An Analysis of Toronto's Creative and Music City Agendas and the Creative Co-Location Facilities Property Tax Subclass

This paper considers the theoretical and practical basis by which the City of Toronto moved to subsidize live music venues through property tax policy. Centrally, Toronto's Creative and Music City agendas are examined in terms of how they inform the City's policy treatment of arts and culture and the displacement of cultural venues. The Creative Co-Location Facilities Property Tax Subclass serves as a single case study for this research, supported by extensive legislative records and other secondary sources. The findings suggest that the novel subclass policy was the product of a unique confluence of longstanding 'Creative City' policy and institutional evolution, as well as short-term variables including the property assessment of a single creative hub, an outgoing Ontario government, and the COVID-19 pandemic. The paper concludes that redistributive mechanisms should be embedded within future creative policy to mitigate against any resulting economic and urban growth pressures on cultural venues.