Deep Dive: Arts and Culture—Connecting the Pieces
Point-Form Summary
- Vernon has a strong arts and cultural community, supported by artists, teachers, volunteers, businesses and non-profit organizations.
- Many major cultural facilities and funding programs are provided through the RDNO’s Greater Vernon cultural service.
- The City has a separate role to manage responsibility for public spaces, downtown planning, tourism and economic development.
- The Greater Vernon Cultural Plan was thoughtful and ambitious when it was adopted in 2016. Before deciding what comes next, we should find out what’s been accomplished and where work remains.
- When it is time, a renewed plan should grow from the needs, ideas and character of this community.
- The Greater Vernon Cultural Centre is a major public project now under construction. We should be open about its costs and compromises while working to ensure that it strengthens downtown and the wider cultural community.
- The City can do more to bring art into public spaces and connect arts and culture with downtown, neighbourhoods, tourism and the local economy.
- The City should help remove barriers faced by artists and cultural organizations without trying to direct their work.
- The loss of public parking at the Cultural Centre site is a reasonable concern. Good access also means making it easier to arrive by walking, cycling and transit.
- Vernon City Council should set a few practical goals towards strengthening art , make responsibilities clear and report publicly on our progress, all within a broader Public Art Policy.
Arts and culture help us tell our stories, understand one another and enjoy living here. They also bring people together, draw people downtown, support local businesses and give visitors more reasons to spend time in Vernon.
We have much to build on: important public facilities, active non-profits, festivals and performances, private arts education and many individual artists and cultural businesses.
The opportunity is to connect these existing strengths and make the most of them.
Understand who is responsible
Responsibility for arts and culture in Greater Vernon is divided among several local governments and many community organizations.
A number of cultural facilities and funding programs are provided through the RDNO’s Greater Vernon cultural service. These matters are considered by the Greater Vernon Advisory Committee, which includes representatives from Vernon, Coldstream and Areas B and C. Final authority rests with the RDNO Board.
Independent non-profit societies operate many of the facilities and provide most of the programs. School District 22, private teachers, businesses and community organizations also play important roles.
The City has a different but significant responsibility. It makes decisions about Vernon’s streets, parks and other public spaces. It’s also responsible for Tourism Vernon, local economic development and event permits, and it provides several forms of community support. Vernon’s representatives can help shape regional cultural decisions through GVAC and the RDNO Board.
This division doesn’t prevent progress, but it does mean that we should be clear about who leads each piece of work. Some decisions belong mainly to the Greater Vernon cultural service, some belong directly to the City and others require the two to work together.
Work led through Greater Vernon
Start with the 2016 Cultural Plan
The Greater Vernon Cultural Plan was adopted in 2016 after considerable community involvement. It was thoughtful and ambitious for its time.
The plan addresses much more than the construction of a Cultural Centre. It calls for support for cultural organizations, public art, youth involvement, neighbourhood projects, special events, Indigenous relationships, tourism and creative businesses. It also calls for regular measurement, public reporting and a review every three or four years.
Ten years later, Greater Vernon should review what has happened under the plan before deciding what comes next. That work needs to be considered through GVAC, coordinated by the RDNO and informed by the participating communities (including Vernon) and the people involved in arts and culture.
The Cultural Centre represents major progress on one of the plan’s central goals. The RDNO has also adopted a Greater Vernon Public Art Policy and continues to support cultural organizations and projects.
Other commitments are harder for the public to follow. It isn’t easy to determine what has been completed, what remains underway, what has changed or what results have been achieved.
Vernon representatives to the Greater Vernon Advisory Committee should ask:
- What has been accomplished?
- Which parts of the plan remain useful?
- Where has progress been difficult, and why?
- What has changed since 2016?
- What barriers are artists and cultural organizations facing?
- Who isn’t being reached?
- What should the next few priorities be?
- Who is responsible for each one?
- What staff time or funding will be needed?
- How will we know whether the work is making a difference?
