In 2008, the City of Surrey was awarded the Cultural Capitals of Canada designation from Heritage Canada. As a part of this project The City of Surrey committed to develop a Cultural Strategy for Youth Services.
We wanted to find out what Surrey was doing well, what we weren't doing and how we can improve...all based on the arts. The purpose of creating the strategy was to improve the arts and culture stuff that already existed and making sure that Surrey's youth wanted what we were providing. Also, we wanted to find new, creative and innovative ideas that youth in Surrey would want to be a part of in Arts and Culture.
Youth were invited to participate in a day long arts and culture forum on June 6th 2009. The purpose of this forum was for youth to express their ideas on youth arts in Surrey creatively. Over 40 participants took part in three workshops run by local artists that explored arts and culture through a variety of mediums: digital art, visual art and performance art. Through these activities youth were able to experience a variety of art forms, and provide feedback at the same time.
From there a Youth Arts Strategy has been written and the recommendations are being implemented and adopted into programs, drop-ins and everything else Arts and Culture!