In progress City project

Cultural districts

We're helping local neighbourhoods to become vibrant destinations for residents and visitors.

Overview

Cultural districts are neighbourhoods with arts, culture, heritage and creative spaces that bring people together. They create unique places to live, work and visit. Cultural districts invite residents and visitors to:

Experience arts and culture
Explore local creativity
Support local businesses
Connect with their community

We work with City departments, local Business Improvement Areas (BIAs) and community groups to support and strengthen our seven cultural districts:

Downtown Core
Clarkson
Cooksville
Lakeview
Malton
Port Credit
Streetsville

Ongoing and planned actions

We are working to advance our cultural districts by:

Making it easier for people to take part in arts, culture and creative activities through policy, program and process review
Growing cultural spaces, supporting artists, bringing more public art to the city and creating new destinations through The Creative Advantage: A Transformational Action Plan
Making it easier for people to get around in the Downtown Core by developing a Downtown Core Wayfinding Strategy

Background

In 2019, we identified seven neighbourhoods to become cultural districts because they had:

Existing cultural and community spaces
Active local arts and cultural activities
Strong community support
Dedicated BIAs and other local partners
Opportunities for future growth and investment

Completed actions

The 2021 Cultural Districts Implementation Plan outlined more than 20 actions to develop cultural districts. Some of the work we’ve completed includes:

Adding new policies in our Official Plan to promote investment and culture growth
Encouraging public art through resources for art on construction hoarding and murals on private property
Creating an outdoor patio program for outdoor dining on public and private property
Expanding our Summer Concert Series
Updating our Noise Control By-law to allow more live music
Implementing placemaking projects across the city that enhanced public spaces

Recap of the placemaking program

Placekeeping protects and celebrate the stories, history, culture and identity of a place. It focuses on supporting the people who live there and keeping local traditions and connections alive. Public art can add to cultural placekeeping.

Placemaking creates welcoming public spaces where people want to be. It can use public art, events, seating and gardens to create vibrant community gathering spaces.

2021 to 2026 placemaking projects

Since 2021, the City has invested $500,000 in more than 25 placemaking projects. This investment supported six local arts organizations and more than 50 local and emerging artists.

The photo gallery showcases some of the projects implemented in the City’s cultural districts from 2021 to 2026.

Digital artwork projection featuring brightly coloured background of flowers with girl riding a horse. — “In Dream,” Light Up the Square, 2025. Artist: Jinke Wang, Photo: Adam Pulicicchio

Painting of bird and strawberries on lightpost beside road. — Clarkson Banner Posts, Clarkson BIA. Artists: Sima Naseem and Yen Linh Thai

Artwork of trees, bushes, flowers and wind turbines on the retaining wall of a parking lot. — “Among Urban Nature,” Clarkson Retaining Wall Murals, Clarkson BIA. Artist: Soon Cho.

Two people looking into a window of a small, pink shadowbox, titled Gallery, mounted to light pole. — Community Exchange Pods, Malton Transit Station, Malton BIA. Artist: SHEEEP Studio, Photo: Tori Lambermont

The Cooksville gateway sign at the Cooksville Corners Park. The large C holds artwork depicting various foods from the area. — “More for Us to Share,” Cooksville C Sign, Cooksville BIA. Artist: Debbie Woo

Mural painted on the retaining wall over the Cooksville Creek depicting animals and their habitats. — Doodem, Cooksville Creek Guardrail, Port Credit. Artists: Lynn Taylor and Tawny Mestecanean

Painting of frog, birds and flowers on parking lot guardrail. — Port Credit Elmwood Parking Lot Guardrail Murals, Port Credit BIA. Artist: Sandra Clarke

Colourful ground murals with wood seating on the corner of a retail plaza and busy street. — Cooksville Ground Mural, Cooksville BIA. Artist: Andre Kan

Mural painted on the retaining wall over the Cooksville Creek depicting colourful jaguars leaping and running. — Dundas Guardrail Mural, Cooksville BIA. Artist: Jieun June Kim

Colourful patterened vinyl wrapped utility box next to a street. — 130 Queen Street Utility Box Wrap, Streetsville BIA. Artist: Nyle Miigizi Johnston.

Painted pieces of wood depicting flowers, animals, people and trees affixed to a wrought-iron fence. — Streetsville Pollinator Showcase Garden, Streetsville BIA. Artist: Debbie Woo

Colourful mural on square storage hut depicting people from Port Credit enjoying the outdoors at a party. — Zamboni Hut Mural, Port Credit Memorial Park. Artist: Sauga City.

Related plans

There are many City plans related to the development of cultural districts:

Project contact

For questions about this project, contact cultural.districts@mississauga.ca.

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