Reflections on Arts, Safety, and Belonging in Regina
At a recent panel discussion on “The Role of Arts and Culture in Building a Vibrant Downtown,” I listened to a group of Regina’s leading voices:
Robyn Barclay (City of Regina Cultural Development), Marian Donnelly (Creative City Centre), Oz Weaver (Globe Theatre), John Hampton (MacKenzie Art Gallery), and Geanna Dunbar (Artist, Entrepreneur, Community Builder).
They spoke candidly about what’s working, what isn’t, and where we could go next — and I found myself both inspired and restless. Because while the city dreams of vibrancy, those dreams only come alive when artists are at the table helping to shape them.
The panellists offered answers that intersected beautifully. Geanna spoke about community, connection, and healing. Oz insisted you cannot have a vibrant downtown without the arts. Marian highlighted the importance of safety, having something to do, something to think about, and people to meet. John described art as a form of telepathy, a phrase that captures how it allows us to transmit emotion and thought without words. In many ways, art downtown is a microcosm of our wider community, our thoughts and feelings as a city made visible in space. Robyn added that art is how we create our shared cultural identity.
How the City Supports the Arts
Robyn discussed the city’s cultural planning department and its work to support organizations and individual artists through grants and residencies. These programs aim to make the downtown more dynamic and to ensure that artists have a voice in council discussions. They also recognize the arts as an economic driver, not just a social or cultural one.
John spoke about the Mackenzie Art Gallery’s connection to downtown, describing a network of exchange that includes visiting artists staying in the city centre, partnerships with smaller galleries, and youth programs like the Regina Arts Youth Network (RAYN). They mentioned that arts and culture receive around 1 percent of government funding while contributing roughly 2 – 3 percent of national GDP, a statistic that clearly points to the disproportionate value of this sector.
Oz expanded on that economic perspective, emphasizing that the return on investment in the arts is second only to oil and gas in Canada. Yet arts organizations must constantly fight for validation and funding. In downtown Regina, arts institutions create a micro economy by bringing in visitors who discover the restaurants, shops, and services nearby, returning later as paying customers.
Marian raised the issue of under-funding for smaller organizations, which act as vital community hubs but receive operating grants too small to sustain them. Geanna spoke of the relentless cycle of grant writing, pitching, and volunteering that keeps organizations afloat. She noted that the city relies too heavily on unpaid labour, which leads to burnout. Her question was simple but powerful: how do we meet people where they are, especially newcomers and marginalized communities, and bring art to them?
Marian answered that art builds bridges. Events that involve emerging artists, newcomers, and underrepresented voices foster confidence and community. These are the people who turn creative opportunity into civic pride.
Challenges and Recovery
When asked about challenges for downtown arts organizations, Marian said that audiences have not fully returned since the pandemic, and the funding landscape has shrunk. Robyn observed that some organizations and events have been lost entirely.
Oz pointed out that reaching audiences requires marketing, which costs money, and that funding has decreased in the last five years while deficits from the pandemic remain. During lockdowns, people consumed vast amounts of digital art, which inspired a new generation of creators who now need live audiences. John identified a deeper issue: Regina’s lack of pride. The city has a self-deprecating cultural identity that undermines the creation of the city residents actually want to live in. The wider artistic community views Regina more favourably than Regina views itself, and that imbalance is damaging.
The Globe Theatre’s Role in Revitalization
Oz described the Globe Theatre’s plans to become a community hub now that renovations are complete. Their approach is deliberate and sustainable, rolling out initiatives slowly so neither staff nor community burn out.
They discussed the idea of a locally run cafe that could host artists before shows, a place for networking and for introducing audiences to creators. The black box theatre will support emerging and experimental creators as well as smaller community events. Free lunchtime concerts with the Regina Symphony Orchestra have already tested how downtown workers can engage with art in casual, accessible ways.
There are plans for festivals, comedy, and queer community events, and discussions with the University of Regina about using the space as an incubator for students. Even the cafe could evolve into a wine bar featuring local fare, serving as both a post-show venue and another nightlife option.
