The Canada West Foundation has released Culture and Economic Competitiveness: An Emerging Role for the Arts in Canada. The paper finds a strong case for enhancing urban arts, as arts have been found to benefit cities in a number of areas: 1) Arts improve urban culture and quality of life, impact health and wellbeing of citizens, community identity and social cohesion community revitalisation and re-development of inner cities urban economy; 2) The arts improve a city's ability to attract and retain both skilled workers and, by extension, businesses and capital, thereby increasing a city's global competitiveness. The research identifies additional roles for arts in western Canada's cities, with the aim of creating an environment that values diversity; boosting quality of place; and creating an "innovation culture" by attracting of human capital, stimulating global competitiveness. The discussion paper is based on a review of the existing research - in particular, impact studies, best practices research and comparative analyses - on the linkage between arts and culture policy, quality of life, and economic development. Culture and Economic Competitiveness: An Emerging Role for the Arts in Canada was prepared by Jason Azmier, Senior Policy Analyst, with the research assistance of Sherry Brown, Intern. For more information, including how to purchase the document, CLICK HERE.

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