Minority francophone communities and emerging cultural clusters in mid-sized cities: The case of Moncton and Sudbury
Through an analysis of francophone cultural development strategies adopted in Moncton and Sudbury, this article examines the applicability of the cultural clusters approach to mid-sized peripheral cities. To date, cultural cluster studies have focused on the experiences of very large metropolitan areas with the capacity to implement broad-scale strategies. These studies provide little information relevant to cultural development strategies in cities located outside major urban centers. Our research shows that cultural development in Moncton and Sudbury hinges on a number of factors, such as community mobilization, and proximity dynamics, factors that are not necessarily reflected in the current literature on cultural clusters. The findings indicate a number of similarities between the approaches used in these two mid-sized peripheral cities, with one significant difference: the development of the downtown area as a focal point for the city’s cultural institutions and networks. The downtown core serves as a hub for Moncton’s cultural scene but in Sudbury, the local cultural scene is more geographically dispersed. Our analysis finds that cultural development strategies in smaller peripheral cities differ significantly from those used in larger urban centers. The article concludes by arguing that the cultural cluster concept must be used in a flexible manner and include factors such as community mobilization and proximity relations if we are to better understand the dynamics of similar peripheral urban areas.