Reimagining Cultural Policy: Leading Change Across Governance Systems

In this six-day course, participants will not only critically examine Canada's cultural policy—its colonial foundations, development, and ongoing systemic inequities—but also situate it within a broader international context by reviewing global trends and policy shifts. This program offers a space for bold thinking, critical reflection, and practical action—where participants can connect, challenge assumptions, and co-create a more inclusive and responsive policy landscape. Through dialogue, case studies, and international comparisons, the course creates a third space for Indigenous and non-Indigenous decision-makers to exchange worldviews, forecast funding futures, and develop advocacy strategies to influence policy and institutional transformation.

Program highlights:

• Unpacking the colonial foundations and lived realities of cultural policy
• Navigating multi-level governance structures
• Understanding funding cycles and identifying systemic inequities
• Applying human-centered and regenerative design to policy development
• Growing a toolbox/bundle rooted in responsibility, equity, and right relations
• Collaborating across organizations and sectors to drive systemic change
• Reimagining accountable cultural policy as a living, responsive framework for the future