This assessment should become the starting point for whatever comes next.
Build the next plan here
We can learn from cultural plans developed in other communities, but Greater Vernon shouldn’t copy them. Our next priorities should grow from our own people, places and circumstances.
The work should include established cultural organizations, individual artists, teachers, performers, cultural businesses, young people and people involved in smaller or less formal activities. School District 22 should also be invited as a partner because of its role in arts education, youth participation and community facilities.
We should listen to people who don’t currently participate and try to understand why. Cost, transportation, disability, lack of information or uncertainty about whether a space is welcoming can all become barriers.
We should also look beyond formal organizations and facilities. Studios, rehearsal spaces, private instruction, small venues, neighbourhood gatherings and the knowledge carried within different communities are all part of Vernon’s cultural life. Some important strengths may not appear on an official list.
The Okanagan Indian Band should be approached early as a government and potential planning partner, not simply asked to respond to a nearly finished plan. OKIB should help determine how its members and cultural leaders are involved and whether any part of the work should include the wider Syilx Nation. Indigenous cultural knowledge should be shared only with consent and according to the appropriate cultural rules, with people paid fairly for their contributions.
Community involvement shouldn’t end when a plan is adopted. Greater Vernon needs a practical way for artists, organizations and residents to help guide the work, identify changing needs and assess progress. That may mean renewing an existing group rather than creating another committee, but its purpose and connection to decision-makers should be clear.
Support the people doing the work
Small cultural organizations often face uncertain funding, volunteer burnout, rising costs and limited staff time. Individual artists may struggle to find affordable places to create, rehearse, perform or exhibit their work.
The Greater Vernon cultural service already provides facilities, operating agreements and project grants. A review of the Cultural Plan should consider whether this support is reaching the right people and meeting current needs.
Some responses may require more funding. Others may involve:
- providing clear information about grants;
- connecting groups that could share space or equipment;
- helping organizations find outside funding;
- providing useful training through community partners;
- making publicly supported cultural spaces easier for smaller groups to use.
Funding decisions should be fair and easy to understand. They should also recognize the difference between supporting a one-time event and helping an organization provide an important service year after year.
Work the City can lead
Bring more art into public spaces
Vernon’s historic murals are an important part of our downtown identity. We should preserve and promote them.
A legacy collection, however, is different from an ongoing public-art program.
Vernon has relatively little contemporary art in its streets, parks and other public spaces. The RDNO adopted a public-art policy in 2022, but it applies mainly to regional property and regional funding. The City’s plan to develop its own public-art policy was still listed as not started in May 2026.
A City policy should explain:
- how opportunities will be identified;
- how artists and proposals will be selected;
- how artists will be paid;
- how residents can be involved;
- how Syilx art and knowledge will be respectfully included;
- who will own and maintain the work;
- how temporary art will be handled;
- how art will eventually be repaired, moved or removed.
Public art doesn’t always mean buying a large sculpture. It can be built into benches, lighting, paving, retaining walls, transit stops and utility boxes. It can be temporary or permanent. It can tell a story, invite reflection or simply bring interest and beauty to an ordinary place.
The City could consider setting aside a modest portion of suitable civic project budgets for artistic design or public art. This would require clear rules and shouldn’t apply automatically to every construction project.
Make the downtown cultural district real
The City has proposed identifying a cultural district in the downtown core, but that work was still listed as not started in May 2026.
A cultural district could connect the new Centre with the Performing Arts Centre, Towne Theatre, Powerhouse Theatre, Jazz Club, library, murals, Gallery Vertigo, Caetani Centre and nearby businesses.
Drawing a boundary on a map and giving it a name wouldn’t accomplish much. People should be able to see and experience the district through:
- safe and pleasant walking and cycling routes;
- signs and maps that help people find cultural destinations;
- public art and creative lighting;
- welcoming gathering and performance spaces;
- coordinated events and promotion;
- partnerships with restaurants, shops and accommodations.
