Jul 27

Jul 27 Get Ready to ‘Engage’ with London, St. Thomas & Port Stanley!

London, St Thomas, Elgin County, Ontario's Southwest

Photo: Andrew Gunn and Madison Comfort of young & free press are acting as consultants on the Estate of Donna Vera Evans Bushell. Recently, we arranged over $200,000 in funding to support the introduction of a new augmented reality app for St. Thomas and Port Stanley, part of a massive donation to the Elgin County Museum (full details will be announced soon!). The app will be developed by EXAR Studios. Tourism London has provided $100,000 to develop the app for London. This is an exciting project that will boost regional tourism, as well as showcase local history and culture through an innovative digital platform.

Our team at young & free press is very excited to help introduce a new augmented reality app designed specifically to engage residents and visitors in London, St. Thomas and Port Stanley.

Developed by EXAR Studios, the app – called ‘Engage’ – will guide users on unique adventures through each community with stops along the way to experience attractions just by looking through a smart phone camera. Murals will come to life, billboards and cultural objects will move, and local history will become a stimulating visual reality! Based in London, EXAR Studios is a local company devoted to engaging communities and consumers through futuristic technologies including virtual reality, projection mapping, augmented reality, and more. For London, the development is being funded in large part by a $100,000 grant from the Regional Recovery and Relief Fund through FedDev, gifted by Tourism London.

Our team at young & free press has arranged over $200,000 in funding from the Estate of Donna Bushell to support the project in collaboration with the Elgin County Museum.

Beyond our social media work and partnerships with private companies and government organizations, our team at young & free press function as consultants alongside owner Andrew Gunn through his consulting firm, Andrew Gunn Consulting Inc. This gives our team of teenage staff members the opportunity to provide ideas and develop special community projects!

Currently, we are the consultants on the Estate of Donna Bushell, who passed away in November 2019 in her hundredth year. Andrew and our teenage staff members have taken the lead on announcing the donations from the Estate – ultimately, more than $2.5M will be allocated to support a series of remarkable initiatives in St. Thomas and Elgin County! This has been an interesting task in the midst of a global pandemic, but we are thrilled to be able to help support the community at this time and celebrate the life of Donna Bushell.

London

The development of the ‘Engage’ app started through conversations among various partners in London regarding how to adjust to life in the time of COVID-19 and attract visitors to the community. With tourism at a low due to the pandemic, the app can provide a safe way to spend time outdoors and connect with the community while respecting physical distancing.

“We strongly believe in the innovative technologies that EXAR Studios is working on and hope that we can create a platform that not only encourages tourism but showcases London’s heritage and culture in a unique and safe way,” says Natalie Wakabayashi, Director of Culture and Entertainment Tourism at Tourism London.

The Engage project is being developed with local partners including Dundas Place, Museum London, the London Children’s Museum, TechAlliance, London Public Libraries, Downtown London BIA, Old East London BIA, Western Fair District, London Arts Council, The Urban League of London, London Heritage Council, and the City of London.

“COVID-19 has both brought us challenges and educated us as a collective,” notes Shishir “S” Pande, EXAR Studios co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer. “As it becomes safe to meet in person, we need a common thread that allows us to rebuild our economy, connect with other people and remember what our communities mean to us. We've built Engage to be that thread.”

St. Thomas & Port Stanley

Our team at young & free quickly saw the potential for the app in London, and wanted to expand the experience to include St. Thomas and Port Stanley. Soon we will announce all the details on the significant donation to the Elgin County Museum – for now, we wanted to focus on the augmented reality app to prompt everyone to think about the possibilities of this new technology. The app will enhance education and tourism in the community for years to come. This is a perfect fit for the Estate of Donna Bushell, as we unite the past with the future and find new ways for users, including young people, to engage with local culture.

“Our dream is to have Engage in every city that could take advantage of it,” comments Daniel Kharlas, EXAR Studios co-founder and Chief Operating Officer. “We are so excited to be able to explore how we can use Engage to bring communities together in exploring their neighbourhoods and enjoying this new digital layer through time.”

If you are interested in becoming a beta tester and getting early access to the app, sign up at https://www.engage.art

Notes on the Estate of Donna Vera Evans Bushell

Donna Vera Evans Bushell passed away November 9, 2019, in her hundredth year, the last of her family. Donna’s passion was to plant trees and reminisce about her ancestors and friends while her sister Doris Evans taught music as a church organist. The oldest sister, Thelma Joiner, taught elementary school around Aylmer for forty-five years and researched local North Yarmouth history. All three sisters shared a love of their heritage as descendants of the pioneer Westlake, Penhale and Gilbert families who settled along the North Edgeware Road in Yarmouth. Their collected historical papers will eventually be deposited in the Elgin County Archives. Recently, the Bushell Estate has provided funds to build a new sustainable stage at Springwater Forest, establish a water trail and improve walking trails at Dalewood Conservation Area, launch a fund through the Elgin St. Thomas Community Foundation to boost tree-planting projects, support the ‘Track to the Future’ mural project in St. Thomas, enhance the St. Thomas Elevated Park, and build the new Westlake-Evans Civic Park next to the St. Thomas Public Library. The Estate has also supported the introduction of the ‘STEAM Community Studio’ at the STEAM Centre.

Find more information about Tourism London here: https://www.londontourism.ca

Check out EXAR Studios: https://www.exarstudios.com

The Elgin County Museum will re-open to the public (with safety measures in place) on Tuesday, August 11th … more details: https://www.elgincounty.ca/museum/