This is happening at Okanagan College in Penticton this Saturday. And may God help me get up that early, especially if I end up taking the midnight bus.

Blogging: A Writer’s Practice

Break out of your writer’s rut with the exercises you’ll learn in this short course. Finding a tool that will both motivate and provide a platform for practice is a rare gift. The practice of blogging is just such a find for anyone interested in growing as a writer. Set your goals, seek out your stories, and get writing! Take a stroll along the path to this new and exciting world of online communication.

Course code: COA 156

PEN Nov 7, Sat, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.

CRN# 70728

$59 + GST

Yet another spiffy opportunity from the InstantCoffee site, which you really should check out and while you’re there, subscribe to the newsletter. Or you could just continue to rely on me to cherry-pick the best stuff for ya. I don’t mind.

LIVE is coming – Emerging Artists call for Submission

LIVE2009 – October 15 to 31

hear/say
Intervention street performances by emerging artists.
Curated by Ikbal Singh

Call for Submissions
In this fast paced society the noise of our environment can be deafening, languages blurring and our patience can wear.

Emerging artists have the opportunity to participate in LIVE2009 through public performances taking place outside the gallery walls, on Vancouver streets. In hear/say artists can propose to utter their say or receive others. They can either wander among the masses or sit on the flanks to offer an active ear to an unsuspecting public.

Submit details of your performance, the where what when how as well as a short artist statement and bio (both about 1 paragraph long) by email to info AT livebiennale DOT ca with “hear/say submission” in the subject line.

Submissions will be accepted throughout the festival.

Sometimes you’re the Operator, sometimes you’re the Operand.

Workspace, Vermeer View, by Duane Storey

You may have read the sad tale of the demise of Workspace, the devastatingly gorgeous, open-plan coworking space which effectively functioned as the clubhouse of the Gastown tech community (well, that and the Irish Heather). And as we all know, the Network Hub is full (although Raul says if you’re serious, contact him directly) and DiscoveryParks is so far out in the boondocks you might need a passport. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t cool, accessible, affordable alternatives. Here’s one, in fact:

Studio space for rent
shared art studio / work space available downtown Vancouver, Pender
and Richards.
there are 5 work stations available in a 700 sq. ft. room.
rent is $350 per work station.
rent includes internet, heat, & electricity.
24 hour access available to all tenants.

the building is old and has been used by artists since the 80s so it
has quite a lot of “character”.
because the space is shared it’s not suitable for work that involves
noxious chemicals, extremely loud sound, or other overt distractions.
that said, the people currently in the building are musicians, makers,
artists and designers and are a pretty tolerant sort.

contact overmindproductions at gmail.com to arrange a visit.

And there’s going to be a big meeting (70+ interested parties) at BOB on Pender near Main, to discuss perhaps making a new space in the hood for this, something a bit larger and more ambitious than the above, and more professional/tech oriented. I think the Golden Buddha Monastery at Hastings and Gore is just crying out to be repurposed this way. Heck, anything’s a step up from its current position as a big empty eyesore harbouring fugitive hookers and junkies in the alcoves. When it was used as a monastery, it never had that character, so this is more in the realm of returning a piece of the neighborhood to its time-honoured position rather than gentrification. I mean, you can’t get much more U than a bunch of Buddhist monks, can you?

Here are the deets; RSVP by email, especiaally important since it’s going to be packed.

You’re invited to an evening of ideas sharing and visioning for a “Vancouver Hub”.

Thursday, October 8th

5:30-7:30pm, BYOB

109 – 5 West Pender Street, Vancouver

778.960.5337

RSVP: hubvancouver@gmail.com

Please forward to others you think would be interested.

What is a ‘Hub’?

A Hub is a shared work space with a dynamic cafe-like culture that facilitates creativity, collaboration, and social innovation. Often a social enterprise itself, a Hub is comprised of a diverse interdisciplinary membership base, ranging from freelance designers to small social enterprises to mid-size NGOs and green businesses. Hubs include shared amenities like meeting spaces, social/event spaces, cafe/bar, business equipment, kitchen, telecommunications, etc.

There are a number of organizations and individuals from the Vancouver business community, arts community, non-profit community, and academic community keenly interested in starting or joining a hub. Ideally, a Vancouver Hub would include an element of all of these communities, with a common social / sustainability mandate.

Who should attend this meeting?

If you have a vision / idea for what you would like to see in a Vancouver Hub – please come prepared to share this in the discussion portion of the evening. If you are curious about how a Vancouver Hub might support or enhance your work – you are welcome to listen, ask questions and learn more.

** All ideas will be recorded and a facilitator (Olive Dempsey) will help us develop the first steps towards our Hub.**

Who will be joining us?

We are extremely fortunate to have some Hub “veterans”, who will offer their inspiration, lessons from past experiences and practical feedback:

• Jeremy Murphy, Director of Sustainability Solutions Group, collaborator on Halifax Hub
  

• Bill MacEwen, former owner of Workspace
• Jay Catalan, Founder of The Network Hub
• Michelle Hoar, Business Director of The Tyee
• Kevin Millsip, Director of Genius, former Director of Check Your Head
  

We strongly feel that Vancouver needs a Hub to incubate and catalyse social and ecological innovation in our city. If you share this aspiration, we look forward to meeting you, and collaboratively exploring a common vision.

See you soon! Please make sure to RSVP to hubvancouver at gmail.com.

Regards,

Sustainability Solutions Group, Recollective, The Natural Step Canada, Vancouver Design Nerds, Workben.ch, Building Opportunities with Business, The Tyee, Genius, The Hub, Environ, and many more…

Other similar hub-models:

• http://socialinnovation.ca/
• http://www.the-hub.net/index.html
• http://thehubhalifax.ca/
• http://www.thenetworkhub.ca/
• http://wiki.coworking.info/
  

Or, if you’re a more visual thinker, hereyago, right-click to download:

Vancouver Hub Invite – Oct 8 2009

Bike art

Yes, yet another from emails. God, how I love email; how my life would be destroyed if Gmail ever failed me. And how I love WordPress, for making copy-paste considerably less self-destructive than it used to be to my poor little blog.

Like art? Like bikes? Like behaving yourself on the road like a responsible vehicle operator rather than a gibbering, confrontational yahoo (Hi, Critical Mass!)? Then you’ll like this. And if you don’t, please go back to training wheels.

BIKEnnale October 4, 2009

Celebrate art in public spaces with a day of cycling in the city! The Vancouver Biennale and MEC
Great Rides invite you on a cycle tour that will take you along some of Vancouver’s most beautiful
beaches and parks to explore the monumental outdoor sculptures of the Vancouver Biennale. For
more information visit www.greatrides.ca or

http://www.vancouverbiennale.com