2014

I am in Toronto until Thursday, on a mini break with Sharon and her sister. Having fun so far, but the weather is colder here than it is back home! Happy Victoria Day!

Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

Headlines

City Council has established its first women’s advisory group called WAVE. The group’s first fifteen members will focus on engagement through networking, leadership through mentorship, and learning from best practices.
Is Edmonton the next great Canadian city? Jim Beyers highlights some of the cool things happening in our city in the Toronto Star. Some found the article condescending, others were thrilled that Edmonton is getting some attention out east. I think we need to stop making such a big deal out of attention like this.
Another ring road around Edmonton? I don’t even know how that’s a possible consideration at this point. Mayor Iveson says we should spend that money on transit instead. Agreed!
Lots of Fire Rescue Services news this week! The service welcomed its 140th recruit class this week, welcomed “Grover” to the K9 unit, and announced that its inaugural Fire Cadet class will start training school this fall.
This is a great story on the Transforming Edmonton blog. Neil Ganske, who works for ETS, is an inventor who created a tractor-like sweeping vehicle that has saved the City more than $700,000 per winter!
For the third year in a row, EPCOR has been named one of Canada’s Top Employers Young People.
We’ll have to see if people in the industry like this change, but the City claims it has streamlined the process for acquiring major development permits by setting up pre-application meetings.
You may or may not enjoy this video of a crazy fight on Edmonton’s LRT.
A second open source street art free wall has been opened in Edmonton. It is located on Whyte Avenue at the Tirecraft building just west of 99 Street.
Here are the latest urbanism headlines from Spacing Edmonton.
When you go to cut your lawn this summer, go bagless!
For those of you wanting to see the speed limit on Whitemud Drive raised, it’s not looking good. A city report recommended against the higher limit, and it seems much of Council agrees.
Wait, so are we a track city or a basketball city? Edmonton will host Brazil in the the first annual Edmonton Grads International Classic this June. The news release says Edmonton “is well on its way to establishing itself as the Centre of Excellence for basketball in Canada.”

Elms and The Pearl by Jeff Wallace

Upcoming Events

The International Responsible Hospitality Conference takes place in Edmonton this week on Wednesday and Thursday.
The next Capital Ideas Edmonton event is on mentorship and it takes place at the Edmonton Journal on Wednesday.
On Wednesday evening, the Ad Club of Edmonton is having its AGM at the Mercer Warehouse.
It’s outdoor market time! The 124 Street Grand Market returns on Thursday.
Also Thursday night, the interesting fundraiser known as Everything Edmonton takes place at the Yellowhead Brewery.
The big food/hospitality conference Host Edmonton takes place on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at the Shaw Conference Centre.
On Friday evening, WinterCity is hosting an appreciation event at Latitude 53.
Interested in open data? Don’t miss the hackYEG hackathon at the Stanley Milner library on Saturday.
Our first big What the Truck?! event of the season takes place on 104 Street on Saturday evening!
Also Saturday evening is the AGA’s Road Trip Refinery.
For more upcoming events, check out ShareEdmonton.

Edmonton LRT by iqremix

Media Monday Edmonton: Update #112

Here’s my latest update on local media stuff:

Congratulations to all the winners of the 2013 Yeggies which took place on Friday evening! The Local Good took home “Best in Edmonton” and Baconhound took home “Best Twitter Persona”. It was a fun night!

Yeggies co-founder Adam Rozenhart and food blogger Sharon Yeo before the show

Here’s a roundup of some Yeggies coverage: Gig City, Inglorious Hipsters, The Local Good, Finster Finds, VV Boutique Style, #yegfilm, and OilersNation.
With the exception of perhaps Mayor Iveson, I have to say I think the media personalities bested the politicians when it comes to dance moves! Pretty cool and popular video by CTV Edmonton called #yeghappy!
TELUS announced today that it will invest $2.6 billion in new infrastructure and facilities across Alberta through 2016. They’re broadening the reach of Optik TV and are deploying 700 MHz spectrum.
Well that didn’t take long: Meet the Media Tweetup 5 is taking place on June 13 and it’s already sold out. Add yourself to the waitlist I guess!
Don’t miss this fun interview with Brittney Le Blanc by Phil Wilson (aka Baconhound).
And Brittney, this link is for you: one third of the roughly 400 reporters at the New York Times are women.
Edmonton Journal reporter Otiena Ellwand is training to run in the Edmonton Marathon on August 24, and she’s planning to blog about her progress along the way. It’s called Reporter on the Run, and the fun video at that link was produced by Ryan Jackson.
Many local media personalities participated in McHappy Day:

