New & Events: Local Elections, Ghostly SkyTrains, and Placemaking

Last Candidate Standing - the VPSN's Nov 2 election debate.

The next few weeks are busy ones for the VPSN crew! Our 9th Annual Halloween SkyTrain Party is in the works, followed closely by our third edition of Last Candidate Standing, our local election debate. Added to the mix is a return of Active Fiction, our literary, choose-your-own-adventure project, and a cool placemaking jam that looks at fostering connections in the rainy months.

RainCheque: NeighbourMaker Design Jam – October 30 @ 7pm

The VPSN is proud to participate in the following event hosted by MOV and Vancouver Design Nerds (VDN). Join us as we hear from this summer’s NeighbourMaker team as they share stories about some exciting new placemaking projects that promote inclusion and connectivity in Vancouver.

The event features additional presentations on placemaking by Krisztina Kassay (VIVA), Caroline Ballhorn (Tin Can Studio), Ryan Betts (Bazinga!), and Andrew Pask (VPSN), as well as a special VDN Design Jam entitled RainCheque! The Jam will focus on a very timely question: How can we make new social connections in the rain?

Tickets – $11 for MOV members, $15 for non-members. Visit the RainCheque Eventbrite page.

Halloween SkyTrain Party – October 31 @ 8pm

Ladies and gentleman, get your make-up ready. The annual VPSN Halloween SkyTrain Party returns for its ninth installment on Friday, October 31, 2013.

Gather your friends, get your scariest and sassiest costumes together, and get ready to jump on the Canada Line for public transit experience like no other. Your job: help us to transform a regular ol’ train ride into a bit of ghoulish magic!

The night of transit terror includes:

• On-deck action and a spankingly awesome soundtrack courtesy of DJ Rocky Fi$her – Soundcloud)
• Snappy decorations, tasty treats
• An after-party at a nearby public space
• The best-dressed crew of public space loving ghouls and goblins on the continent

IMPORTANT: Please be sure to visit the VPSN website or Facebook Event Page for important information.

Last Candidate Standing – November 2 @ 2pm

Most definitely not your typical election event! Back by popular demand, Last Candidate Standing is a unique political debate that is open to each and every of the 10 candidates running for mayor and 49 candidates for council. This is truly an all candidates forum.

Last Candidate Standing is set up as a ‘mixer.’ It allows incumbents and new nominees, independents and party-affiliated candidates to share the same stage, answer questions from our Panel of Inquisition, and showcase their political chops. To make things even more lively, we add musical guests and other fun throughout.

The 2014 edition of Last Candidate Standing is produced by the Vancouver Public Space Network with the gracious support of SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement, and the Urbanarium Society.

This event is FREE but space is very limited. Pre-register on our Eventbrite page.

For more information, you can also check the event listing on this website, or visit our Facebook event page.

Attention candidates! Nominees for Mayor and Council are asked to confirm their participation in Last Candidate Standing by contacting jessica [at] vancouverpublicspace [dot] ca.

Active Fiction at Riley Park – Coming Soon!

The Active Fiction Project (AFP) is back after a bit of a summer break! Do you like walking through neighbourhoods? Do you like reading things? Do you like choose-your-own-adventure books? The Active Fiction Project creates (very) short fictional stories that take place in a Vancouver neighbourhood. The stories are ‘hidden’ in public spaces for readers to discover as they walk through the story.

The next installation of Active Fiction will take place in Riley Park, starting in late October. Stay tuned for details on where to find the stories! You can follow project updates on the Active Fiction website, or follow us on twitter @activefic and Facebook.

Volunteers Needed

If celebrating transit, enriching local politics, or rolling up your sleeves with other public space projects tickles your fancy, why not lend a hand? Our next regular VPSN volunteer orientation takes place on Monday, October 20 @ 6pm. If you’d like more details, please zip us a note at volunteer@vancouverpublicspace.ca