The Vancouver Transit Adspace Re-appropriation Project or V-TARP is an art-in-transit installation that “intends to reclaim the highly sought after mindspace used by corporations to communicate with the public, by collecting artworks from across the globe and installing them in the transit adspace.”
You’ll notice overhead pieces on buses and SkyTrains already by two Vancouver artists, Jerm IX and Vegas however not one has been officially sanctioned. The duo place their work in vacant transit ad spaces, often providing thought-provoking or clever messaging.
In some cases they encounter resistance such as in one experience that Jerm IX posted about on the V-TARP blog. A disgruntled SkyTrain rider was opposed to him installing the “I’m not lovin’ it” piece next to an actual McDonald’s ad on the SkyTrain. “As an after thought, this was a positive experience,” wrote Jerm IX. “After all the point of V-TARP is to create or continue the dialogue around the use of public space. That angry man was passionate and aggressive, which made everyone on the train take notice of both of our actions. Almost everyone else was smiling and clearly had no problem with my sign install.”
Vegas told me in an email, “Placing art on the SkyTrain is an idea I’ve been playing with for a couple of years (London has poetry on the tube), making the move back over here in January gave me time and opportunity, & in Jerm IX I have the perfect partner.” In another blog post there is a quote from Jordan Seiler, “While the actions of one person might be seen as that of a vigilante, the actions of many become a protest. Because of this I think large scale projects like V-TARP encourage a conversation around the issue of commercial/public use of our shared environment.”
Vegas said that they have received wide-spread support for the art pieces, some of which have remained in place for weeks. If you would like to submit your work to V-TARP you can find out how on their blog.
Should you have any photos of the pieces, please feel free to add them to the Miss604 Flickr Pool.
The real estate development known as Millennium Water is hosting the Grand Opening celebration. They’ll have live music, activities, snacks, and more. The Olympic and Paralympics medals will also be on display and more than 35 Olympians (including Ashleigh McIvor) will be on hand for meet and greet opportunities.
Grand Opening events:
10:00am – 5:00pm. Enter off West 1st Avenue & Manitoba Street or Millennium Water at the Seawall.
Autograph sessions with Olympians:
11:30am – 12:30pm, 1:30pm – 2:30pm, 3:30pm – 4:40pm at the Salt Building.
Self-guided tours:
Pick up an “Avenues of the World” passport at the presentation centre to run a self-guided tour of the community. You can also enter to win a $20,000 grand prize or one of ten Electra commuter bicycles.
This is the first chance the public will have to check out the community since it hosted Olympic and Paralympic athletes earlier this year.
Update Last Saturday, May 15th, an estimated 15,000 people gathered for the Grand Opening of the Olympic Village at Millennium Water on Southeast False Creek. Home to our Olympic athletes during Vancouver 2010, Avenues of the World, a collection of new residences were finally back on the market. Approximately 200 suites were released and 38 units were sold by Sunday evening. [source: Press Release].
Tonight the Canucks will be playing their hearts out with clean-shaven faces and down a few men. They hung on in Game 5 to force the Chicago Blackhawks into Game 6 which is just as much a “do or die” match as Sunday’s. To keep Canucks fans in the mood (and on the bandwagon), I have another contest to run thanks to Sports Action.
I’ll be packaging them up into 5 prize packs (each with and t-shirt) and will give away the gift cards in 2 random winning prize packs.
Here’s how to enter to win one of the 5 prize packs:
Leave a comment on this post predicting the outcome of tonight’s game
Post the following on Twitter:
Enter to win a #Canucks prize pack from @Miss604 & @SportsAction http://ow.ly/1JHQ2
You can follow Sports Action on Twitter or Facebook for updates. I will draw two winners tomorrow morning at 9:00am (following tonight’s game) and the other three winners Friday morning at 9:00am (following Game 7, right?). Go Canucks Go!
Update Quick change in plans. I’ll draw for 3 of the prize packs at noon today, May 12th. I’ll hang on to the last two until Friday, May 14th at 9:00am. Update The May 12th drawing winners are Matt G (comment entry, gift card winner), jazzdolphin (Twitter entry), and Ed (comment entry). Update The final prize winners are Ingrid (comment entry, gift card winner), and Obatchaman (Twitter entry).
Fine print: Must be at least 19 years old to enter this contest per Sports Action/BCLC. Know your limit, play within it.
I recently had the chance to interview Andy Dunn, President of the Vancouver Canadians to talk about their Girls of Summer campaign and how Vancouverites can look forward to a summer season at the ‘Nat.
The Girls of Summer is a free, female-only fan club for the baseball team. You can sign up anytime and have access to special promos, workshops and events. This includes Ladies Day on the Diamond scheduled for July 10th. The one-day session will have Canadians staff, players and coaches working alongside the Girls of Summer out on the field presenting Baseball 101 and hosting a live scrimmage at Nat Bailey.