.@GordSteinke and @CADevaney getting ready to serve the busy lunch rush for #McHappyDay pic.twitter.com/JZI7YImwvH

— GlobalEDM Community (@GlobalEdm_plus)

May 7, 2014

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The next Capital Ideas Edmonton event takes place on Wednesday, May 21 at the Edmonton Journal. The topic this time is mentorship.
For all the latest news in the world of social media, check out Linda’s latest roundup!
Looks like ATB Financial has found itself the target of a negative fake Twitter account. The account appears to be run by a disgruntled employee.
I have been enjoying all of the #metro228 links that Karen Unland has been posting on Twitter. Follow her if you don’t already!
Obsessed with screens? You might like the latest new media experiment, Glass.

You can follow Edmonton media news on Twitter using the hashtag #yegmedia. For a great overview of the global media landscape, check out Mediagazer.

So, what have I missed? What’s new and interesting in the world of Edmonton media? Let me know!

You can see past Media Monday Edmonton entries here.

Edmonton Notes for 5/11/2014

Happy Mother’s Day! Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

Headlines

Good news for Remedy Cafe, The Hat, and other businesses affected by the looming demolition of the old Paramount Theatre: plans are now on hold. There’s no specific timetable, but ProCura promised tenants will be the first to know.
We found out on Friday that another historic theatre will be closed soon: Avenue Theatre will be closing its doors in mid-June. Hopefully this doesn’t affect the ongoing revitalization of Alberta Avenue too much.
I’m a little surprised at just how divisive the proposed renovation of the Stanley Milner library has been. Everyone has an opinion, but they’re strong opinions!
Historian Tony Cashman and philanthropist Reinhard Muhlenfeld are the two Edmontonians named to the Alberta Order of Excellence for 2014. The ceremony will take place in Edmonton on October 15.
Omar questions why four Councillors haven’t gotten involved with Opening the Potential, a six-month program that will mentor women interested in municipal politics. Pretty shocking comments from Councillor Loken.
Alberta’s annual Arbor Day took place this week and to celebrate the City launched yegTreeMap, an online map to register the trees you plant. Looks like it includes all the trees planted by the City too.
The Oil Kings and Winterhawks will need game seven to decide their series after Edmonton squandered a three goal lead to lose in OT in game six.
I still haven’t seen one except for on television, but the Edmonton Police Service is “cautioning the public regarding a new trend involving the use of electronic cigarettes for marijuana use by youth.” Crafty young-uns.
Unless you filled out the online census, you can expect a census worker to visit your home anytime now as door-to-door collection began Saturday.
Here’s an interview with Kendall Barber, co-founder of Poppy Barley, on “good business”.
Rosanna Saccomani, Q.C., has been appointed to Edmonton Region Provincial Court, effective May 7.
Looks like the war on graffiti didn’t have much success last year – the audit showed a 26.6% increase in incidents over 2012.
Cool new series from NextGen: Get to Know a NextGen-er. The first entry features urban planner Jeff Chase.
Construction livecams are all the rage right now in Edmonton! Here’s the official feed for the Walterdale Bridge Replacement Project. (At first I thought EPL had something to do with – the “Inspiring sustainable thinking” logo is so similar!)
Have you got a big idea to make your neighbourhood more environmentally friendly? The City is launching a new program called You’re Gonna Love Green to inspire Edmontonians to take action to green their communities.
Here are the latest urbanism headlines from Spacing Edmonton.
This isn’t surprising, but ugh is all I can say. “As Alberta’s two largest cities breach the million-resident mark, Calgary is taking a tentative first step towards metropolises like Toronto and Vancouver while Edmonton’s approach to growth remains fundamentally unchanged since the 1950s, according to a new research paper.”
Congratulations to Localize on taking the top prize at the 2014 TEC VenturePrize awards!
Congratulations to all the winners at Friday night’s Yeggies! Gig City, which won the new Judge’s Choice award, has a roundup.

Looks like this was taken from the EPCOR tower looking north, photo by Ted Drake. So many empty lots.

