We live in such an amazing city (or cities K/W) that something like CultureCamp can exist. I’ve talked about this inspiring forum for discussion before on the CuteGecko blog and still love the concept.
IdeasTransform: CultureCamp is a user-generated ‘unconference’—an open, creative, participatory workshop-event, whose content is provided by participants related to an emerging understanding of culture.
So last Saturday’s event was held at artbar and began with a team building exercise that my team greatly failed at… but we had fun :) Brock then motivated our sessions by helping us to use a storytelling technique in order to find solutions to our group questions.
We broke off into three groups to discuss a range of subjects:
- How to get locals motivated and OUT at events, etc
- Engaging locals and the Tannery District
- What to do with the artbar vibe after it closes
I was a part of the first group with a few friends and even a couple of people I hadn’t met before. A rough breakdown of our story:
Photos Courtesy of Ramy Nassar at Bright Lights Photography
- Meet with tourism corporation and convince them to promote Kitchener Waterloo as the vibrant city it is instead of advertising it as ‘on the way to Stratford’
- Bring a friend campaign: The idea here is to negotiate with local businesses and event co-ordinators and have them provide a discount when a patron ‘brings a friend’. If all else fails, just get the regulars at events to bring someone new
- Better event listings such as online calendars that incorporate a number of local interests.
We also discussed push vs pull advertising – people have to VISIT the website to know what’s going on vs event listings posted around town and in your face - A Volunteer Club – something where a group of people come out locally to volunteer or create awareness for an important cause
These are just a small few of the ideas bounced around in the discussion group. It is a great way to get people thinking about local issues. The next CultureCamp will most likely be held in the fall. If this sounds like something you would be interested in attending, drop me a line or keep an eye on Ideas Transform for more information about local awesomeness.
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