Peterborough's Municipal Cultural Plan: Building the Conditions for Culture to Thrive

Overview

Culture shapes Peterborough’s identity, strengthens community belonging, and contributes to a vibrant local economy, enhancing the quality of life for residents, attracting visitors, and supporting local businesses and creative workers.

The City of Peterborough is developing a new Municipal Cultural Plan (MCP), along with three supporting strategies focused on:

• Public Art & Placemaking
• Events
• Cultural Tourism

The work is grounded in a simple understanding: Culture is already thriving across Peterborough in neighbourhoods, communities, festivals, traditions and everyday experiences. Much of it is informal, community-led and not always visible or recognized.

Through this process, we are inviting community members to help document where culture happens, how it is experienced, and where there are gaps or barriers, so future actions and investments are grounded in real, lived experience.

Whether you create, organize, volunteer, attend or simply notice culture in your daily life, your input will help shape practical, achievable actions over the next 10 years (2026 - 2036).

Land Acknowledgement

We respectfully acknowledge that we are on the treaty and traditional territory of the Mississauga Anishinaabeg. We offer our gratitude to the First Peoples for their care for, and teaching about, our earth and our relations. May we honour those teachings.

What is the MCP?

The MCP is a practical, community-informed guide that will help the City and its partners better strengthen and support culture in Peterborough.

The plan will focus on three key areas where the City has a role to play:

• Public Art & Placemaking
  How art, stories and creative expression show up in public spaces and neighbourhoods.
• Events
  How grassroots gatherings, cultural celebrations, and festivals bring people together.
• Cultural Tourism
  How local culture is shared with visitors and supported year-round.

The plan will:

• Identify what is already working in the community
• Highlight gaps, barriers, and under-recognized cultural activity
• Guide investment, partnerships, and policy decisions
• Establish clear, realistic actions that can be tracked over time

Community input is central to this work and will ensure the plan reflects Peterborough's real cultural landscape, as well as and will directly shape decisions, investments, and actions to encourage participation.

How You Can Get Involved

Help shape the future of arts, culture, and creativity in Peterborough by sharing your ideas
You can take part in the way that works best for you, whether you have a few minutes or want to dive deeper.

Quick ways to participate (5 - 10 minutes):

• Complete the Community Questionnaire to share your experiences and priorities
• Respond to a quick poll (when available)

Share your experience (10 - 20 minutes):

• Add to the Peterborough Culture Map by pinning places where you experience culture or where you feel it could or should happen

Join a conversation:

• Attend a listening session or open house (check out the Events tab on the right-hand side for dates and locations)
• Use the Community Conversation Toolkit to host a discussion within your own community, organization or network.

Project Updates

This page will be updated regularly with:

• Engagement opportunities
• What we're hearing from the community
• Draft materials and summaries
• Next steps and timelines

Follow this project to receive updates as new information is posted.