Upcoming Events

There are still a few days left to take in the Global Visions Film Festival!
Head over to Startup Edmonton on Monday night for the Edmonton Python Meetup. Aaron Fay will be giving a talk that all kinds of programmers should find interesting.
Much Ado About Nothing is on now at the Rutherford House Provincial Historic Site.
I’m excited to be a mentor at the interVivos Sprint 2014 Mentorship Pairing event! I have hosted the last couple of events, and was thrilled to have the opportunity to participate myself.
On Friday evening the Edmonton Rush will play their first ever home playoff game against Calgary. They were upset by the Roughnecks in game one last night.
Also Friday evening is Carnaval, a fun event organized by Creative Edmonton taking place at the Edmonton Petroleum Club.
Grab your camera on Sunday and head below the surface for International Underground Meet Day.
Save the date for the first What the Truck?! event of the season, taking place on 104 Street on Saturday, May 24. We’re excited about all the new trucks hitting the streets this year!
For more upcoming events, check out ShareEdmonton.

Purple Phase by Jeff Wallace

In Edmonton, make it iconic

The Edmonton Public Library released a drawing today of the planned facelift for downtown’s Stanley A. Milner library. Pending funding from City Council this fall, Toronto’s Teeple Architects and Edmonton’s Architecture ATB would tackle the project. The total cost of the renovation is estimated to be $56 million.

new stanley milner library design

That figure includes asbestos removal and mechanical and electrical system upgrades, but it also means an attractive building, better suited to living alongside the other modern-looking buildings around Churchill Square.

“We really want it to be iconic,” said EPL CEO Linda Cook.

That word is what many people fixated on today. Iconic.

So that rendering of the new library in Edmonton is nice and all but have you people looked up “iconic” in a dictionary lately?

— Mike Otto (@yegmotto)

May 9, 2014

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56 million to make the downtown library “iconic”. Sure, why not. We’ve got so much extra money for everything.

— Brice Davidson (@BriceDavidson)

May 8, 2014

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I support libraries but this is ridiculous. Building is in still fine shape. Enough with “iconic” moniker. #yegcc http://t.co/SfPEogilza

— Marsha (@marshaboyd)

May 8, 2014

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That got me thinking, are we overusing the word iconic in Edmonton?

To find out, I decided to look at the frequency of the word iconic in Edmonton Journal articles over the last couple of decades. As a comparison, I looked up the same data for The Globe and Mail. Hardly scientific, but good enough. Here’s what it looks like:

As you can see, the word wasn’t used very frequently before the turn of the millennium, after which it trends up. But what’s interesting is that it went up for both articles in the Journal and articles in Globe. So that suggests to me it’s not Edmonton-specific.

What about “iconic design” or “iconic building”? Here’s what that data looks like:

Again, an increase after 2000, but more in the Globe actually. For kicks, I also tried “world class”, that other favorite phrase for describing new projects in Edmonton!

I was surprised to see that usage of that phrase is much more consistent and while it has gone up, it hasn’t gone up dramatically.

Finally, here’s a look at the Google Trend data for “iconic” and “world class” in Canada:

//www.google.com/trends/embed.js?hl=en-US&q=iconic,+world+class&geo=CA&cmpt=q&content=1&cid=TIMESERIES_GRAPH_AVERAGES_CHART&export=5&w=640&h=330

A pretty similar story.

I like the idea of a refresh for the Stanley Milner library. Should we pay $56 million to make sure it’s “iconic”? I’m not sure. But it’s worth debating alongside all of the other capital requests.

For another take on the whole Big-Shiny-Thing-itis, check out this post from David Staples.

Recap: TEC VenturePrize 2014

Local entrepreneurs were celebrated tonight at the 12th annual TEC VenturePrize awards celebration in Hall D at the Shaw Conference Centre. More than $200,000 in prizes were handed out to the nine finalists across three competitions!

Here’s what VenturePrize is all about:

“You have a business idea, but don’t necessarily have the business training to launch your company. The more you brainstorm about transforming your vision into a venture, the more questions you have. What are the legal issues with creating a company? Where is the financing going to come from? Am I targeting the right market? Find out by participating in the TEC VenturePrize business plan competition.”

It’s a great opportunity for participants to make connections with investors and other entrepreneurs, to learn more about what it takes to run a business, and to gain valuable insight from experienced mentors.

Our host for the evening was Ryan Jespersen from BT Edmonton. Premier Dave Hancock opened the event bringing greetings on behalf of the Province, followed by TEC Edmonton CEO Chris Lumb who brought opening remarks and also presented the Recognition Award to Bob Teskey. His acceptance speech was about twelve seconds long, which helped to contribute to a timely program that finished slightly ahead of schedule.

“Bob envisioned and designed the TEC Edmonton structure: an unincorporated Joint Venture to create strong commitment among Joint Venture partners, enable the University and City ti work together in unique ways, and build linkages between university and community.

