With Day 189 of the pandemic and the increase in cases, we are seeing the vital role that collective civic action will play as we push into the fall, and it is becoming clear that the next year at CityStudio will be characterized by a slow and steady adaptation with our partners.
While we know that cities will continue needing innovation and support, and that schools will continue needing relevant, high quality experiences for students, we also know that projected revenue shortfalls in our public institutions will likely lead to significant belt-tightening in the years to come. To assist with this adaptation and demonstrate our ongoing value, we are looking forward to growing the team with a full-time Marketing and Communications Specialist that will serve the Vancouver Program and Global Sharing equally.
So, as we start a new year at CityStudio, and head toward our second decade, we will be watching this longer term horizon while focusing our efforts on 3 key questions in the coming months:
- What is the highest quality project experience we can develop with Vancouver students and city staff for civic benefit and inclusion?
- What are we learning in Vancouver and with the 13-city CityStudio Network that will help us to scale our model in Canada and internationally, and
- How do we contribute locally to the global movement for justice, equity, diversity, decolonization and inclusion from inside our colonial system?
Here are the highlights as we head into the fall:
THE VANCOUVER PROGRAM
New Program Director for Vancouver
With Miriam Esquitín promoted to the new role of Director of the Vancouver Program, we are positioned to provide service with increased capacity, focus and expertise. Already we have a full slate of project collaborations between our Vancouver staff and our school partners this fall, including the returning SFU Semester in Dialogue and the UBC Master of Education in Sustainability. We are also excited to announce a first: a new project bringing 300+ first year UBC students to the table in a large scale civic engagement experiment with the City of Vancouver. Stay tuned for details on the projects coming later this fall.
HUBBUB 15 is coming December 4th!
This fall HUBBUB is back with an online showcase featuring project presentations, guest speakers, and more! Stay tuned for an invite coming to your inbox with details about our live event December 4th from 11:00am – 12:00pm and our permanent virtual showcase. Join us in celebrating our collaborators and their project work on City strategies like the Climate Emergency Action Plan, Vancouver Plan, and Healthy City Strategy.
CITYSTUDIO GLOBAL
Two new CityStudios
We’re very happy to announce that the Regional Municipality of Durham, Ontario has joined the CityStudio Network. The City of Chilliwack, BC will be joining this fall, bringing our membership to 14.
With eight municipalities, CityStudio Durham is the first region to join the network. This initiative is led by the Region of Durham in collaboration with Durham Regional Police Service, Durham College, Ontario Tech University, and Trent University, and is the 10th CityStudio to launch in Canada. Read more here.
Read about our approach to Networks
We were recently interviewed by the Pillar Non-Profit Network about our organizational culture as it relates to their Network Approach principles of collaboration, leadership and governance, equity and inclusion, and storytelling and impact in our global network activities. Pillar is home to CityStudio London. Read the full story here.
Sales Strategist to join the team
With the next version of our licensing product now in development, we have posted for a Sales Strategist to help us bring CityStudio to new cities across Canada and internationally over the next 2 years.