Not every cultural organization is downtown, nor should it be. Arts and culture should also be supported in neighbourhoods and elsewhere in Vernon.
Downtown, however, is where culture, public space, business and community gatherings most naturally come together. A well-planned cultural district could become an important part of downtown revitalization.
Make room for neighbourhood creativity
Arts and culture shouldn’t be limited to major facilities or downtown.
Small neighbourhood projects can bring people together and create a stronger sense of belonging. They might include music in a park, community art, storytelling, cultural celebrations or projects led by young people.
The City doesn’t need to organize these activities. Its most useful contribution may be providing a space, making a permit easier to obtain, helping with insurance, offering a small grant or connecting residents with an organization that can help.
Modest support can sometimes attract considerable volunteer time, donations and creative energy. The City should make it easier for good community ideas to take root while leaving room for residents and artists to shape the work.
Connect culture with tourism and the local economy
Tourism Vernon already promotes galleries, theatres, murals, museums and cultural events. It has also developed cultural routes and visitor itineraries.
We can build on this by making it easier for residents and visitors to experience several parts of Vernon’s cultural community. Possibilities include:
- cultural weekends and seasonal events;
- packages connecting performances and exhibitions with restaurants and accommodations;
- studio and behind-the-scenes tours;
- stronger promotion of evening, indoor and winter activities;
- event calendars that are easy to find and use;
- connections with conventions, sports tournaments and other large gatherings.
Culture complements Vernon’s outdoor attractions. It gives people more to do during winter, rain or smoky weather and can encourage visitors to stay longer.
It also contributes to the wider economy. Artists and cultural workers earn and spend money here. Performances and events support restaurants, shops, accommodations and suppliers. A lively and distinctive community is also better able to attract and keep people who may live, work or build businesses here.
At the same time, we should be careful about making hopeful economic claims without good information. The regional arts-and-culture impact assessment now underway should help us better understand participation, employment, visitor spending and other benefits.
Work that requires partnership
Make the most of the Cultural Centre
The Greater Vernon Cultural Centre is a major public project now under construction. It will house the Vernon Public Art Gallery, Greater Vernon Museum and shared teaching, presentation and gathering spaces. For now, at least, the museum archives will remain in their current location nearby.
The project has changed since voters supported borrowing for an earlier version in 2018. As costs rose and expected grants weren’t secured, the proposed building was reduced from about 45,000 to 31,000 square feet. The smaller design has required compromises, including having the museum continue to operate across two locations.
The project is being financed through the RDNO’s Greater Vernon cultural service, whose participating areas are Vernon, Coldstream and Electoral Areas B and C. For Vernon property owners, the regional cost is collected on the property-tax notice issued by the City, but it’s an RDNO service cost rather than City debt.
The RDNO has secured $28 million in long-term borrowing. Other costs are being covered through grants, donations, contributions, reserves and short-term borrowing. The final amount paid by Greater Vernon taxpayers will depend partly on how much additional grant and fundraising money is secured. These costs, along with future operating costs, need to be explained clearly. The details might be somewhat complicated, but transparency matters.
The new building should address serious problems with the art gallery’s current location and create useful shared spaces. Construction is underway, so the task now is to manage costs carefully, communicate openly and make the best possible use of the Centre. We should ask whether it’s meeting the needs of the gallery and museum, welcoming a broad range of residents, supporting other cultural organizations and bringing people downtown throughout the year.
The Centre should be part of Vernon’s wider cultural community, not a building expected to contain all of it.
Make it easier to reach the Centre and downtown
The Cultural Centre is being built on land that previously provided a large public parking lot. The completed site will have considerably fewer parking spaces, while the Centre itself will bring more people downtown.
This change has raised understandable questions for nearby businesses, cultural organizations and residents. Parking will remain important, particularly for people with disabilities, older residents, families, people arriving from outside Vernon and anyone attending evening events when transit options may be limited.
At the same time, replacing every lost space shouldn’t be the only measure of good access. Downtown land also provides room for housing, businesses, public gathering places and cultural facilities.
