How can we make new social connections in the rain?

The Museum of Vancouver (MOV) connects Vancouverites to each other and connects Vancouver to the world. The museum is a gathering place that encourages social engagement and inspires conversation about the future. MOV exhibitions and collections invite exploration of contemporary issues and stories from the past. MOV activities ignite a passion for Vancouver and its people. Follow us: blog, Twitter, Facebook, or share your visions of the city with us on Instagram: #ofVancouver

Raincheque Design Challenge at Museum of Vancouver: Thursday, October 30th

RAINCHEQUE Design Challenge!

How can we make new social connections in the rain? The Museum of Vancouver invites you to join the Vancouver Design Nerds in a special Design Jam entitled Raincheque! This NeighbourMaker event challenges you to design tools that encourage Vancouverites to connect with each other in rainy public spaces. NeighbourMaker is a public program and design challenge that supports and encourages artists, activists, designers, and Vancouverites to design experiences that help build social connectedness. Thanks to the support of the Vancouver Foundation and Bazinga!, the NeighbourMaker program is offering mentorship and financial support (a "raincheque") for the development of a prototype of the top concept developed during the Design Jam.

Inspiration + Mini-Catalogue Launch:

Before the jam begins, the NeighbourMaker teams will share stories about the development of their work: The Campfire Project, Peeple Panorama, and Big Picture, Small Space. These projects are featured in the new NeighbourMaker mini-catalogue, which will be presented.

Movers & Shakers:

Members of Vancouver’s place-making community will share a few words:

Krisztina Kassey & Jenniffer Sheel (VIVA Vancouver)
Caroline Ballhorn & Jenny Lee Craig (Tin Can Studio)
Andrew Pask (VPSN & Planner, City of Vancouver)

When: Thursday, October 30, 2014 @ 7:00pm

Where: The Museum of Vancouver: 1100 Chestnut St. Vancouver (at Vanier Park)

Admission: $15 General | $11 MOV Members | A limited number of subsidized tickets are available, contact Paul Carr for more information.

Tickets: https://raincheque.eventbrite.ca/

DESIGN SUNDAYS: A series of playful explorations around the theme of Housing for a Connected City.

Housing prices continue to rise while our connections and relationships continue to weaken. We may not be able to change the first (quite yet) but we can definitely affect the latter.

Part 1: JUXTAPOSE: Links between Loneliness, Engagement and Housing Affordability

Juxtaposition brings seemingly distant ideas together. The Museum of Vancouver and Laboratory of Housing Alternatives (LOHA) invite Paul Kershaw, founder of Generation Squeeze, and emerging local architect Marianne Amodio to share their work and ideas around housing, affordability, connection and engagement in a participatory dialogue. Audience members will compare and contrast academic and everyday ideas surrounding housing affordability. Facilitators will help bridge gaps in the conversation in order to encourage everyone to recognize the values embedded in debates about housing.

Date: Sunday, November 9, 2014

Time: 2:30pm-5:00pm

Admission: $15 General | $13 Seniors & Students | $11 MOV Members | A limited number of subsidized tickets are available, contact Paul Carr for more information.

Get Tickets: https://connectedcitynov9.eventbrite.ca

Part 2: Reframing Housing in Vancouver

As Albert Einstein famously recognized, “insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results.” Tomorrow’s leaders know that if we want to fashion our rapidly changing world into the brighter future we envision, it’s time to try something new. The Museum of Vancouver and Laboratory of Housing Alternatives (LOHA) invite THNK Vancouver to facilitate a?workshop to explore what it means to reframe our most personal environment – our home. This is a rare opportunity to reexamine our entrenched perceptions of what “home” means. Participants will examine how the form and function of housing plays out in many of today’s complex social issues. By utilizing a Reframing Technique, we'll endeavor to develop new perspectives with which to address these problems.

Date: Sunday, November 16, 2014

Time: 2:30pm-5:00pm

Admission: $15 General | $13 Seniors & Students | $11 MOV Members | A limited number of subsidized tickets are available, contact Paul Carr for more information.

Get Tickets: https://connectedcitynov16.eventbrite.ca

Part 3: Rally for Connection

What is the potential for language to affect social change? The Museum of Vancouver and Laboratory of Housing Alternatives (LOHA) invite Jorge Amigo (#bemyamigo) to host a collaborative session in which participants work together to imagine what a (positive) political protest would look like if they showed up at City Hall demanding housing that fostered greater social connection. We’ll design signage as an exercise in thinking about how to express complex ideas in short, engaging messages that captivate the public’s imagination.

Date: Sunday, November 23, 2014

Time: 2:30pm-5:00pm

Admission: $15 General | $13 Seniors & Students | $11 MOV Members | A limited number of subsidized tickets are available, contact Paul Carr for more information.

Get Tickets: https://connectedcitynov23.eventbrite.ca

Part 4: Connected Housing Jam

To build upon the knowledge gained from the three previous Design Sunday sessions, The Museum of Vancouver and Laboratory of Housing Alternatives (LOHA) invite both veteran and first-time Design Sunday participants to join the Vancouver Design Nerds for a Design Nerd Jam on identifying successful and improvable spaces of connection in our local communities and neighbourhoods. On-the-fly mapping and visual stocktaking of these spaces will allow participants to see how their ways of living connect them to the experiences of others. These exercises will also act as a launching point for us to design a city that helps us to better connect with each other. By looking at the places in which we live and gather; and by examining the ways we travel, work and play, we’ll discover how the design of housing can contribute to a more connected city, and devise solutions with which to affect and re-invent public and informal spaces of connection for better neighbourhood experience.

Date: Sunday, November 30, 2014

Time: 2:30pm-5:00pm

Admission: $15 General | $13 Seniors & Students | $11 MOV Members | A limited number of subsidized tickets are available, contact Paul Carr for more information.

Get Tickets: https://connectedcitynov30.eventbrite.ca