All tagged Ideas
We all know the quiet arc of growing up in a small city or town. Elementary school, high school, and then the decision – where do we go for college or university? If we choose to stay home, where do we work and where do we live? If we go away to school, should we return home at some point? If so, when is the best time to do so? Or should we stay away forever?
Our team at young & free press is thrilled to be involved with the development of two fresh park spaces in downtown St. Thomas. Over the past year, we have worked in collaboration with the Parks, Recreation and Property Management department at the City to develop preliminary concepts, and early designs have been prepared by Arthur Lierman Landscape Architecture.
In Simcoe, the aspirations of the community have outgrown the dated atmosphere and decaying built environment. There are lots of young entrepreneurs, artists, and cultural leaders who want the town to grow, but have to face empty storefronts, bland scenery, minimal nightlife, and very little foot traffic. When I started with young & free press two years ago, the mission was to get more people interested in imagining the future of Simcoe. This is truly ‘step one’, as we need to have community members willing to make the effort to inspire change.
Maddie King and Andrew Gunn of young & free pressare thrilled to announce that we will be assembling a collection of essays for a new book focusing on the ongoing transformation of our hometown of St. Thomas! This will be a contemporary history of the city.
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 in London, 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 the camera of a smart phone. Murals will come to life, billboards and other cultural objects will move, and local history will become a stimulating visual reality!
Downtown London has some great arts and culture venues and many captivating businesses, parks, and landmarks. There are excellent festivals, events and concerts that happen downtown, which help drive residents and visitors to support businesses in the area. Teenagers can help to influence this activity and the overall culture. With youth having such an impact on society, I wanted to share some ideas of how we can attract more teenagers to downtown London.
Throughout this pandemic we have come to know the feeling of nearly losing our minds because we are unable to be around others. This has given us time to dream about creating places where we can gather. Quarantine is so boring, but gradually we will be able to return to public spaces. Looking at St. Thomas specifically, how can we really make our city a wonderful, welcoming place once we are finally set free? There are so many exciting possibilities!
This is an extraordinary time to write about cities and towns. The COVID-19 pandemic is forcing everyone to reconsider how we use public spaces. There is so much uncertainty. Right now, the phrase ‘physical distancing’ has taken over, specifying the need to keep at least two metres away from others. For the immediate future, physical distancing is a necessity; if we are able to ‘flatten the curve’ of the pandemic, perhaps this will remain only as a guideline or recommendation. Life will be different, though. Post-pandemic, what will public spaces be like?
The past few weeks have been very confusing for students. One of the hardest parts of the COVID-19 outbreak has been the overwhelming sense of uncertainty. There are many questions: Will we be returning to school this year? Will we be starting online classes? For high school seniors, the biggest question is obvious: will we be graduating this year? If not, what happens to our post-secondary plans? We have been given no answers, and that is scary.
March 2020 was supposed to be a fun month for me. Starting off with celebrating my 18th birthday, I would follow that with a week-long vacation in Cozumel, a Billie Eilish concert in Detroit, and the chance to see a production of Hamilton: An American Musicalat the Ed Mirvish Theatre in Toronto. All of those plans were quickly derailed within a few days. Postponed family celebrations, shortened trips and cancelled performances became my new reality.
Some downtowns feel lifeless while others have a real pulse. I have experienced both in our travels around Ontario’s Southwest. The cool thing is how more communities seem to be investing in downtown spaces.
Every downtown feels open or closed. This may be an abstract statement, but listen to the people who frequent the area or live nearby – the way that individuals talk about a downtown space will tell you right away whether the area is considered open or closed. In this context, we use ‘open’ to mean welcoming, inviting, surprising, attractive and distinctive; by contrast, the word ‘closed’ is short-hand for detached, cold, boring, run-down and unexceptional.
The 2019 Polaris Music Prize short-list features ten artists, all unique, and many I had not heard of before writing this article. My first thought when I saw the list: “Who are these people?”
Feeling the need for a jolt of energy to renew the landscape of downtown St. Thomas, multiple organizations and individuals have come together with the aim of making the city one of the true ‘street art capitals’ of Canada!
Our team at young & free press loves to collaborate with community partners on fun, innovative projects. What’s next? Well, we are excited to help establish new ‘pop-up shops’ around southwestern Ontario, beginning with the first site in our home-base of St. Thomas!
Norfolk County feels a bit unsettled ever since the transformational municipal election back in the fall --- and we think that this is a great thing! New leaders are in place, conversations are happening, and there is a healthy sense of optimism (and skepticism) in the air.
Hayhoe Homes, the St. Thomas / Elgin Regional Campus of Fanshawe College, and the team at young & free press have come together on a special project to build 'little free library' boxes for the whole community!
Adults don’t look at social media from the same perspective as teenagers. Sometimes adults don’t fully understand the apps. Teenagers use social media differently than most might think. They are more than aware of every picture they post and how those images will be received by
Well St. Thomas, set your expectations high! We have a new Mayor and Council at City Hall, our community is growing, and there is a hint of cultural transformation in the air. In our view, we think that St. Thomas can become the next great destination in southwestern Ontario for twenty-something entrepreneurs, tradespeople and makers, young families, and active retirees. Seriously, why not?
Our young & free press team has been heavily involved in the St. Thomas municipal election this year. We have interviewed all the candidates for Mayor and several of the candidates for City Council.
