‘A Treasure Trove of Teaching Resources for Arts Policy’ by Robin Sokoloski

Last fall, I had the great pleasure of co-teaching a course entitled, Arts Policy, Equity and Activism with my friend and colleague Janis Monture for Centennial College’s Arts Management program. Although this was a brand new experience for me I was struck throughout the course how fortunate I was to have so many current and robust Canadian resources at my disposal. As the Director of Organizational Development at Mass Culture I have first hand knowledge of what the organization has within its storehouse of arts research ready to be shared. 

So, for all those out there teaching arts and cultural management, arts policy, cultural municipal planning and/or cultural diplomacy allow me to save you an extensive trip to the library and share with you the treasure trove of arts research resources that Mass Culture has to offer. 

Janis and I began our course as many Canadian arts policy teachers would with the Massey Commission (Fun Fact: The name, Mass Culture derived from the title of Commission as it too initiated a nationwide consultative process). Although very much a product of the 1950s, this historical process set the foundation for the Canadian arts sector and many of its major institutions. Of course it can easily be Googled. The 500+ page document has been digitized and made available by Library and Archives Canada. You can get a quick summary of it on Wikipedia. You may even discover Robert Sirman’s speaking notes on a lecture he delivered in 2014, entitled, “What Would Massey See Today.”  Although quite a bit has happened over the last seven years, this lecture still stands up and Janis and I used this as a class resource. However, this course wasn’t just designed to provide an in-depth look at how policy shapes arts and cultural organizations, but also how equity and activism shape policy. To get at the heart of these interwoven strands you need to access and share insights from a multitude of thought leaders on their challenges and the emerging ideas. Mass Culture has dedicated its work towards providing a wide breadth of perspectives on topics that matter to the arts sector. It is through this work that I was able to offer a contemporary and enriching educational experience.

Click on this link to see how I mapped out Mass Culture’s various resources within our course curriculum. Although it won’t have the links, you can also request an exported PDF.