This award is presented in recognition of Bob’s role in growing a strong Edmonton, through his outstanding ability to forge institutional partnerships.”

Mayor Iveson was the next speaker. He talked about the changing energy in Edmonton, and said “it’s getting easier to make an idea reality in this city.” Mayor Iveson stayed on stage to help interview the three student competition finalists: AlieoGames, Livi Design, and Smart Count Health. All three were from the University of Alberta!

This year TELUS came on board to sponsor the first ever ICT Competition at VenturePrize. We heard pitches from the three finalists: It’s Date Night, MyMenu, and Zayfti. You can learn more about each one at TEC Edmonton. Given the ridiculous state of online restaurant menus, I really hope that Edmonton-based MyMenu is successful in its quest to help diners with dietary restrictions. It’ll be tough to get restaurants to upload menus though when so many don’t even keep their own sites up-to-date!

Since 2002, the Fast Growth competition has awarded more than $1.5 million to Alberta-based entrepreneurs to help them grow their companies, an impressive number of which are still operating! The finalists in this year’s competition were:

Belgravia Tech Inc.

“BTI has created a safe, reliable, and cost effective alternative to a nuclear reactor-generated medical isotope vital for timely diagnosis and management of patient treatment for many major health issues, including cancer and heart problems. BTI’s unique technology is well positioned to fill this critical need and provide healthcare organizations with the means to offer quality care for heart and cancer patients worldwide.”

Localize Services Inc.

“Localize in an Edmonton-based company that helps tell the stories behind the foods we all love. Their unique grocery-shelf labeling service rapidly collects and conveys product information to consumers, making it easy for grocers anywhere to launch local, regional, and domestic food campaigns in their stores. These smartphone-enabled tags and unique “Localize scores” empower shoppers to quickly learn the who, what, where, and how behind thousands of products on grocery shelves across Canada.”

Tactalis

“Tactalis develops amazing tactile tablet computer systems that help people who are blind or visually impaired to explore, create and share images and digital media that they cannot see. Each of their award winning products has a unique touch sensitive interface and embedded tactile display that lets users touch and feel physical representations of features, symbols and graphics on an LCD screen.”

All very interesting companies with great elevator pitches! I think the work that Localize is doing is really important and they delivered a really clear message to the audience this evening. Tactalis has such an interesting product – think of it like braille for the digital era. I can see a huge market for what they’re doing!

Up next was the keynote speaker, Dianne Buckner. She spoke about the art of the pitch, giving the judges an opportunity to leave the room to make their final deliberations. As the host of CBC’s Dragon’s Den and as a member of the Business Team at CBC News, Dianne knows a thing or two about pitching. Her advice tonight? Do tell a story, don’t let a “dragon” discourage you, do align your goals with those of the person you’re pitching, and don’t be afraid to talk about your weaknesses. She also said to keep in mind that the first thing you’re pitching is always yourself – if they aren’t interested in you or don’t think you’re competent, why would they be interested in your product or service?

Finally, it was time to find out the winners!

Edmonton Journal People’s Choice Award
Localize Services Inc., with 59.5% of the vote

TEC VenturePrize Student Business Plan Award
AlieoGames

VenturePrize TELUS Information & Communication Technology Award
MyMenu

TEC VenturePrize Fast Growth Grand Prize Award
Localize Services Inc.

It was a big night for Startup Edmonton, as all of the winners and many of the finalists had a connection in some form or another to the organization. It’s great to see the continued positive momentum behind entrepreneurship in Edmonton!

Congratulations to Localize and to all of the participants, finalists, and winners! Thanks to TEC Edmonton for providing me with a seat tonight to capture the action. You can see more photos from the evening here.

Media Monday Edmonton: Update #111

Here’s my latest update on local media stuff:

After ten years on the job, Global Edmonton’s Trouble Shooter Julie Matthews is moving on to become a senior investigator with Service Alberta. Her last day was Friday, May 2.
Also leaving Global Edmonton is Shane Jones, who will be joining PCL as their new Media Relations Specialist in two weeks.
The Yeggies are coming up on Friday evening! Get your tickets here.
Graham Thomson on the return of Alison Redford to the legislature: “This was Redford’s first appearance in the assembly since she resigned as premier March 23 and the media were after her like seagulls chasing a fishing trawler. And all we got were scraps.”
The nominees for the 37th annual National Magazine Awards were announced recently. Alberta Views and Eighteen Bridges both picked up a number of nominations. The winners will be revealed in Toronto on June 6.
I was sad to miss the NOW 102.3 FM Tweetup on Friday night! Looks like it was a fun time.

