Cultural Heritage Tourism Handbook - LinkBC

BC ShowcaseIdentifying Geographic AdvantageEarly on, Wells community champions identified their proximityto the restored historic town of Barkerville, a short 8kmdown the road, as one of their key advantages. A nationalhistoric site, Barkerville is a 1860s gold rush town inextricablylinked to British Columbia’s birth as a province; an animatedwindow into our Canadian history. Theatre shows, perioddressedinterpreters, stage coaches, restaurants, and shopsall provide the visitor with an incredible cultural experience.Success through a Creative EconomyWells champions recognized that long-haul visitors wouldbe ‘pulled’ to the community with local cultural/heritageofferings beyond Barkerville. Plans for an arts school andarts-focused festival were developed.Julie Fowler, executive director of Island Mountain Arts andthe ArtsWells Festival of All Things Art, explains: “a creativecommunity and economy has always been at the heart ofArtsWells Builds a Destinationthrough Creative Arts StrategyNatural Resources DeclineMany small rural communities across Canada have been forced to reinventthemselves as traditional resource-based activities decline or disappear. Thiswas the case in Wells, a tiny community in BC’s interior that experiencedjob losses and instability after a reduction in mining and forestry. With thevision and hard work of community champions, however, Wells has beenable to create a cultural/heritage tourism economy that relies on renewablehuman resources and is environmentally friendly.the ArtsWells Festival of all Things Art. Now going into its8th season, it has been voted as one of the top ten festivalsin Canada by CBC Radio Three, attracts upwards of 1500people to the community of Wells/Barkerville (pop. 250)every BC Day long weekend, and has directly resulted innew residents moving to Wells.”Arts, History and AdventureA 1930s town built on gold mining, Wells’ slogan is now “Arts,History, Adventure.” Since 1977, Island Mountain Arts hasbeen a champion organization, and they now coordinateArtsWells, the School of the Arts, and a Public Gallery. Over35 years, Island Mountain Arts has drawn visitors to Wells tolearn, teach, work, exhibit and perform. A number of thosepeople have stayed to work in arts, culture, and tourism, runstudios and businesses, and/or raise their families.Partnerships are KeyFrom the beginning, Island Mountain Artssought out partnerships in order to be viable.In fact, the first year of ArtsWells only brokeeven because it procured a donation from theWayside Goldmines, the local mining company.Other early partnerships included theWells Forest Society who helped promote andorganize the festival, and the International OneMinute Play Festival – an already establishedWells-based event. This remains one of themost popular events at the festival.Barkerville has long been a critical partner. Providing discountedadmission to festival goers, they also serve as a sponsor and venuefor festival musical acts. Local businesses became actively involvedby offering coupons, and performance venues or exhibition space,while galleries became part of the ArtWalk. The Festival has alsodeveloped strong partnerships with media and tourism contactsin order to build visitation.Of course, the artists themselves are important partners. Says Fowler:“because we couldn’t pay huge fees (to visiting artists) we made sureto provide great hospitality and other benefits like arranging othertour dates and pre-festival showcases in neighbouring communitieslike Williams Lake, Quesnel, and PrinceGeorge.”Funding partners are of central importance.ArtsWells works with the BC Arts Council,Canada Council, Heritage Canada, ServiceCanada, and the District of Wells to buildcontinued support for the festival as a keyeconomic generator for the community.Volunteers Are EssentialWells is simply not big enough to supplyall the volunteer labour the festival needs, so organizersgot creative. They established a benefits package to attractout-of-towners including a free festival pass, free amazing food,and free camping. Last year ArtsWells had a base of 120 volunteers,with most imported from outside of the community. In addition totravelling volunteers, a core group of locals organizes festival logisticsand marketing year-round, year after year.Fowler concludes: “The more we can grow this side of our economy,the healthier and more sustainable our communities will be. Thecreation and growth of the festival has been a lot of hard work, but ithas also been incredibly rewarding. This comes in the form of financialinputs, as the festival is now a huge economic engine for the town,but more important are connections made between people andorganizations that make up what is now our festival community.”Find out more: www.artswells.comThe first half of this handbook provided foundational knowledge about cultural/heritage tourism, and theimportance of a whole-community approach. The second section will explore ways community-basedcultural/heritage tourism might play out in your home town.30 31