Baby Steps or Blockbusters?

The museum community continues to wrestle with the challenge of keeping the turnstiles spinning. A common strategy is the 'blockbuster' exhibition, which cannot be argued is a successful method of bringing a lot of people (and their cash) through the doors of an institution in a short period of time. But what happens when the shine goes off King Tut or the Titanic artifacts sail off to the next venue?

Blockbuster exhibits are not a sustainable strategy for audience development, and surely can't be counted on as a stable funding stream. The Kitchener Record reports today that young visitors to the Children's Museum in Waterloo will be reduced to making crafts from 'toilet paper rolls and macaroni' should increased funding not be found from local government sources to sustain the schedule of high profile traveling exhibits. On view until April 11 is Our Body: The Universe Within, where visitors are able to look under the skin and into the inner workings of the human body.

I'm sure that removing blockbuster exhibitions from the programming schedule will be a blow to the ambitions of museum staff, but organizations should look closely at the feasibility and return on investment of short-term spectacles. The slow, measured, one brick at a time, baby step approach of building a dedicated audience around a sustainable programming model should not be discounted. There is probably a lot a child can learn from pasta and cardboard.

Turning Ideas Into Practice: Solutions for Attracting the Creative Class

The Brantford Arts Block continues to take a leadership role in the promotion of redeveloping Brantford as a 'creative' city. On March 5th and 6th the Arts Block has organized a series of workshops, speakers and brainstorming sessions under the banner 'Turning Ideas Into Practice', to be held at the downtown (wouldn't this be a great site for expanded creative industry use?) Market Square. Read the Brantford Expositor story about the upcoming session, and contact the Brantford Arts Block for all the registration information. This is a great opportunity for leaders from other communities to participate in the sharing of strategies and support.

South Side Stories

The viability of Brantford's downtown core as a commercial centre has been in decline for 50 years. Dozens of reports have been written, including a 1969 Central Brantford Urban Renewal Scheme that recommended turning Colborne Street, the core's main thoroughfare, into a pedestrian mall, which became a short-lived reality for one summer.

The 1970's brought the development of two shopping malls on the edge of the city to serve the burgeoning subdivisions, a trend that continues today with the building of 'instant communities' in the city's southwest. This coincided with the loss of thousands of well-paying jobs that came with the collapse of the city's employment mainstay, farm implement manufacturing. Even the completion of large scale development projects like a new Eaton Centre couldn't reverse the spiraling fortunes of downtown Brantford.

In the past decade however, educational partnerships with Wilfrid Laurier and Nippissing Universities have began the process of creating a critical mass of new, knowledge based industries and services that will change the economic base of downtown Brantford forever.

With the growth of post-secondary enrollment has come the need for new housing and student services. Throughout downtown Brantford, many new facilities have been built, and many heritage structures, where feasible, have been repurposed. A noticeable stretch, the south side of Colborne Street, has remained untouched by new development.

The City of Brantford has expropriated 41 properties that make up a three block stretch of Colborne Street in an effort to kick-start new development. The buildings are scheduled to be demolished by the end of March. This radical step has created much debate within and outside the city that I'm sure is relevant to communities throughout Ontario, Canada and beyond.

You might be interested in some of these discussions on the topic:

• An active Facebook group, Save the Southside of Colborne Street, where there are many excellent discussions and links to documents that investigate the debate of restoration versus demolition;
• An article by Christopher Hume, Brantford Aims Wrecking Ball at its Future, in today's edition of The Toronto Star;
• A link to many, many articles in The Brantford Expositor that document the downtown Brantford expropriation process.

Our downtowns and built heritage contribute to the uniqueness and identity of our communities. However, sometimes even venerable buildings outlive their usefulness, and perhaps saving them can stand in the way of creating a new heritage.

It is still uncertain what is planned to replace the soon to be vacant three block stretch of Colborne Street in Brantford. Please feel free to use this space as a forum to let others know of the developments planned for your downtown - successes, failures or best practices that might be of use to your colleagues in Brantford, and beyond.

Buddy Holly Meets the StereoKid

When I was a teenager going to rock shows was an escape. For a couple of years around 1980 our group would regularly head off to exotic locations like 'Toronto' or 'Kitchener' (we were from Clifford!) to catch the acts of the day, not missing too much. But Friday February 5th offered a new concert experience for me.

My son Austen and I traveled to St. Catharines to see a number of bands, including StereoKid, USS, and illScarlet, perform at the CAW Hall. We enjoyed the concert, and I was impressed by the community driven, grass roots feel of the event. Our coats were checked on the way in (by young volunteers), drinks were sold and served at reasonable prices (likely by CAW members) and the band members themselves sold their merchandise from folding tables at the back of the hall. And throughout the show, the performers could be seen in the crowd, signing autographs and enjoying the show.

The event reminded me of what it must of been like in the 1950's, when rock and roll was born and bands would be packaged together to barnstorm small dance halls and community centres across North America. Famously, Buddy Holly was killed on February 3, 1959 on a concert tour.

My introduction to rock shows was the overproduced spectacles at venues like Maple Leaf Gardens and the old CNE Grandstand. As I get a little older, I'm looking forward to attending more family friendly events with my son, and in a few years my daughter, too. Perhaps StereoKid was channeling the spirit of Buddy Holly this past Friday night in St. Catharines?