From Opening Night at the Orpheum Theatre featuring some of Canada’s brightest minds, to a Mayors Roundtable, a Youth and Student Conference, an Urban Conspiracy Cabaret, Rain City Chronicles, and culminating with a Film Festival, over 10,000 civic-minded Metro Vancouverites are expected to participate in SFU Public Square’s inaugural community summit: Alone Together – Connecting in the City.
The summit, which runs from September 18-23, was designed in response to the Vancouver Foundation’s recent study on Connections and Engagement that revealed a “powerful yearning for stronger connections in and between our communities,” and is the first of its kind in Canada.
“When we put together our plan for a community summit, we didn’t want to follow conventional programming, ” says Shauna Sylvester, Executive Director of SFU Public Square.
“Isolation and disconnection in the urban environment is an issue that requires a different approach to find solutions, and therefore our community summit features a breadth of events and activities designed to raise awareness, educate, and motivate people into taking action.”
Alone Together – Connecting in the City begins with Opening Night at the Orpheum on September 18, featuring a host of civic influencers and entertainment.
With special appearances by rising Vancouver rockers Bend Sinister and 2010 Vancouver Olympics opening ceremonies star and slam-poet Shane Koyczan, Opening Night will bring together CBC Radio host and author Nora Young, Toronto artist-activist Dave Meslin, international award-winning urban planner Larry Beasley, and the Vancouver Foundation’s Catherine Clement for a discussion on overcoming isolation and disconnection moderated by SFU Chancellor Carole Taylor.
In total, the summit features 11 distinct events taking place at SFU’s three campuses (Vancouver, Burnaby, Surrey) as well as various locations across the Lower Mainland. The university has also opened its doors during the summit to community groups with Open Space, and has asked the public the question: “What is the future of libraries?”
SFU Public Square was officially launched in June of 2012, and originated from the university’s yearlong consultation process, which produced SFU’s strategic vision as “The Engaged University.” SFU Public Square is designed to put SFU’s physical, intellectual and virtual capacities to work to support public engagement and deliberation on issues of public concern.
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For more information on SFU Public Square and Alone Together – Connecting in the City, please visit: http://www.sfu.ca/publicsquare
