AHA Media

AHA MEDIA supports local Vancouver Downtown Eastside Street Artists

AHA MEDIA was very pleased to see the SPUD Patrol giving away baked potatoes with butter, sour cream and onions in front of the Hastings Street Garden and Onsite on East Hastings Street in Vancouver Downtown Eastside

http://www.spudpatrol.com

Serving Potatoes to Unrecognized Devas – SPUD. The word “Deva” is from Sanskrit, the Indian sacred language and means “angel” or “divine being”. SPUD patrol has become a sweet and simple way for everyday people to do something tangible to show their love for those who are suffering. SPUD patrols are now beginning in cities around both the United States and Canada

SPUDS were enjoyed by both types of people – the Hungry and the Helpful

Below are photos of  Jeffrey Armstrong, Founder of SPUD Patrol http://www.spudpatrol.com speaking with Ken Glofcheskie of AHA MEDIA

SPUD Patrol is very welcomed in Vancouver Downtown Eastside

To see all 30 Photos of SPUD Patrol, Please see our Flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ahamedia/sets/72157622011129214/

A Social Media revolution has been brewing for the past five years on websites from FaceBook, to Wikipedia, to Flickr, and as it spreads throughout the Internet and into popular culture through an increasing number of portals, it is creating a new sense of community and empowerment amongst those who have embraced it.

History has shown that poor and marginalized communities stand to gain the most from leaps forward in the democratization of information, so the excitement in areas like Vancouver’s maligned Downtown Eastside about the possibilities of Web 2.0 and beyond is palpable.

With the Winter Olympics less than a year away, billions have been spent in preparations and many poverty advocates are concerned about how the city’s several thousand homeless and working poor will fit into the equation as Vancouver puts on its best face for the world.

Against this background the film examines Social Media in action as a group named Fearless City embarks on a campaign to empower and protect its neighbours with cellphones, video-streaming, and the World Wide Web.

With great thanks to both our mentors, Andrew Lavigne and Jon Ornoy for a wonderful movie trailer!

Thanks to all our friends and our colleagues in the film ” With Glowing Hearts”

Traces: Projecting Neighbourhood Stories

July 24-25, 2009, 9:15-11:00pm

various venues along 400-block East Hastings

between Jackson and Dunlevy

August 1, 2009, 9:15-10:30pm

Woodland Park

as part of the Powell Street Festival

www.mediaundefined.ca

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Traces to activate and illuminate Hastings Corridor

It’s only a few days until a stretch of Vancouver’s East Hastings Street will be animated and illuminated by Traces: Projecting Neighbourhood Stories. The latest community art project from Media Undefined, Traces is inspired by the Strathcona and Downtown Eastside neighbourhoods, their people, and their stories. The project will be unveiled in a series of outdoor screenings on the evenings of July 24 and 25.

For the past several months, teams of artist mentors and youth interns have been interviewing merchants, seniors, and longtime residents in the neighbourhood and turning their stories into works of video, animation, and shadow puppetry. Participants have been struck by their common interests, including the role of food in the neighbourhood (which boasts a number of thriving community gardens), and the relationship between people and architecture. That latter relationship will be a central focus for the project’s shadow puppetry play, which will animate buildings through the stories of people who live there. The multi-lingual video component of the event will zero in on stories of people from the four corners of Hastings and Jackson. The stop motion animation piece features the story of a neighbourhood resident and his dog’s neighbourhood wanderings to reflect the type of conversations and interactions artists and youth have been having through the project.

AHA MEDIA is proud to announce that our Director, Hendrik Beune’s image has been made into a puppet form and has a hilarious story in Traces: Projecting Neighbourhood Stories!!

Venues for the event, all located along the East Hastings corridor, are the storefront window at the Patricia Hotel, the empty lot at the corner of Hastings Street and Jackson Avenue, and outside the Chapel Arts Centre on Dunlevy Street. The work will also be presented at Woodland Park as part of the Powell Street Festival on August 1. And in September 2009, Traces will travel to community gathering places throughout the neighbourhood including schools, libraries, and community centres.

Traces is being developed by Media Undefined’s Jaimie Robson in partnership with the Strathcona Community Centre. Robson and mentoring artists Tamara Unroe, Madoka Hara, Diana Leung, along with Alicia Horner and Hoi Bing Mo, are working with a team of youth interns collecting stories from  longtime residents of the neighbourhood. Paul Bennett is producing a short documentary about the project. Youth interns for the project are Alicia Anderson, Lisa Cao, Jane Chow, Jessica Coccimiglio, Leticia Coutinho, Ernst Klaussen, Faber Neifer, Robin Prince, Geoffrey E A Vincent, and Patrick White, and Maggie Winston. For more detailed information on the project, visit www.mediaundefined.ca.

Below is a photo of Pigeon Park taken on July 15, 2009 – The park is still open with neighborhood residents sitting and making use of the space.

Below is a photo of Pigeon Park taken on July 16, 2009, where fences  have been placed all around to begin renovations.

Below is a link to more information on the Pigeon Park renovation.  Initial consulation with park visitors began in 2004!

http://vancouver.ca/Parks/info/planning/pigeonpark/index.htm

Project Information

Pioneer Place (Pigeon Park) upgrade

• Description

Project Description

The proposed improvements would:

1. Preserve features that make the park popular with the community
2. Replace aging features in the park with new ones
3. Add new features in the park
4. Integrate the park with the Carrall Street Greenway

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Below are photos and video of Hendrik Beune, Director of AHA MEDIA at the empty Pigeon Park.

In this video, Hendrik Beune, Director of AHA MEDIA speaks about the new renovation of Pigeon Park to Pioneer Place.

This was filmed by April Smith of AHA MEDIA on a Nokia N95 mobile cameraphone. April is passionate and skilled in making Nokia films by exploring mobile media production through the camera lens of a cellphone. For a better quality version of this video, please DM April Smith @AprilFilms on Twitter

In this video, April Smith of AHA MEDIA speaks with Tony, a City of Vancouver Worker and the renovation plans to transform Pigeon Park to Pioneer Place in Vancouver Downtown Eastside

This was filmed by April Smith of AHA MEDIA on a Nokia N95 mobile cameraphone. April is passionate and skilled in making Nokia films by exploring mobile media production through the camera lens of a cellphone. For a better quality version of this video, please DM April Smith @AprilFilms on Twitter

AHA MEDIA looks forward to the new Pioneer Place opening up soon, the pigeons and the people need this park!