Oz reflected on the role of large cultural institutions in supporting smaller ones. Collaboration, shared audiences, and shared funding are not just ideas but necessities if the city’s arts ecosystem is to thrive. Marian added that the Creative City Centre already acts as an incubator through mentorship, grant writing sessions, and collaborative events, and that a downtown-wide arts festival would be an incredible next step.
Looking Ahead
Robyn noted that Regina’s current ten-year cultural plan is coming to an end, opening opportunities for growth and reinvention. Saskatchewan has a long history of supporting its artists, with the Saskatchewan Arts Board predating the Canada Council for the Arts. Innovation, she said, comes from artists themselves.
Geanna spoke about isolation among creators. Many work alone in their corners, yet when people suggest she move to a larger city, she responds, “My city needs me. My land needs people like me.” She believes collaboration rather than appropriation defines Saskatchewan’s creative community, and that the next five years will show the results of that individual and collective labour.
Robyn reminded the audience that downtown Regina is not just a venue but a neighbourhood with families, amenities, and daily life. Marian expressed optimism that downtown will blossom if audiences return and funding flows. She urged the city council to treat arts organizations as collaborators rather than applicants to be judged, since many council members may not fully grasp the cultural and economic impact of these spaces.
Oz raised the issue of perfectionism in funding: organizations are not allowed to fail. If a project struggles or weather affects attendance, support often disappears. Without space for experimentation and trial, innovation cannot flourish. John added that promoting Regina’s downtown, including Wascana and the Warehouse District, on a national level would help build local pride. They envisioned a city full of “little pockets of surprise.”
A City That Plans With Artists
When I asked Robyn whether artists could play a more active role in planning infrastructure and policy, especially around safety and inclusion, I was thinking of what cities like Vancouver have done to weave creativity directly into their urban fabric. There, the integration of art into everyday infrastructure has become a deliberate civic strategy for building safety, belonging, and identity.
Vancouver’s Outdoor Lighting Strategy is one of the clearest examples. It treats light itself as a tool for community care. The plan establishes citywide design guidelines to improve visibility, accessibility, and warmth in public spaces after dark. It is not only about reducing crime but about creating a sense of invitation and comfort. When people feel that streets belong to them, they walk them more freely.
The Canopy light installation at Robson Square puts this into practice. Thousands of suspended LED lights stretch across the plaza, cycling through colour and rhythm. What could be an anonymous stretch of concrete becomes a living artwork. It draws people in, encourages evening gatherings, and quietly solves a safety problem through beauty and presence.
Nearby, 800 Robson Plaza between the Vancouver Art Gallery and the Law Courts has been redesigned as a pedestrian-first space with movable seating, integrated power for performances, and open areas for spontaneous activity. By turning what was once a throughway into a gathering place, the city made a clear statement: safety and connection grow from spaces where people can linger.
The panellists noted that more people downtown means more safety, and I couldn’t agree more. But inclusion is also about access. How do we bring people downtown in the first place?
Could Regina develop transit options similar to what the REAL District provides during major events, connecting communities directly with downtown arts programming? Or could we, inversely, bring art to those communities, as local artist Ibukun Fasunhan did through his recent site-specific work on a city bus? These questions often come up in my work with On Cue Performance Hub, where I serve on the steering committee. One of our ongoing mandates, and a regular topic of conversation at meetings, is how to reach the right audiences with the right work — how to connect people with performances and stories that speak directly to their experiences and identities. Access is not only about physical proximity but cultural relevance. If transportation, timing, or programming keeps people away from the art that might resonate most deeply with them, then we are still leaving parts of our community unseen.d
And perhaps most importantly, how can we cut through the red tape to simply solve these problems, to make art and safety and inclusion part of one cohesive civic strategy rather than separate silos?
