Creative and Cultural Industries Strategy
We're working on a strategy to grow and develop Yukon’s creative and cultural industries.
What's happening now
Public comment on Creative Potential: Advancing Yukon’s Creative Economy closed on February 5, 2021. We will consider all the feedback while refining the document. Thank you to everyone who participated and shared their thoughts on the draft strategy.
Next step: final strategy – March/April 2021
We will release a final strategy in March or April 2021. It will launch to coincide with the UN International Year of Creative Economy for Sustainable Development, 2021.
This strategy is the first of its kind for Yukon. It lays out a long-term vision to achieve the sector’s full potential. It builds on current government supports. The aim is for the creative and cultural sector to develop and increase its contributions to Yukon’s economy and society.
All actions in the strategy are based on what we heard during public engagement in 2019. We collected input from many contributors, including:
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industry participants;
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creative and cultural sector organizations;
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First Nations governments; and
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Municipalities
Read the draft strategy
How we're developing the strategy
The departments of Tourism and Culture, Economic Development and Education, with guidance from the Women's Directorate, are developing the creative and cultural industries strategy.
Completed phases
Since May 2019, we have been engaging with individuals and organizations who work in the creative and cultural industries to gather input to help us develop a strategy that:
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is effective and relevant;
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supports, strengthens and sustains a vibrant creative and cultural industries sector in Yukon;
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incorporates best practices from across Canada; and
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includes elements to support diversity and inclusivity.
Phase 1 – spring and summer 2019
Research report
This information provides an overview of the creative and cultural industries in Yukon in terms of:
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their current state; and
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the demographic composition.
It also provides insights into the sector in the rest of Canada.
View the research report highlights
Sector engagement session
We held a day-long public engagement session on May 3, 2019. It brought the sector together to examine:
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the existing supports available; and
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the priorities, challenges and opportunities.
Input from this session guided the engagement process.
Phase 2 – fall 2019 to winter 2020
Public engagement sessions
We held 35 facilitated public engagement sessions across Yukon. Participants came from the industries, as well as First Nations and municipal governments. Discussions focused on identifying:
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what is working well for the sector;
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what opportunities should be considered; and
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what improvements would be valuable.
See a full schedule of the sessions
Survey
An online survey was open from October 8 to November 30, 2019.
What We Heard report
The What We Heard report provides a summary and broad analysis of the feedback we received during both phases of public engagement. This includes the online survey.
The report presents 9 key themes and associated information without any prioritization or weighting. The information in the report guided the development of the draft strategy.
We publicly shared the What We Heard report on February 20, 2020. Feedback was welcomed on the content and considered for the draft strategy.
Phase 3 – remainder of 2020
Due to COVID-19, the development of the strategy was delayed. In order to ensure the draft strategy is relevant and will meet the needs of the sector we hosted 2 focus groups in November 2020. These groups included individuals from each industry.
The group sessions helped us to establish priorities and refine the draft strategy before it was shared publicly.
The draft strategy was available for public comment from January 6 to February 5, 2021.
What are the creative and cultural industries?
The creative and cultural industries are a distinct and important part of Yukon’s culture, providing economic as well as social benefits to the territory.
These industries are quite diverse, but essentially include all industries which generate cultural, artistic or heritage products and content for consumers and marketplaces.
We are using this definition of creative and cultural industries to inform the scope of the project:
1: the production or reproduction, promotion, distribution and commercialization of goods, services and activities of content derived from cultural, artistic or heritage origins.
2: includes, but is not limited to, sound recording, visual and applied arts, crafting, audio-visual and interactive media, film, photography, graphic design, architecture, live performance, theatre, written and published works, heritage and libraries as well as the labour force and institutions required to support them.
The creative and cultural industries in Yukon
The cultural industries are a direct contributor to Yukon’s economy and are poised for growth. According to Statistics Canada, Yukon's culture GDP was $59.7 million in 2018 and amounted to 2% of the total territorial economy. For comparison, Canada’s culture GDP totalled $56.1 billion in 2018 and accounted for 2.7% of Canada’s total economy.
Culture’s contribution of 2% in Yukon’s economy compared to 2.7% in Canada’s shows that there is significant potential for Yukon to grow this sector. A prosperous creative and cultural industries sector would not only strengthen our creative community, but also contribute to the development of other sectors such as:
- tourism;
- small business;
- manufacturing; and
- education.
Reports and documents
Phase 2 – Public meetings and survey
Phase 1 - Public engagement session
Resources and examples of plans, policies and strategies
Government of Yukon resources
Canada
Nova Scotia
Prince Edward Island
Saskatchewan
- Creative Saskatchewan – Useful information about investment programs and story-based reporting
Calgary
USA
Who's listening
Contact the team by email at ccis.engage@gov.yk.ca or on their phone numbers below.
Project contacts and representatives:
- Corrie Gallienne – project manager, Tourism and Culture: 867-667-8383
- Ewa Dembek – project manager, Tourism and Culture: 867-667-8304
- Alicia Debreceni – communications analyst, Tourism and Culture: 867-332-3670
- Anton Solomon – director, Labour Market Programs and Services, Education
- Kevin Hannam – senior policy advisor, Economic Development
- Collyn Lovelace – policy analyst, Women's Directorate