Great #nowtweetup @1023nowradio! @McIntyreMary1 had a blast with @DMcIntyreCTV, @adammckale, @TazlyTaz, @crashandmars pic.twitter.com/WL9ziulWXX

— Mary McIntyre (@McIntyreMary1)

May 3, 2014

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Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at Global Edmonton with Lorraine Mansbridge.
“It took JR Shaw four years to get a cable license from the CRTC.” He connected his first customer in 1971 and today has more than 3 million customers! Here’s 6 pieces of advice from the telecommunications pioneer.
Brett Barrett is a newly graduated News Assistant at Global Edmonton, and he’s pretty excited about filing his first story. I love that social media enables stuff like this!
NAIT’s student newspaper, the Nugget, was first published on January 1, 1964. Here’s a look at 50 years of history for the publication. Color printing began in 1999!
I was disappointed to see the comments on this piece by Gray Lamphier. In response to a suggestion from a reader, Lamphier responded: “And I wish I had 10 more inches of column space to answer such questions. If you can wangle that from my editor, let me know.” I feel like that excuse should no longer be valid in 2014.
Is life really more fun on two wheels? There’s a Facebook group for Edmonton Media Motorcyclists.
Here’s a roundup of some recent blog posts from Edmontonians. What do you think – is that interesting and/or useful?
Edmonton-born filmmaker Dave Walker was found dead in Cambodia last week. He went missing back in February.
Saturday, May 3 was World Press Freedom Day as designated by the United Nations. Twitter encouraged users to tweet their observations and thoughts using the hashtag #PressFreedom.
As you know, Rob Ford was back in the news over the last week or so. And this time, media outlets are ponying up some cash in exchange for photos. From the Globe and Mail: Why we published the Rob Ford photos and The case for paying for Rob Ford photographs. Gawker was also approach and wrote about their interactions with the seller.

A zombie is interviewed by CTV Edmonton during the 2014 RCZC Spring Zombie Walk

You can follow Edmonton media news on Twitter using the hashtag #yegmedia. For a great overview of the global media landscape, check out Mediagazer.

So, what have I missed? What’s new and interesting in the world of Edmonton media? Let me know!

You can see past Media Monday Edmonton entries here.

Edmonton Notes for 5/4/2014

Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

Headlines

Brian Mason announced plans on Wednesday to step down as leader of the NDP after the party leadership vote in October. Here’s a statement on the announcement from Premier Dave Hancock. Here are some stats on how the Alberta NDP have fared under Mason.
City Council has had just three motions pass or fail by one vote so far this term. The most recent was also the most significant: a proposal to increase the speed limit on Scona Road failed.
The final 2014 property tax rate of 4.92% was approved by Council this week. Tax notices go our May 23 and the deadline to pay taxes is June 30.
Edmonton did well in the 2014 Startup Canada Awards, winning 7 of 20 possible awards for the Prairie Region.
The Edmonton Police Service released both its 2013 Annual Policing Plan Report Card and its 2014 First Quarter Report to the Community. Property crimes decreased by 6.9% and violent crimes decreased by 2.1% in the first quarter of 2014.
More single family homes were sold in April than any time since May 2007, according to the Edmonton Real Estate Blog. Average sale prices are up too.
Be prepared for delays if you’re used to taking Walterdale Hill into the downtown! Starting tomorrow, that street will be closed until August to facilitate construction on the Walterdale Bridge project. ETS routes 9 and 197 will detour via Saskatchewan Drive and Queen Elizabeth Park Road.
Works has begun on the Molson Brewery site, and the City has announced that the north, south, and portions of the easy walls will be rebuilt. While that’s good news, it still doesn’t change the car-centered nature of the overall development.
The historic Paramount Theatre will be demolished to make way for a residential tower if ProCura’s plans go ahead. The development would also impact Edmonton’s oldest restaurant, The Hat, and one of downtown’s hottest new spots, Remedy Cafe.
Edmonton’s Transit System Advisory Board is advocating for a monthly low-income transit pass. I think it’s long overdue!
The Old Strathcona Foundation is the first Edmonton community to be accepted into the Alberta Main Street Program.
It wasn’t a great weekend for the Edmonton Oil Kings as they fell to the Winterhawks twice.
Mayor Iveson called on the federal government to do more on sustainable housing, and said a national housing plan is needed. “Without the support of the federal government and a national housing plan, we cannot keep pace with the housing needs of our rapidly growing population…”
Football season is right around the corner! The Eskimos held their AGM on Thursday.
Can both Rexall Place and Rogers Place succeed in Edmonton? Northlands of course thinks they can, but the Katz Group disagrees.
Here’s another update on the Northeast Anthony Henday project. It’s still slated to be completed in 2016.
Next Monday, forty lots in Oxford Phase II will be sold by the City. Registration takes place on May 8.
Have you made it over to Notables yet? Their going-out-of-business-sale runs through the end of the month. Carbon will be relocating from 104 Street downtown to the vacated space.

