Programs

Engagement with the arts and culture is increasingly being described as a health behaviour, though there are still significant gaps and challenges in data collection. One such area for further investigation is the relationship between arts engagement and population health in diverse cultural contexts.

GCDN invites members to participate in an online workshop to contribute to this research for GRACE-Epi, a 7-year research program on arts and health. GRACE-Epi brings together researchers and experts from the Global North and South across the arts, humanities, social sciences, epidemiology, data science and molecular biology to investigate how arts and cultural engagement influence health and aging. You can read the full description and sign up here.

Coming soon: GRACE-Epi will produce data at regular intervals over its 7-year duration. GCDN Members will, in due course, be invited to participate in a co-commission of original works using these findings as stimuli – more information to follow.

GCDN Workgroups are designed to give member representatives a forum to meet, get to know each other, and discuss the most pressing issues related to work as stewards of cultural districts. Meetings are held virtually throughout the year and while they are facilitated, the sessions are self-directed. Member representatives decide as a group on the specific topics for discussion and the format of each meeting. Our upcoming workgroups are:

• Civic Signals: Cultural Communications & Social Media
• The Partnership Lab: Forging Alliances that Shape Cultural Futures

Previous groups were organized by themes including:

• Civic Wellbeing and Community Development
• Adapting to the Climate Crisis
• Business Models, Investing, and Finance
• Programming for Performing Arts Centers (presented in partnership with the Association of Asia Pacific Performing Arts Centres)
• Immersion Lab: Culture, Community & Technology (presented in partnership with HUB Montreal)

These sessions create important opportunities outside of our annual meeting for member representatives to share ideas, concerns, and strategies for the issues that were most top-of-mind.

The strength of networks has always been the diversity of perspectives and the breadth of members’ professional experiences. The program enables insightful and useful responses to challenges in the areas of mutual interest. To ensure a collaborative environment, we aim for the workgroups to be as inclusive as possible, without the imposition of hierarchies. We invite participation from member representatives at all levels of their respective organizations, with most of our workgroups aimed at team members at working levels of the organizations as well as C-suite leadership.

GCDN is in the process of developing a mentorship program designed to encourage deep one-on-one knowledge exchange between member representatives. If you are interested in participating as either a mentor or a mentee, please register your interest using this form.