The public will get a chance to see a rough draft of the Culture and Heritage Master Plan this week.

Since September, Culture and Heritage has been working to gather information on what residents desire from the plan, which will direct Culture and Heritage for the next 10 to 15 years.

A summary of feedback from almost 500 individuals collected through surveys, data walks, and one on one interviews have been compiled into a document called 'What We Heard'.

Allan Boss, Town of Okotoks Culture and Heritage Manager says there were a few key findings.

"Informal events like community events tend to draw more people out than formal performances, so you have a bigger impact with an event like Light Up than you would a performance at the Rotary Performing Arts Centre," He says. "The surveys pointed out that building community and connecting people in the community to each other using culture and heritage as a methodology was one of the most important outcomes, we are going to have to build into the new Culture and Heritage Master Plan."

Boss points out of population is getting more ethnically diverse, so reaching out to those communities is also a priority for the plan.

He shares Culture and Heritage will also look to promote more community group based events, such as the Wizarding World of Okotoks put on by the Okotoks Arts Council.

"We've got to work on streamlining our processes in order to help more community groups be able to put on their events in an easier fashion, and we're working towards that and it's something that's quite exciting."

Stakeholders, and consultants have been working on formulating a draft for the Culture and Heritage Master Plan, which will be presented Thursday, Nov. 30.

"The public will have the opportunity to come in and make their comments on that master plan, and say no you've got this wrong, or yes you've got this right , or you should be doing more of that, less of this."

The presentation runs from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. in the EPCOR Environmental Education Centre inside the Operations Centre.

The official Culture and Heritage Master Plan is expected to be unveiled in early 2018.

Questions, comments, or story ideas? Email us at news@okotoksonline.com