Making Space for Artists Themselves
If we want a downtown that feels creative and alive, we have to make space for the people who make that possible. Right now, Regina lacks affordable studio and retail spaces for individual artists. Too many are working from home or in collectives out of necessity, not choice.
We cannot talk about revitalization without addressing this. How do we create a downtown that does not price out the very people who make it worth living in? If we want artists to enliven and improve a neighbourhood, they have to be able to live and work there.
Can we imagine development models that reserve affordable, flexible spaces for artists, places where creative practice is not a luxury but an expected part of the city’s ecosystem? And can we build in room for true creative freedom, for experimentation, imperfection, and organic activation, or will bureaucracy always stand in the way of surprise?
Vibrancy does not come from perfect planning. It comes from giving people enough room to invent, collide, and surprise us.
Fashion, Visibility, and Belonging
As for my own artistic focus, I want to ask how we can bring fashion further into this conversation. Fashion is not always recognized as an art form, but it is a vital expression of human identity and interaction. Retail spaces could be an entry point for this — places where art and commerce intersect. Stores like Simons have begun to model this, integrating permanent art installations into their architecture and commissioning local artists to create works that reflect the culture of each city they’re in. Even Bergdorf Goodman’s iconic window displays act as micro-galleries, transforming fashion into narrative and spectacle that enlivens the street itself.
Could we encourage local retailers to think in similar ways? To open their windows and spaces to artists, designers, and students, turning display into public art? Could we revive events like Saskatchewan Fashion Week in the park, with tents and pop-up shows that celebrate local style and street culture? More importantly, how do we communicate that fashion — in all its forms — is not a barrier to inclusion but an invitation? That cultural dress, everyday clothing, and expressive creativity are welcome and beautiful in our streets, our galleries, and our institutions? I want to see and hear other perspectives, stories, languages, and aesthetics shaping the downtown I live and work in. I want our city to be designed around those values — not as decoration, but as its foundation.
What I took from this conversation is that the arts are not an accessory to urban life — they are urban life. They make a city visible to itself. Downtown Regina’s future won’t be built by policy alone, but by imagination: by artists, designers, and storytellers shaping how we move through and experience our shared spaces. If we want a city that feels safe, welcoming, and vibrant, we must let creativity inform the very structure of our streets — not as decoration, but as infrastructure.
That means giving artists a seat at the table where city plans are drawn, ensuring they have affordable places to live and work, and creating systems that reward experimentation instead of punishing failure. It means seeing fashion, performance, music, and visual art as vital forms of civic dialogue.
I want to live in a Regina where every block tells a story, where art meets commerce, where culture isn’t hidden inside institutions but flows through the streets — visible, accessible, and alive. If we can design for that, we won’t just have a vibrant downtown. We’ll have a city that knows itself.
References & Useful Links
Creative City Centre: https://creativecitycentre.ca
The Globe Theatre: https://globetheatrelive.com
MacKenzie Art Gallery: https://mackenzie.art
Geanna Dunbar: https://www.facebook.com/bodymodsbygeanna/
On Cue Performance Hub: https://oncueregina.ca/
Dunlop Art Gallery: https://www.reginalibrary.ca/dunlop-art-gallery
Regina’s Cultural Plan (PDF) — City of Regina
https://www.regina.ca/export/sites/Regina.ca/parks-recreation-culture/arts-culture/.galleries/pdfs/Cultural-Plan.pdf
Regina’s Culture / Cultural Plan Overview — City of Regina
https://www.regina.ca/parks-recreation-culture/arts-culture/reginas-culture/
Downtown Vancouver Public Art Strategy & initiatives (art as infrastructure) — Downtown Van (2025–2027)
https://www.dtvan.ca/projects/public-art-strategy/
Simons art installations / artist commissions — examples and news
https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/simons-unveils-major-art-installation-by-canadian-artist-and-architect-philip-beesley-511966731.html
Ibukun Fasunhan – show description
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/prairie-farm-tickets-1703954867879?aff=ebdsshcopyurl&utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp
Anamorphique 