A look at the downtown arena construction from Jason Woodhead

Upcoming Events

Cheer on the Edmonton Oil Kings at home this week! Games three and four in their series against the Portland Winterhawks take place on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Today marked the return of the Callingwood Farmers’ Market! You can catch it on Wednesday evenings as well as Sundays.
Wednesday is the next Green Drinks event at Yellowhead Brewery. The theme this time is “Good Business”. Here’s the preview.
The Edmonton Real Estate Forum takes place at the Shaw Conference Centre on Thursday.
The 2014 edition of the Global Visions Film Festival kicks off on Thursday evening and runs through May 15.
I hope to see you on Friday night at Avenue Theatre for The Yeggies! You can get your tickets here. Want to volunteer instead? Let me know!
Royal Bison returns this weekend! Here’s the vendor list.
Saturday is the City’s annual Get Ready in the Park event. Fun for families, the event is a great opportunity to learn about emergency preparedness.
Make Mine Love begins its run at the Citadel Theatre on Saturday evening.
For more upcoming events, check out ShareEdmonton.

Premier Dave Hancock speaking at AccelerateAB

May the fourth be with you!

Recap: 2014 Mayor’s Celebration of the Arts

The 27th annual Mayor’s Celebration of the Arts took place last night at the Winspear Centre. It was the first for Don Iveson as mayor, and he seemed to enjoy the opportunity, telling the audience, “I’d be lying if I said this wasn’t one of the reasons I wanted to be mayor.” He made a point of shaking every winner and performer’s hand on stage, and happily snapped photos with and high-fived other nominees and guests in the lobby before and after the show. He even took out his phone while on stage and said, “it’s not an awards show without a selfie!”

Thrilled to be at Mayor’s Celebration for #yegarts with artists, their supporters, & @PACEdmonton! #yegcc #mca2014 pic.twitter.com/8iXIygxUer

— Don Iveson (@doniveson)

April 29, 2014

//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js This year’s event supported the Music Enrichment Program, which provides stringed music and orchestral lessons to children across the city. The non-profit organization first began in 1959, and today is administered by the Edmonton String Players Association. Here’s a sample of the work of some of their students:

Here’s an excerpt from Mayor Iveson’s message in the program:

“This yearly event brings together artists, businesses, media and many others to celebrate our city’s finest artistic talent. Supporting our arts scene is integral to making Edmonton a diverse, vibrant place to live, and I congratulate tonight’s nominees for contributing to our city’s dynamism and quality of life.”

The evening was hosted by Bridget Ryan and Mark Meer, a wonderful pair that kept things moving with humor and energy throughout. Behind them was an incredible stage built by Production World which featured original artwork by Jason Blower. The best part is that it was animated!

The full list of nominees is available at the PACE website. Here are the winners:

Mayor’s Award for Innovative Support by a Business of the Arts
Capital Power Corporation, nominated by Art Gallery of Alberta

Mayor’s Award for Sustained Support of the Arts
Steven LePoole, nominated by Alberta Baroque Music Society

John Poole Award for Promotion of the Arts
CJSR FM 88.5, nominated by Ramparts Entertainment

ATB Financial Ambassador of the Arts Award
Prairie Dog Film + Television, nominated by Jesse Szymanski

ATCO Gas Award for Outstanding Lifetime Achievement
Douglas D. Barry, nominated by Dr. Adiranna Davies CM

CN Award for Youth Artist
Rebecca Lappa, nominated by Martha Livingstone

DIALOG Award for Excellence in Artistic Direction
Ron E. Scott, nominated by Jesse Szymanski

Northlands Award for an Emerging Artist
Doug Organ, nominated by Chris Szott

The 2014 Robert Kroetch City of Edmonton Book Prize
Selected Poems, by Tim Bowling

Syncrude Award for Excellence in Arts Management
Dave Cunningham, nominated by Film and Visual Arts Society

TELUS Courage to Innovate Award
Darcia Parada, nominated by Jodine Chase

Congratulations to all the nominees and winners!

