Fade to Play

Today is World Water Day and the fourth year of the Water for Life Decade.

The Water for Life Decade 2005-2015 will give a high profile to implementing water-related programmes and the participation of women. The UN hopes that the Decade will boost the chances of achieving international water-related goals and the United Nations Millennium Declaration.

In Canada, there are a number of initiatives promoting water as a public right such as the Blue Communities Project and World Water Week events in British Columbia.

According to Oxfam Canada:

• 890 million people – about a seventh of the world’s population – do not have access to safe drinking water.

• Some 2.5 billion people also live without access to basic sanitation.

• 1.2 billion of which have no access to any form of sanitation.

What is really cool is how social media (e.g. twitter, blogs, Slideshare) are being used to promote safe drinking water:

Leslie Bradshaw tweeted about how her followers on twitter could get involved. Each person that follows @WorldH20 or @chlorine on twitter or joins the corresponding Facebook group would result in 100 liters of water being donated to those in need.

According to Leslie Bradshaw:

The project itself has been made possible by the American Chemistry Council (a client I have enjoyed working with via New Media Strategies), in partnership with GOOD Magazine, Population Services International and a group of leading health organizations.

This is a great cause, so get on twitter and Facebook and help out. Each of us can play our part.

Relevance: shows the power of social media

With Heather Armstrong and Maggie Mason – Vancouver Digital Week 2008

Vancouver Digital Week organised by New Media BC is only 2 months away. I attended last year and had an incredible time. Highlights included: getting a photo with Heather Armstrong & Maggie Mason, interviewing Grant McCracken, and watching local luminaries playing Rock Band at the PopVox Awards.

The three events most of interest to me are: Convergence 2009, NextMEDIA Vancouver, and the PopVox Awards.

Convergence 2009 is organised by Cossette West. I was able to interview Sandy Fleischer last year about his expectations for the event. This year should be even better.

A gathering of digital-savvy marketing and communications thought-leaders from across North America sharing ideas on how to stay competitive in the ever-shifting digital landscape. This year we focus on digital branding through social media and why you should integrate it into your marketing strategy…starting now.

NextMEDIA Vancouver is new to the Vancouver Digital Week. I attended their nextMEDIA Banff event last year and expect their keynote and reception to be top-notch and an excellent opportunity for networking. It will be fun to catch up with the nextMEDIA team.

The PopVox Awards are totally fun and entertaining. Can’t wait to see what surprises are planned this year.

Submit your project or nominate a peer (or yourself!) to win prizes and celebrate the diverse achievements of this dynamic sector. After all the votes are in, the winners will be announced at the POPVOX AWARDS Gala on May 13th, 2009.

This year Vancouver Digital Week takes place at the Vancouver Convention Centre. Hope to see you there!

You can also add everyone on twitter: Cossette West, Vancouver Digital Week, PopVox Awards.

Relevance: Anyone interested in learning more about digital media should be here. I made some real good friends last year and it definitely enhanced my knowledge about new media.

Hayfa Makes Music

Last Thursday I was privileged to attend a fundraiser for Coree @ The End Cafe, Vancouver.  She just got accepted to take part in an Otesha Project cycling and performing tour through British Columbia during the summer of 2009.

For those who haven’t heard of it, the Otesha Project (www.otesha.ca) was founded by two 21 year-old women in 2002 with the aim of mobilizing youth to create local and global change through their daily consumer choices. Coree and her team mates will cycle 2,253 km starting in Vancouver, cycling up the inside passage, across to the island, north to Port McNeil and then south again, ending in Victoria. During that time, they’ll deliver dozens of theatre-based performances and workshops that focus on the many ways our choices impact the world, and how we can make that impact more positive.

Three groups (Hayfa Makes Music, The Blenheim Street Project, and Leigh Denholm) performed.  The music was great. Definitely, check them out on myspace.

Leigh Denholm

The Blenheim Street Project

Kathleen Forrester


Hayfa Abichahine

John Cullen


The indie music scene in Vancouver is pretty cool.

Although YouTube can be thought of as a site to watch your favourite music videos, it has also become an environment for young people to express their creativity through singing or the playing of instruments. In the Toronto Star online, there is a story about Yunior Lopez, a 20-year old Toronto viola student that is one of 5 Canadians chosen for one of 90 positions in the YouTube Symphony that will play together in a live concert at Carnegie Hall in April.

The young Cuban-born violist grew up in the world’s gambling capital, where his scientist father had gone to take a job in construction. He said he picked up the viola at age 11, when he had to choose an instrument in his arts-school orchestra.

“I really wanted to play the cello, but I rode my bike to school and there was no way I would’ve been able to do it with a cello,” Lopez recalled.

He made so much progress that he landed a contract with the Las Vegas Symphony “at the same time that I was supposed to start my senior year” in high school.

Relevance: This is very cool. What other examples exist of social media being used to solicit talent?