The growth in demand for cultural products is both a Canadian and global phenomenon. Although domestic revenues form the bulk of earnings for Canada's cultural producers, the export market for cultural products is growing rapidly as well. Increased penetration of both the American and global markets is especially evident in the film and video, sound recording, and book publishing industries, where many Canadian artists enjoy international acclaim. Currently, the value of cultural products exported from Canada is approaching $2 billion (Figure 1, below).

Historically, the manufacture of cultural products has been concentrated in major urban centres: for example, London and Paris, New York and Los Angeles and, in Canada, Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal. The cultural industries create significant activity within these cities' economies. In Metropolitan Toronto, revenues from the film and video, book and magazine, and sound recording industries exceeded $3 billion in 1991-92. Together, these three industries employed more than 10,500 full and part-time workers in 746 different companies. Overall employment in Metro Toronto's cultural industries sector exceeded 42,500 in 1991-92, more than 3 percent of Metro's jobs (Statistics Canada, 1993).

Given the economic value of the cultural industries and their job creation potential, many American and European cities have devised strategies to attract cultural producers. London was an early leader in this regard. In the 1970s, the abandoned industrial warehouses of the Hackney district of East London were rejuvenated and made available to cultural producers as the foundation of a cultural industries initiative. Similar initiatives were also launched in other European cities, including Milan, Modena, Bologna, Bradford, Glasgow and Sheffield.

In Sheffield, the film and sound recording industries were targeted for development through an effort spearheaded by the City's Department of Employment and Economic Development (Wynne, 1992). In the early 1980s, the City created a cultural industries quarter in a declining downtown area through establishing the Audio Visual Enterprise Centre (AVEC). Subsequently, AVEC became the home to numerous recording studios and rehearsal facilities, photographic galleries and workshops, Sheffield Independent Film, the National Centre for Popular Music, and a variety of other cultural producers. Fifteen years after its inception, Sheffield's cultural industries quarter now houses 156 businesses responsible for 1000 jobs, making Sheffield a leading centre for cultural production in the U.K. (City of Sheffield, 1997).

A common feature of municipal strategies to attract cultural producers is the amendment of zoning by-laws to permit artists' live/work studios, often within abandoned warehouses or other under-utilized structures. Over time, these environments become centres for creative innovation and production. San Francisco, Portland, Seattle and Vancouver are representative West Coast cities whose zoning by-laws permit artists' live/work studios. In some cities, municipal involvement has extended to the renovation and provision of live/work studios on a subsidized basis. Although this practice is more common in Europe, the City of Peekskill, New York (pop. 20,000) has been a North American leader in this regard.

Currently, Peekskill is engaged in a cultural industries initiative designed both to stimulate economic development and revitalize its downtown. The Peekskill initiative began by using portions of a community development block grant (received annually from the federal government) to offer low interest loans to downtown property owners willing to convert their upper storeys into live/work studios for artists. Subsequently, Peekskill purchased a deteriorating downtown department store and converted it to a complex of street-level retail shops, with artists' live/work studios on the storey above. Peekskill next created the Peekskill Artlofts, a subsidized $5.3 million condominium project built on a 1.2 acre city-owned lot, further increasing Peekskill's investment in the arts (West, 1995).

Key to the success of the Peekskill initiative has been an aggressive artist recruitment strategy led by the City's Planning Department. By 1997, 100 artists, many from nearby New York City, had been recruited to live and work in Peekskill. Aided by the arrival of Westchester Community College (which offers digital photography classes in its new downtown facility), the Peekskill initiative has also attracted several multi-media production companies, eager to exploit the town's "growing pool of creative talent" (Schamess, 1996).

In Canada, the Regional Municipality of Hamilton Wentworth created a visionary model for cultural industries development in the early 1990s. With a focus on the old Barton Street area of Hamilton's downtown (where numerous properties sit unoccupied), the Cultural Industry Strategy of Hamilton Wentworth intended to make Hamilton Wentworth "a significant regional player in the North American cultural industries' market" (Johnston, 1995).

Developed with the support of the City of Hamilton, the Hamilton and Region Arts Council and the Government of Ontario, the Hamilton Wentworth Strategy envisaged a structure of three corporate entities to oversee the initiative.

To begin, the Cultural Industry Development Corporation would design the actual development strategy. Next, the Cultural Industry Non-Profit Investment Fund would provide short and medium-term financing to local cultural producers. Finally, the Artzone Urban Trust Corporation would acquire and manage properties, making them available to cultural producers on a low-cost lease basis.

The initiative was intended to begin in 1995, financed with a $10 million commitment from Ontario's N.D.P. government. However, in the same year, the newly elected Conservative government rescinded the funding commitment. In the absence of alternative funding, Hamilton's initiative was unable to proceed.

Implications for the Central Okanagan
For the most part, the cultural industries of the Central Okanagan serve the regional market. As such, the sector's development is tied to the region's population growth. However, if export-oriented cultural producers were attracted to the region, the sector could develop at an accelerated rate. Moreover, the presence of export-oriented producers would enhance employment, contract, and shared-venture opportunities for local artisans and arts-related films.

Currently, the bulk of export-oriented producers in BC are situated in the Lower Mainland. Which of these producers might be attracted to the Central Okanagan cannot be known at this time. However, a list of industry sub-sectors would include sound recording studios, publishers, multicommercial and fine art, ceramic and glass producers, and manufacturers of other products with a high design element. The Central Okanagan also has an unrealized potential as a shooting location for film and video projects. Over time, realizing this potential could stimulate an indigenous production capacity.

It is premature to project the impact of a cultural industries initiative on the regional economy. Too many variables exist for projections to be made. The nature of the initiative must first be defined, a development strategy must be devised, the infrastructure required to support such an initiative must be determined, and development partners and funding sources must be identified. However, activity within BC's cultural industries sector (BC's film industry alone had a direct economic impact of $537 million in 1996), suggests the existence of significant development opportunities from which the Central Okanagan could profit.