The lobby also featured the work of three visual artists:

Aaron Paquette
Jenny Keith
Sergio Serrano (what an awesome URL)

The evening’s performances included:

Jeff Stuart and the Hearts with Shannon Johnson
L’UniTheatre and Northern Light Theatre
Arian Mahryke Lemire
Mary Pinkoski
The Irrelevant Show
Kelsey Wolver
Mitchmatic
Mad Cat Swing
Matt Schuurman
A/B Trio
Good Women Dance Collective
ShowStages Collective
DJ Thomas Scott

The program run quicker than in previous years, taking just over an hour and forty-five minutes. It flew by with the amazing performances the audience was treated to! Jeff Stuart got things started with a great three-song set, which featured wonderful strings. We got a taste of the show Mercy of a Storm by Brian Dooley and Gianna Vacirca. Ariane Mahryke Lemire’s performance a little while later was Sharon’s favorite of the evening. I thought our Poet Laureate, Mary Pinkoski, stole the show with her incredible slam poetry. We took a break for some humor next, with a bit from The Irrelevant Show that joked about the Edmonton Oilers and their continued rebuild into the year 2029. Closing out the formal program was Mitchmatic, who provided the music for Kelsey Wolver’s impressive hoop dancing and Sugar Swing’s high-energy number.

After the formal program guests were encouraged to enjoy drinks and food in the lobby. Elm Cafe made some delicious tasting boards that very quickly disappeared! With the quicker program, it seemed like more people were willing to stick around.

Kudos to the Professional Arts Coalition of Edmonton for another successful event, but I want to especially recognize Catch the Keys Productions. This was the first year that Megan and Beth Dart worked with the Mayor’s Celebration of the Arts, and I thought they absolutely hit it out of the park! They produced the evening and are directly responsible for all of the wonderful things I wrote about above. Great work, and I can’t wait to see how you’re going to top this!

You can read last year’s recap here. See you at the 2015 Mayor’s Celebration of the Arts!

I was thrilled to once again play a small role on the Steering Committee for the event. It’ll be interesting to see how the Mayor’s Celebration of the Arts evolves now that Mayor Iveson will be around at the start of planning for 2015!

Media Monday Edmonton: Update #110

Here’s my latest update on local media stuff:

Former Alberta Premier Alison Redford has been in the news lately for her absence from the legislative assembly, and now the local media is being criticized for “verging on tabloid journalism” with their coverage. It does seem a bit over the top. Anyone in her position would need some time to re-energize. That said, she hasn’t done herself any favors by perpetuating the culture of “entitlement” with the way the situation has been handled. What do you think?
I was very surprised to hear that Julie Matthews is leaving Global Edmonton to become a senior investigator with Service Alberta. Her last day is Friday. Best of luck Julie!
Congratulations to all the nominees and winners at tonight’s Mayor’s Celebration for the Arts! Prairie Dog Film + Television took home a couple of awards, and CJSR won the John Poole Award for Promotion of the Arts.
Jonny Sullivan confirmed on Thursday that he was let go from Corus and 92.5 Fresh FM. It’s clear he has formed a connection with Edmonton: “I hope that I can stay here in Edmonton. People talk shit about this city all the time. I have no idea what they have to bitch about. The soul of this city is its people.” Best of luck Jonny!
Volume 51 Issue 15 was the final issue of Folio, the staff newsletter at the University of Alberta that has been published for nearly 50 years, amassing more than 1,700 issues. Here’s the final issue in PDF. Technology has changed and so must Folio, but thankfully we still celebrate milestones with cake.
Congratulations to the Edmonton Journal and the Calgary Herald on being named finalists for the 2013 Michener Award for meritorious public service journalism. Their series called Fatal Care earned the nomination. The winners will be announced on June 11.
This looks like a neat tradition: Purple Thursday is a thing at the Edmonton Journal.
Sportsnet will broadcast the 2014 World Triathlon Grand Final live from Edmonton in August.
Sonic Boom has announced its lineup for the 2014 edition, now expanded to three days! Looks like Sonic 102.9 FM has another hit on their hands.
Want to volunteer for The Gateway? Learn all about it here. Apparently they are also giving away old bound editions.
Speaking of The Gateway, classes and exams are over, and for some journalists that means goodbye.
Have you ever wanted to see social media guru Walter Schwabe shave his legs? Here’s your chance – he’s raising money for the Strathcona County Boys and Girls Club.
The April edition of The Pulp is now online – go check it out!
What do hockey players do when their season has come to an end? Andrew Ference of the Edmonton Oilers took a turn behind the mic for NBC.
If you haven’t listened recently, check out the latest episode of Mack & Cheese, my weekly podcast with Graham Hicks. We’ve recently been experimenting with a new format, tackling a few issues each episode instead of just one.
This is a great article on the need to teach journalist grads the right skills (more tech) but it also has a great list of books to check out at the end.
Here’s a follow-up to the ongoing story of CBC’s policy on speaking engagements. They’ve introduced a few new measures as a result of the criticism received.

