Cultural Plan
Cultural Plan: 2027 & Beyond
We're updating the Cultural Plan and want to hear from you! Help shape the 2027 & Beyond Cultural Plan by getting involved with the following opportunities. Your input will help determine the priorities of the community and help make updates for the current cultural landscape.
Why it matters: Culture plays a key role in our local economy, community wellbeing, and tourism. This plan will help us grow and support the creative sector in ways that are inclusive, responsive, and inspiring. Together, we’ll build on the success of Kelowna’s 2020–2025 Cultural Plan to reflect what’s most important to our community today.
Stay connected
- Follow the City on social media
- Sign up for the Arts and Culture e-newsletter
- Taking part in upcoming events and/or surveys
2020-2025 Cultural Plan
Council endorsed the 2020-2025 Cultural Plan on September 16, 2019. This plan set priorities for the enhancement of cultural vitality and community spaces, and aligned with the Imagine Kelowna goal of an engaging arts and culture scene. Most importantly, this plan set a course for the creative sector to provide accessible, diverse and inclusive experiences, use resources effectively, leverage opportunities, and be innovative and forward thinking. The plan also highlighted the value of partnerships and cooperation.
Cultural Plan Progress Report Card
The bi-annual Cultural Plan Progress Report Card reviews the progress made toward strategic outcomes in the 2020-2025 Cultural Plan. This report card covers a period of unprecedented challenges and uncertainty.
Get inspired by the by the artists, performers, community leaders and citizens that have helped to shape our Cultural Plan progress to date.
Kelowna's 2025 Creative Sector Economic Impact Assessment report builds on the foundations laid by previous assessments in 2010 and 2019, harnessing fresh data from 2024 for a dynamic, evidence-based snapshot of Kelowna’s creative community’s current scale and value.
Key highlights from the report include:
- Kelowna’s creative sector contributed over $579 million in total economic input
- An increase of 49% in number of establishments between 2018 and 2024
- Labour income generated over 263 million
- More than 3,500 full time employees work in the creative sector
- There are 746 creative sector establishments in 2024, up from 626 in 2018
- Gross domestic product increased by 58% between 2018 and 2024
With support from the University of British Columbia Okanagan, we used data analytics and machine learning to identify trends, patterns and insights into citizen's engagements with culture in Kelowna from an unbiased lens. These outcomes helped developed the 2020-2025 Cultural Plan.
The Cultural Plan is an opportunity to increase the visual presence of syilx creativity in our community. Therefore, as part of the process of engagement for the Cultural Plan, we initiated a conversation with Carrie Terbasket of Stands Above Consulting, who supported us to begin this journey of open dialogue and discussion with the syilx arts and culture community.
The purpose was to receive guidance toward establishing meaningful and deliberate syilx/Okanagan inclusion within the 2020-2025 Cultural Plan through applicable background information and recommendations for consideration. The scope of work was limited to recommendations specific to the advancement of arts, culture and heritage by the creative sector of Kelowna (inclusive of the City of Kelowna as an entity).
It’s acknowledged that this work is only a starting point to the commitment and long-term organic process by the arts and culture sector toward reconciliation. The report is only intended as input and the recommendations are considered along with all feedback received from the community. The importance of partnership with our First Nations is a worthwhile and a long-term commitment to relationship building.
The Cultural Facilities Master Plan (CFMP) builds on prior efforts to strengthen commitment to cultural facility development.
Learn more about the CFMP on our Cultural District page, or view the full Cultural Facilities Master Plan online.
Kelowna's first Cultural Plan (2012-2017) was launched in 2012 to encourage and integrate local culture within all neighbourhoods of Kelowna. Starting in 2018 through to July 2019, we reviewed the progress made based on the plan’s goals. Based on our findings, we produced the 2012-2017 Cultural Plan Report Card to demonstrate the progress our community has made toward achieving the goals of the 2012-2017 Cultural Plan.