The Canadians are also currently looking for their 2010 Girl of Summer who will receive:
Season tickets to the Vancouver Canadians
A personalized Canadians jersey
The chance to throw out the first pitch at a home game this season
A Vancouver Canadians swag bag with a ton of treats
To apply, fill out the online contest form before May 31st. You can also Tweet to enter by answering “Why baseball is a great summer activity” in 140 characters or less. Be sure to include the tag #gos2010 on your Twitter entry.
With this campaign they are hoping to both reach past the avid sports fan, engaging those who made have shied away from the ballpark in the past, as well as reinforce and encourage their fans of all ages to come out and have a good time at the ‘Nat.
“It’s not about who won or lost, it’s the memory that you take away,” said Dunn with regards to the ballpark experience. “I don’t hear people walking around downtown saying ‘Aw, I can’t believe you guys got beat last night’. It’s more like ‘Hey, my kid loves this’ or ‘I used to go with my grandfather all the time and now I’m taking my own kids this week’ — that’s the nostalgia behind minor league baseball.”
Boosting the fan experience for all has been key for the Canadians who over the years have done major improvements to the ballpark including renovated washroom facilities, giveaways, themed/promotional games, fireworks, dancing grounds crew, and playful mascots like Bob Brown Bear or the sushi characters. PETA has also listed Nat Bailey as one of the top “Vegetarian Friendly” ballparks in North America.
The sushi race: Ms. BC Roll, Mr. Kappa Maki and Chef Wasabi
Dunn told me that he believes there is no better fan than a Vancouver Canadians fan. “There’s a huge history of baseball [in Vancouver] — going back to Babe Ruth playing here, Sammy Sosa, Jim Abbott… British Columbia is in my opinion, the home of baseball in Canada.” He referenced some of the hottest players in Major League Baseball that have come out of Canada who are all from BC such as: Larry Walker, Jason Bay, Ryan Dempster, Justin Morneau.
“I really attribute that to the great local youth programs. From Abbotsford all the way to the North Shore and to the Island. Great youth programs, great PBL program, the best college program at UBC, and the weather. Vancouver and BC is the baseball hotbed of Canada.”
Growing up in a hockey town it’s always been tough to get into another sport, however thanks to a few choice Hollywood movies (such as The Sandlot and Field of Dreams) I have a soft spot for America’s pastime. The book upon which Field of Dreams is based (Shoeless Joe by BC author WP Kinsella) was actually a conversation starter when I first met John, him being from Iowa and all. Here’s one of my favourite quotes from the film:
“…They’ll find they have reserved seats somewhere along one of the baselines, where they sat when they were children and cheered their heroes. And they’ll watch the game and it’ll be as if they dipped themselves in magic waters. The memories will be so thick they’ll have to brush them away from their faces. People will come Ray. The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it’s a part of our past, Ray. It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again…” [imdb]
Just as hockey has its magic, so does baseball. Vancouver’s baseball tradition is strong, proud, and full of history.
I encourage you to get out to Nat Bailey stadium this summer with family, friends, and colleagues. Enjoy the sport, the atmosphere, the scenery, the local beer, the footlong hotdogs and even the sushi. Season tickets start at under $500 and individual game tickets start under $20. The home opener is June 21st vs Spokane.
It’s been a rather long time since I have done a Blogger Profile and when I was invited to the first anniversary of Fraser Valley Pulse, I thought what better time to re-start up the series.
Kristi Ferguson started up Fraser Valley Pulse in March 2009 and took on the role as the owner, editor, live-blogger, marketer and more. She has recently expanded to include articles from contributors who cover everything from health and beauty, family, business, and interviews with local experts.
Ferguson describes the site as , “the Fraser Valley’s neighbourhood lifestyle guide,” as they feature local businesses, events and things to do from White Rock to Chilliwack. She added, “the site celebrates the achievements of local business owners and encourages people to shop and support local.”
Those who frequent FVP can use it to search for locally owned businesses in the directory, find great local gems in the Pulse Spotlight or find things to do on the Pulse Adventures and events pages.
“The goal for FVP is to create the best centralized, hyper-local website for the Fraser Valley population,” said Ferguson. “Somewhere locals can visit to find out what’s going on in their community, what great businesses are nearby and what fun things they can get involved in. The FV covers a huge area, but out here in the burbs we tend to spend time in different areas of town – someone who lives in Langley may also spend lots of time in Surrey, Abbotsford, Maple Ridge, etc. It’s great to know what’s going on around you.”
Readers can sign up for a once/week newsletter update to keep up to date with our weekly Spotlight features and highlights of the blog, events page and articles.
Going forward into the second year of Fraser Valley Pulse, Ferguson would like to continue to see community involvement by way of submitted event listings, business ratings and the sharing of Pulse Pix.
