The Town of Okotoks is about to re-vamp its Culture and Heritage Master Plan with the help of new consultants.

The development of a new plan is expected to guide the town for the next 15 to 20 years in the areas of arts, culture and heritage, social programming, events, and community involvement.

Culture and Heritage Manager Allan Boss says the original plan created eight years ago needed a refreshment to match growth.

"In 2009 we did a master plan that was referred to as CHAMP, the Culture Heritage Plus Arts Master Plan, and it was being used to guide the activities throughout the town," he says. "With the expanded growth model that happened in Okotoks we realized that a lot of our plans needed to be revised to address those changes."

Intelligent Futures has been selected to help the town develop a new plan, the same company also assisted with the 2014 Community Sustainability Plan.

Boss says his department is ecstatic to overhaul the plan, allowing residents to observe Okotoks culture even more.

"I think it's really important to understand that any cheese maker, or biologist will tell you what culture is; It's a place where something grows, and it's not necessarily about eurocentric arts, it's not about facilities, it's about bringing community together to celebrate the place they live. It's a super exciting project and we can't wait to get going."

The new Culture and Heritage Master Plan is expected to be complete by early 2018.

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