Minister of Health Fred Horne announces Alberta’s new online organ and tissue donor registry

You can follow Edmonton media news on Twitter using the hashtag #yegmedia. For a great overview of the global media landscape, check out Mediagazer.

So, what have I missed? What’s new and interesting in the world of Edmonton media? Let me know!

You can see past Media Monday Edmonton entries here.

Edmonton Notes for 4/27/2014

Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

Headlines

The City’s 2014 construction season officially kicked off on Thursday, featuring $404 million invested in more than 125 arterial road, bridge, interchange, and neighbourhood road projects. One of the big new projects this year is a replacement for the 102 Avenue bridge over Groat Road.
Downtown is already one of the busiest construction areas in the city, so I really enjoyed this piece by Stuart Thomson. It’s only going to get worse over the next few years! That said, it’s great to see our downtown growing again.
One of the big downtown projects is of course Rogers Place, the new arena. I’m amazed at how much the dump trucks have already removed. You can stay up-to-date on that project with the official Live View!
The online portion of the 2014 municipal census ended this evening. When the City reported results on Wednesday, about 25% of Edmonton households had completed the questionnaire online! Door-to-door collection begins May 10.
The Tour of Alberta will be finishing in Churchill Square this year, after a few days of travelling across the Province. Hopefully they can really build on last year’s event and get more people interested.
For the fifth year in a row, the number of property assessment complaints filed has dropped. This year just 1,775 complaints were filed with the City’s Assessment Review Board. That’s down from 7,309 in 2009.
The Harbin Gate currently located in “old Chinatown” but it could be moved to “new Chinatown” under a new plan that Council is moving forward.
Edmonton’s NextGen Committee is looking to fill two volunteer positions: Communications Co-Chair and Volunteer Engagement Co-Chair.
Some of you may be happy about the return of motorcycles to our streets, while others just get annoyed by the noise. Either way, the City is encouraging you to share the road.
I wanted to note that the Downtown CRL was officially approved by the Government of Alberta a couple weeks ago. The baseline for assessed property values is therefore going to be set as of December 31, 2014.
For the sixth straight year, the University of Alberta has been named one of Canada’s greenest employers.
A couple weeks ago the City announced it was preparing to release an RFQ for the Valley Line LRT. That request for pre-qualification is now online and will close on June 17.
The latest DONATE A RIDE campaign will issue 85,060 transit tickets worth $198,396 to local charities.
We should see much more on the Blatchford project this year, but already the redevelopment has won a National Urban Design Award.
Another week, another reason to question the wisdom of the Galleria project.
In case you missed it, Edmonton’s Homeless Commission released its Five Year Update recently.
The Edmonton Oilers have named Bill Scott as their new Assistant General Manager.
EEDC’s Brad Ferguson argues that we have a labour shortage problem, not a TFW problem.

“Airship AGA” by Jeff Wallace

Upcoming Events

The 27th annual Mayor’s Celebration of the Arts takes place on Monday evening at the Winspear Centre. You can learn more about the nominees here.
This week Edmonton is hosting the International Conference on Urban Traffic Safety at the Shaw Conference Centre.
AccelerateAB swings back into Edmonton this year, kicking off on Wednesday evening and taking place all day Thursday.
PC Alberta’s Leader’s Dinner takes place on Thursday evening at the Shaw Conference Centre.
The Art Gallery of Alberta is holding Art on the Block on Friday evening.
The spring edition of the Butterdome Craft Sale takes place all weekend at the Butterdome at the University of Alberta.
It’s that time of year again! The River Valley Clean Up kickoff event is Sunday.
For more upcoming events, check out ShareEdmonton.

From Felicia Day: “Visited BioWare in Edmonton and hung out with my true love, Thane.”

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