Speaking at Tourism Barrie's annual general meeting May 6, the municipal cultural planning researcher said the city is primed to be a provincial leader in using arts, history and culture as a way to stimulate not only investment, but to attract tourists and keep tourist dollars at home.

"In other parts of the world, municipal cultural planning is a well-established body of ideas and practices. It began in Australia in 1995, and it revolutionized Australia's cities' planning," he said.

"(It) is potentially a real powerful tourism tool. Culture is not about just those physical assets and organizations. It's how we think about a unique identity, stories, qualities of life that make Barrie Barrie."

Ontario's Ministry of Culture has also been advocating municipalities take the leadership role in identifying what makes their communities special - the people, their stories, the places, both natural and architectural, that offer something unique.

Ontario sees the arts as a big business, as well as a growth opportunity. Barrie MPP and Culture Minister Aileen Carroll told the Economic Club of Canada the arts contribute $7 billion into Ontario's economy each year; over the past decade, the sector created 80,000 jobs and grew 40 per cent, as compared with the 17 overall growth in the province's economy.

The challenge, said Baeker, is to help people, whether taxpayers or investors, understand the real monetary impact the arts can have.

"Shatter what you think what you think people are talking about," he told Coun. John Brassard, who pointed out on a citizen survey, the arts and culture ranked as a low priority with citizens, although Barrie is working to use the sector as an economic force.

"Stereotypical views are deeply embedded and not easy to change, but hard data helps chip away at that," Baeker said, as he pointed out how Washington, D.C. encouraged its residents to share what they like about living there.

"How does Washington, D.C. communicate an identity that's not the Lincoln Memorial? It odes that by talking about the places people live," he said, noting there's a "Share your D.C." website, which encourages people to cite the jazz bar or the park or something else that makes living there great. The site has attracted over 9,000 posts.

"At the heart, it asks people to identify what's special," he said, and that ultimately is what tourism is about.

"They're telling their stories, to brand them in a unique way that makes it clear it's not a place like any other."