunities emerge across the city.

Research, Advocacy & Planning

The State of the Arts Map is an evolving research tool designed to strengthen Ottawa’s arts ecosystem by making its assets, resources, and opportunities more visible and connected. The map will identify and document creative infrastructure across the city, like studio spaces, learning environments, and community hubs, while capturing key information about their features, uses, and the resources that flow through them.

By providing a clearer picture of what already exists and where gaps remain, the project helps break down silos, foster collaboration, and improve access to spaces and resources. The result is a more connected, informed, and resilient arts community, better equipped to support growth, advocacy, and long-term sector development.

A collaboration with Memetic Media and Carleton Immersive Media Studio (CIMS) Lab.

State of the Arts Map

Learning Cohort

Launching in fall 2026, this Learning Cohort supports people who are working toward creating physical arts and culture spaces. Through mentorship, resources, and peer learning, participants will receive practical support as they take the next steps toward bringing their vision to life.

In exchange, participants will contribute to a shared learning process by documenting key aspects of their journey, helping capture what it actually takes to create and sustain an arts and culture space. Through guided reporting, the cohort will track challenges, costs, timelines, relationships, and decision-making processes involved in developing a space. This information will create valuable knowledge for the sector, helping identify barriers, gaps, and opportunities while strengthening support for future arts and culture space projects.

The 300 Sparks Street Pop-Up is made possible through the generous support of Crown Property Management Inc, who recognize the placemaking and engaging power of artists. This summer activation, led by Cre8, provides artists with a platform to showcase their work as well as bringing more creative life to our downtown.

This pop-up will also serve as a live feasibility study. By observing how the space is used, including foot traffic, visitor engagement, and operational realities, the project will help build a clearer understanding of what it takes to activate and sustain arts and culture spaces in downtown settings. This dual purpose allows the initiative to both animate the street in the present and generate valuable insight to inform future placemaking and space activations.

Sparks Street Storefront

A storefront activation on Bank Street will transform vacant commercial space into a public-facing arts venue. Aligned with the ACE District vision the project will increase the visibility of arts and culture while bringing new energy to the street.

The initiative benefits landlords by activating vacant spaces, creates opportunities for future tenants, and helps revitalize the downtown core by bringing community engagement and restoring energy, creativity, and foot traffic to one of the city’s main streets.

Vacant Storefront activation

Arts Ottawa’s Learning Labs are a key part of our commitment to building capacity across the local arts sector. Through professional development opportunities, knowledge sharing, and collaborative learning, the program supports artists and arts organizations in strengthening skills, expanding networks, and responding to evolving community needs.

By investing in continuous learning, the Learning Labs help build a more resilient, connected, and sustainable arts ecosystem, enhancing the capacity of individual artists, organizations, and Arts Ottawa alike.

Learing Labs

Happening now in Shared Ground:

Something exciting is coming to Sparks Street!

As a direct, visible expression of Shared Ground, an available storefront located at the iconic Place de Ville is being transformed into a vibrant new gallery, artist studio, and market space for the summer. This pop-up at 300 Sparks Street will bring programming, artists, and public life back to a stretch of Sparks Street that has seen significant commercial vacancy in recent years.

This activation is led by Cre:8 in partnership with the Downtown BIA and Arts Ottawa, and is generously supported by Crown Property Management Inc., who recognize the placemaking and community-building power of artists.

The project will also serve as a feasibility study, helping partners better understand how arts and culture spaces can be activated and sustained downtown while informing future placemaking initiatives.

LEARN MORE

THERE'S MORE HAPPENING IN SHARED GROUND:

(click to learn more)

SHARED GROUND: A Framework for Cultural Co-Design in Downtown Ottawa

Shared Ground addresses the arts sector’s priorities around arts spaces. Its aims are to develop and build readiness in the sector for current and future arts space (re)developments.

In 2026, Arts Ottawa and its collaborative partners will activate research streams aimed at collecting and analyzing data to demonstrate the social, economic, and real-estate impacts of cultural spaces, informing policy, investment, and future business models.

Partnerships: Memetic Media, Carleton University CIMS Lab and the Ottawa Art Gallery

Arts Ottawa will invest in community expertise, equitable participation, and collaborative planning by creating a Shared Ground Cohort, to bridge the gap between cultural space needs and urban development opportunities. If you are interested participating in the cohort, please reach out to Cassandra Olsthoorn at cassandra@artsottawa.ca.

Arts Ottawa is also actively applying for seed and project funding, and welcome corporate sponsorship and/or private donations for Shared Ground. Interested in supporting this important work? Please reach out to Nicole Milne at nicole@artsottawa.ca.

This Action Lab is presented by Arts Ottawa in collaboration with ArtsBuild Ontario, Memetic Media, and the Ottawa Art Gallery ACE District Initiative.

Downtown Ottawa is on the brink of transformation—and artists, creatives, and cultural leaders have a vital role to play.

As Ottawa prepares to make major investments in redeveloping its downtown core, there is a tacit issue: we are planning the physical transformation of downtown without a coherent strategy for the cultural economy that is supposed to animate it. -Kwende Kefentse, READ KWENDE'S FULL ARTICLE HERE

In response to the call for a downtown that is vibrant, resilient, and inclusive, Arts Ottawa is convening artists, community and business leaders, and creative thinkers to imagine what’s possible when arts and culture are embedded into the fabric of our city.

This Action Lab aims to explore - and take action on - sector readiness for cultural space developments, and reframing underused spaces.

On October 29, Arts Ottawa hosted (Un)Common Grounds and Community Living Rooms at Urban Art Collective. The event brought artists, organizers, and community members together to explore cultural space and community infrastructure in Ottawa.

