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

Vancouver, BC (November 2, 2011)

Unlike other debates, Last Candidate Standing doesn’t just focus on the frontrunners – all 61 registered candidates running for mayor or council have been invited to make their case before an expert panel and a sold-out audience of more than 200 voters.

Candidates will be on the clock as they respond to the panel’s questions covering a broad range of campaign issues. The candidates with the best answers, as judged by the panel and audience, will move on to the next round – those that don’t measure up will be eliminated. At the end of the night, only one candidate will be left standing.

“This event is a great opportunity for voters to learn about the diversity of candidates who are seeking office in our city,” says Anthony Hamilton, coordinator of the VPSN’s Democratic Spaces working group. “We’re pushing the boundaries of the debate format to have some fun while creating a more inclusive public forum that represents the full spectrum of viewpoints in this election.”

Last Candidate Standing will be hosted by Vancouver-based writer and broadcaster Steve Burgess. Panelists include:

• Theresa Lalonde, reporter, CBC Vancouver
• Matthew Soules, assistant professor, UBC School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture
• David Beers, editor-in-chief, The Tyee
• Alissa Sadler, vice-chair, Vancouver Public Space Network

The sold-out event takes place from 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. at UBC Robson Square. In between rounds of the candidate showdown, local band Wee Boy Pretty will provide musical entertainment. Limited wait-list spots available: lastcandidatestanding.eventbrite.com

Last Candidate Standing is part of the VPSN’s Vancouver Votes initiative. Throughout the civic election campaign, the VPSN has been maintaining www.vancouvervotes.ca as an up-to-date, non-partisan resource collecting candidate survey responses, election news, and essential voter information. Vancouver Votes is also active on Twitter at @VanVotes.

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More information:
www.vancouvervotes.ca
www.twitter.com/vanvotes (event hashtag: #LCSVan and #VanElxn)

Media contact:
Anthony Hamilton
Vancouver Public Space Network
604.565.1213
anthony@vancouverpublicspace.ca