The Canadian Urban Institute has developed a ‘how to’ guidebook that can be used by municipalities in Ontario to measure and evaluate the outcomes of municipal cultural planning (MCP) in their communities.  The guidebook contains  a framework for measuring MCP that examines:

The Canadian Urban Institute is pleased to announce that our work is now underway to develop a set of indicators and performance measures that can be used by Ontario municipalities to measure and evaluate the outcomes of Municipal Cultural Planning (MCP) in their communities.

On October 6, the CUI’s strategy and engagement practice, Connector, hosted a Roundtable Breakfast entitled "Civic Engagement – From Buzzword to Meaningful Process". The event kicked off with opening remarks from moderator Jeff Evenson and some insights from a cross-cutting panel including activist Dave Meslin, the CBC’s Mary Wiens, MASS LBP’s Peter MacLeod, Elaine Shin from the Ontario Growth Secretariat and engagement specialist Nicole Swerhun.

Beyond the Ballot Box: Making Democracy Work
By Jeff Evenson and Nicole Swerhun

The Canadian Urban Institute's Jeff Evenson is interviewed in this TV clip from CKWS Television in Kingston about the City's new cultural master plan.

The CUI has developed Kingston’s first culture master plan. The new plan makes the case for the important contribution that culture makes toward wealth creation and quality of life, and calls for a substantial increase in investment toward culture beginning in 2011 and for the next 4 years.

Connector builds engagement processes that people trust. We connect decision makers to networks of key constituents and stakeholders.We work with government staff, elected officials, NGO’s, corporate leaders, diverse ethno-cultural communities, youth and professionals. We create the relationships and the space where different perspectives are explored, options and consequences are identified and issues are resolved to arrive at decisions that move things forward. connector's clients are municipal departments, agencies, boards and commissions, educational institutions, other levels of government and the private sector.

The CUI’s Connector practice is a leader in the field of municipal cultural planning, in which we see our role as assisting municipalities to plan for cultural vitality.

We are passionate about placemaking and its use as a catalyst for cultural vitality. We understand that culture is a function of place and we employ an approach to cultural planning that strives for the development of great places in which vibrant cultural activities can take root.

Who we are:

Connector is the strategy and engagement practice of the Canadian Urban Institute. We design and implement open and transparent deliberative decision making processes that people trust.

Connector works with leading organizations to build engagement and decision- support processes for key decision-makers. Our clients are typically public sector corporations, orders of government and NGOs that know good decisions are based on high quality information.