The evening opened with a round table conversation where panelists shared grounded insights and real world experiences. This sparked meaningful dialogue among attendees about how culture can shape more connected and resilient communities.

Curious about what emerged from this session? Learn more and read the full report from the event here.

Arts Ottawa launched this Action Lab with an event on June 25th at Place de Ville, a unique former cinema connected to the Lyon LRT station. Shared Ground marked our first steps—bringing the community together for a day of learning and collaborative design as we began shaping a collective vision for arts sector readiness. From these conversations, we identified clear takeaways and a path forward. For those seeking deeper context and analysis, a full formal report is available, offering comprehensive insight into our discussions and next steps.

READ THE FULL REPORT HERE

About June 25th

→Click here to view the Recap video of our first Shared Ground event

On June 25th, Arts Ottawa hosted the first event under our Action Lab, Shared Ground—a day of learning and collaborative design, where we began shaping a collective vision for arts sector readiness.

Our learning day was hosted at Place de Ville, and 300 Sparks where a unique former cinema connected to the Lyon LRT station resides.

Together, we mapped, prototyped, and modeled sustainable, arts-forward space activations through community visioning and participatory design. Learnings from the day shaped a charrette exploring how vacant urban spaces can be transformed into cultural assets. This day also launched the Shared Ground Leadership Circle, calling in community voices to contribute to this Action Lab as it identifies strategies and pathways to bridge the gap between artists and revitalization projects

We explored how we can future-proof arts spaces as places for community gathering, creativity, and collaboration—grounded in cultural co-design, community expertise, and the power of imagination in city-building.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE EVENT SUMMARY REPORT

About the presenters at Shared Ground on June 25th:

Kwende Kefentse (he/him)Memetic Media Kwende Kefentse is a creator, researcher, administrator and cultural innovator based in Ottawa. His 20+ year career bridges the worlds of creative practice, the research and development of cultural industries, and civic leadership / city building. Most recently he was the first Executive Director of CKCU-FM, reimagining the station's operations post-pandemic, focusing on technological modernization and community reconnection. In his former position as Cultural Industries Development Officer for the City of Ottawa he led the development of Ottawa's Renewed Action Plan for Arts, Heritage, and Culture (2013-2018) and the Ottawa Music Strategy (2018-2020), among other critical city-wide cultural initiatives. He serves on the Boards of the Ottawa Music Industry Coalition, Ottawa Film Office, and Carleton University Art Gallery. As DJ Memetic of the TIMEKODE collective his productions have received critical acclaim from international outlets like Vice Thump, Radio Nova, and Wax Poetics. He has been requested as an opening performer for luminaries like Nas and Barack Obama. Kwende has earned a Masters of Research (MRes) from UCL's Bartlett School of Architecture focussed on modelling the spatial dynamics of cultural production in the music industry. In 2025 Kwende is establishing his consultancy Memetic Media, and launching the TIMEKODE CoLABoratory, a dynamic, interdisciplinary project that commemorates 20 years of local nightclub heritage, while charting its future through innovation, collaboration, and community engagement.
Alex Glass (she/her) ArtsBuild Executive Director
Alex has been with ArtsBuild for over eight years and successfully grown ABO’s programs and partnerships. Alex managed the development of the Accessibility Toolkit for Creative Spaces in Ontario and corresponding six-part webinar series, the Creative Spaces Case Study Series, and the expansion of SpaceFinder across Canada in 11 communities.

Bringing 14 years of experience in the non-profit sector, Alex has previously worked with organizations such as the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra, Talisker Players Chamber Music and Canterbury Hills Camp & Conference Centre. She has an honors degree in English and Cultural Studies from McMaster University and graduate certificate in Public Relations from Mohawk College.

Eva Hellreich (any pronouns) ArtsBuild Program Manager
They are passionate about providing under-served communities access to resources, knowledge and networks that enable and sustain self-empowerment through creative leadership and community building. They bring over 7 years of arts and funding administrative experience spanning non-profit, community arts, festivals and government funders, as well as experience as a youth and adult educator. In addition to ample experience with program development and service delivery, they served a 3 year term as a working Board member of Mayworks Festival of Working People and are currently serving a 3 year term on the Toronto Arts Council’s Creative Communities Committee.

Eva has a Bachelor of Arts in English and a Master of Arts in Immigration and Settlement from Toronto Metropolitan University, where they conducted primary research for their Major Research Paper on the experiences of newcomer artists and art as a tool for civic engagement.

Eva is enthusiastic about sharing their passion for project management, collaboration and creative problem solving with community engaged artists and organizations through skill and resource exchanges, collaboration, and peer mentorship. Eva believes in art for art’s sake and challenges the influence of capitalism on determining the value of a creative practice or production. Their personal practice includes photography, textile art, and creative writing.

ArtsBuild Ontario (ABO) ABO is a provincial arts service organization that provides small and medium-sized organizations with tools, training, and advice to successfully manage physical and digital creative spaces. ABO works to reimagine the future of creative spaces through dedicated research projects and an engaged network of supportive partners.

Thank you to our Sponsors and Partners from June 25th

Shared Ground in the Media

The Ottawa Art Gallery (OAG), engaged by the City of Ottawa, is leading the development of a downtown Arts, Culture, and Entertainment (ACE) District. This year, OAG will create a framework, brand, and implementation strategy for the District.

Outlined as a key initiative in A Living Capital: Downtown Ottawa Action Agenda (May 2024), the ACE District aims to revitalize the core by fostering placemaking, cultural initiatives, and strengthening Ottawa’s creative economy.

Shared Ground will help guide and inform this work.

If you are interested in getting involved with this initiative or exploring partnership opportunities, please reach out to Cassandra Olsthoorn at cassandra@artsottawa.ca