The City and RDNO should make it easier to reach the Centre and nearby businesses by walking, cycling, transit and car. That could include safe walking routes, secure bicycle parking, transit service that matches event times, clear directions from existing parking, accessible spaces and drop-off areas, and arrangements that make better use of nearby lots and the parkade.
If Vernon wants to respond proactively to this challenge, we should ask:
- Can people reach the Centre safely and conveniently in different ways?
- Does transit run when performances and evening events end?
- Are walking routes well lit and comfortable in winter?
- Is there secure and convenient bicycle parking?
- Are there enough accessible stalls and safe places to drop off passengers?
- Is parking available when major cultural and downtown events overlap?
- Are signs, maps and payment systems easy to understand?
- What are nearby businesses and organizations experiencing?
If the information shows continuing problems, the City should consider practical responses. These might include changing time limits, improving signs, adding accessible or short-term spaces, arranging event parking, improving transit connections or considering additional parking where it’s needed and financially reasonable.
The goal should be to give people workable choices and respond to the needs of those using the downtown.
Build respectful relationships with the Okanagan Indian Band and the wider Syilx Nation
Vernon is on the unceded territory of the syilx people. Public art, museums, tourism and cultural celebrations all involve choices about whose stories are told and who gets to tell them.
The City and its regional partners should build relationships with the Okanagan Indian Band as the local syilx government. OKIB should help decide how its artists, Elders, youth and cultural leaders take part and whether particular work should also involve the Okanagan Nation Alliance or others from the wider Syilx Nation.
These relationships should begin early, respect Indigenous ownership of cultural knowledge and include fair payment for people’s work. This means making room for syilx people to help shape projects from the beginning rather than asking for input after most decisions have already been made.
Measure what changes
We shouldn’t measure our commitment to culture only by grants awarded, meetings held or buildings constructed.
A short public report could ask:
- Are more people taking part?
- Are cultural opportunities reaching a broader range of residents?
- Is more art appearing in public spaces?
- Are events bringing people downtown throughout the year?
- Is it becoming easier for artists and organizations to work in Vernon?
- Is the Cultural Centre strengthening the wider cultural community?
- Is cultural tourism giving people more reasons to visit and stay longer?
This doesn’t require a huge, complicated new reporting system. Much of the information may already be collected. The goal should be to bring it together, identify gaps and use it to make better decisions.
Each major commitment should identify who is responsible, when the work is expected to happen and whether it requires new funding, existing staff time or cooperation from another organization.
My approach
As a Vernon councillor, I’d have two related responsibilities. I’d help make decisions about the work the City controls directly, and I’d use Vernon’s voice within Greater Vernon to support strong regional cultural services.
At the City level, I would support:
- completing a practical public-art policy;
- developing a cultural district that people can see and experience;
- making civic spaces easier to use for cultural and neighbourhood activities;
- connecting arts and culture more closely with tourism, downtown planning and economic development;
- improving the different ways people can reach the Cultural Centre and downtown; and
- monitoring parking and responding to demonstrated needs.
Through GVAC and the RDNO, I would support:
- reviewing what has happened under the 2016 Cultural Plan before deciding what comes next;
- listening broadly to the people who create, teach, organize and take part in culture here;
- inviting School District 22 to help connect cultural planning with arts education and youth participation;
- inviting the Okanagan Indian Band to help determine its role in the planning process;
- careful oversight of the Cultural Centre’s costs, operating needs and use;
- working to ensure that the Centre strengthens the wider cultural community;
- making regional priorities, responsibilities and costs clear;
- reporting publicly on progress.
In both roles, I would support respectful relationships with the Okanagan Indian Band and the wider Syilx Nation.
Vernon already has talented artists, committed volunteers, strong organizations and important cultural facilities. We don’t need the City to take over their work. We need it to be a thoughtful and consistent partner.
By connecting the pieces, we can help create a livelier downtown, a more welcoming and connected community, and a stronger local economy.