HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2015-10-22, Page 26PAGE 26. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2015.
The Alice Munro Labour Market
Partnership Project has immense
potential in Huron County, says
Project Co-ordinator Alyson Nyiri,
who has a grand vision for what
Munro’s stature in the world can
mean for Huron County.
Nyiri spoke to Huron County
Council at its Oct. 14 committee of
the whole meeting, laying out
numerous benefits the multi-faceted
project could have for all of the
county.
Her fiscal report, entitled Building
the Literary Landscape: The Growth
Potential in Alice Munro Country,
outlined a number of concepts, all
backed with research into how
Huron County can help draw tourists
to the area after Munro’s 2013 Nobel
Prize win.
The partnership group consisted of
the Municipalities of North Huron,
Central Huron and Morris-
Turnberry, as well as the County of
Huron, and the steering committee
consisted of representatives from
nearly 20 different organizations
throughout the county, including the
Alice Munro Festival of the Short
Story, the Avon Maitland District
School Board and the Huron County
Library, among others.
The report stated that feasibility
studies will strengthen the position
that developing culture around
Munro will help the local economy
in a number of ways.
“Creative City Network of Canada
describes culture as an economic
engine and argues that
municipalities that adopt culture as
an industry have gained positive
economic benefits for their
communities. Cultural industries,
they write, create job growth, turn
cities into ‘destination cities’, create
links between arts and businesses,
attract skilled workers, and help to
create spin-off businesses,” the
report states
The link between Huron County
and Munro, the report stated, could
offer new and innovative cultural
opportunities and “avenues of
possibility”.
The project, Nyiri said, aims to
assess how those opportunities could
be supported and to identify ways to
support the cultural sector through
co-ordinated planning, that could
result in more jobs throughout
Huron County.
The five main focuses of the
project, Nyiri told councillors, will
be international tourism, digital
literacy and technology, museum
development, literacy programming
and festival development with a
specific focus on the Alice Munro
Festival of the Short Story.
Delving further into the report,
Nyiri said that while one million
visitors make their way to Huron
County annually, they spend $60
million, which is well below the
provincial average in day visits and
overnights stays.
Those who travel the furthest, tend
to spend the most, Nyiri said, which
is an important fact to know as the
project moves closer to being
implemented.
The report also stated that it’s
important to set realistic goals for
implementation of the project,
saying that in reality, it will likely
take 10 years to fully realize the
potential of the project.
In order to fully realize the
potential of the project, the report
states that the culture of Munro
needs to be fully embedded into the
fabric of various Huron County
communities.
“A fully immersive visitor
experience means they are travelling
through a community that
continually shows signs of creativity
and artistry,” one of the
recommendations states.
Another recommendation is that
the festival should take the lead,
building from its existing network of
marketing and communications.
A branding concept for the Munro
project was also presented,
suggesting that Huron be called
“Alice Munro’s Country: The Heart
of the Story.”
As far as the digital literacy branch
of the strategy is concerned, Nyiri
said that Huron is “remarkably well
equipped” to participate in the
digital world, pointing to broadband
coverage of between 90 and 95 per
cent.
Nyiri, however, said that as a
Molesworth resident, she doesn’t yet
have access to broadband internet,
but that she hopes to soon.
In regards to the development of
an Alice Munro museum, Nyiri said
that research indicated that an entire
museum dedicated to Munro would
likely not be the tourism draw locals
might think it would be. However, if
a Munro component were to be
rolled into another museum, people
would likely travel to the
destination.
Possibilities noted to be
incorporated with a Munro museum
were the North Huron Museum, the
Great Hall in Clinton, Blyth 14/19,
the Huron County Museum in
Goderich, Munro’s present home in
Clinton or Lower Town Wingham
(Alice Munro’s childhood home).
In conclusion, Nyiri said that the
cultural plan recommends a close
working relationship between the
project and Huron County and its
cultural services and economic
development departments. The plan
also offered six strategic directions:
Invest in our people, foster
partnerships and collaborations,
implementing a communications
strategy, leverage existing cultural
resources, advance the
municipality’s role in cultural
development and preserve and
promote our cultural heritage.
The project’s “road map” session
identified a dozen “priority insights”
for the project going forward. They
are: continue to support Huron as a
creative community, hire a creative
director for the festival, let the
festival lead, capture and tell Alice
Munro’s authentic story, promote
and leverage creative storytelling,
engage youth, Creative Lit+ bundles,
secure high profile Canadian authors
for the festival, give arts and the
festival a high online profile,
enhance Alice Munro Country
branding and marketing, seek
government support and provide
sector support and establish ongoing
collaboration.
Keeping the spirit undead
While the Witches Walk may have been cancelled this year, its four primary organizers, known
as the Blair Witches, wanted to make sure that the event, which would have been held over
the weekend, stayed fresh in the public’s mind. To that end, they visited local shops and
restaurants on Friday evening including the Part II Bistro which was hosting a Tennessee
Whiskey tasting. Shown are, from left: Betty Lewis, Part II Bistro owner and chef Peter Gusso,
Vicky Bremner, Hope Button and Bev Blair. (Denny Scott photo)
Project seeks to brand Huron ‘Heart of the Story’
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