SUMMARY FOR ARTICLE

This article outlines the results of 2,,4 workshop held by the Department of Canadian Heritage and the Canada Council for the Arts, which discussed the various dimensions of a possible research initiative to study the social effects of culture. heritage in particular in dealing with the revered in our past history tends to be about identity: who we are and who we could and ought to be. the use of heritage or for that matter the arts for bonding purposes may be an attempt by the group to maintain what social cohesion they can in the face of the unwillingness of the rest of society to cooperate with them. sharon jeannotte s examination of the data from the community foundations of canada our millennium project which invited canadians to make gifts to their communities during the millennium year looks at the nature of the gifts and finds that a disproportionate number of projects featured various aspects of arts and heritage a testament to the value of culture and to its centrality in the lives of citizens. lon dubinsky vividly describes the liveliness and importance of the arts scene in kamloops bc showing how the arts have created a civic spirit leading to a self-sustaining capacity for community action.