The Cultural Future of Small Cities is a five-year research program initiated by the Kamloops Art Gallery and the Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, British Columbia. The program is supported by a Community-University Research Alliance (CURA) grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and the collaboration focuses on how cultural and arts organizations work together (or fail to work together) in a small city setting. If not by definition, then certainly by default, culture is associated with big city life: big cities are equated commonly with big culture; small cities with something less. The Cultural Future of Small Cities research group seeks to provide a more nuanced view of what constitutes culture in a small Canadian city. In particular, the researchers are exploring notions of social capital and community asset building: in this context, visual and verbal representation, home, community, and the need to define a local sense of place have emerged as important themes. As the Small Cities program enters its final year, a unique but key aspect has become the artist-as-researcher.

For the past four years, the Small Cities program has been exploring the cultural challenges and possibilities facing small cities in a world increasingly dominated by large urban centers, suburban sprawl, and economic globalization. Kamloops, a city of 80,000 in the southern interior of British Columbia, is the focal point for a program of interdisciplinary research, training and knowledge sharing. The program is supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) and local funders, and has nine partners: the Kamloops Art Gallery (KAG) as lead organization, the Thompson Rivers University (TRU), City of Kamloops, Forest Research Extension Partnership, Kamloops Museum and Archives, John Howard Society, Secwepemc Cultural Education Society, Stuart Wood School, and Western Canada Theatre. Research studies and related community initiatives fall under four overlapping thematic areas: 1) city, regional and environmental planning, 2) local history and heritage, 3) linking cultural resources to social development and 4) representing Kamloops.

The overall research program is self-referential as it explores the structures, institutional and otherwise, and resources, such as social capital, that shape the cultural fabric and future of small cities. The research component together with this referential aspect are also directed at sharing knowledge about cultural expression and community development that are transferable to other cities of comparable size in British Columbia, Canada, and elsewhere.