Students Inside City Hall ANNUAL REPORT 2017-2018 CITYSTUDIO VANCOUVER • 2017-2018 1 Our Manifesto THE CITYSTUDIO WAY We don’t employ a devil’s advocate at CityS- tudio. We say Yes more than No. We remain curious and stay open to others’ ideas. We learn by doing. By following an idea. By experimenting with our hands. By taking risks. By trying, struggling and failing forward fast. And in the end, we have done something that is real. We find ways to tackle global issues by putting a project on the ground in a local place. We learn that good projects come from good relationships. That working together is the only way it can work. And that we can’t solve a complex problem without hearing from everyone affected by it. We sit in a circle and speak from our hearts and our minds. We learn to listen. We learn to enjoy the long pause that emerges in a rich dialogue. We learn how to design. We find better problems to solve. We learn that aesthetics matter. We work on a team and reflect on our process together. We believe that small projects can add up to big changes in our community, our city and in ourselves. And if we do it right, we will be high fiving at the end. We’ve been to the future and it ends well. Trust the Process. 2 Contents FROM THE MAYOR 3 OUR CO-FOUNDERS 5 WHAT IS CITYSTUDIO 7 HOW WE WORK 9 BY THE NUMBERS 11 SFU PROJECTS 13 UBC PROJECTS 17 BCIT PROJECTS 21 LANGARA PROJECTS 23 10 DIFFERENT THINGS 27 HUBBUB 29 STORIES OF IMPACT 31 CITYSTUDIO NETWORK 33 FINANCIAL REPORT 35 NETWORK & TEAM 37 3 From the Mayor MAYOR GREGOR ROBERTSON CITY OF VANCOUVER Congratulations to CityStudio Vancouver on this pivotal contributing 128,116 hours to advancing our city goals year having achieving the major milestone of becoming and strategies. a Canadian charity under the name CityStudio Vancouver Society! CityStudio has been a game-changer for Vancouver and cities around the world. It is energizing our city and our When CityStudio launched seven years ago in response to staff, and creating a culture change inside City Hall by our public consultation to create the Greenest City Action encouraging staff to work across boundaries with creativity Plan 2020, I strongly believed in its ability to bring energy and enthusiasm. and innovation to our city. Now as I leave the Mayor’s Office, I am delighted to see this vision thrive. Thank you to all City of Vancouver staff, students and faculty, and especially to the CityStudio Vancouver team. At its heart, CityStudio Vancouver aims to get students out Good luck as you enter Year 8 and I look forward to seeing of the classroom and working at the table with us to co- your work continue to make Vancouver more sustainable, create a better city, while enabling students to gain skills, liveable and joyful! get jobs and put down roots in our community. As you embark on your first year as a new charity, it’s incredible to look back at the impact students have had in the city, 6 Our Co-Founders JANET MOORE & DUANE ELVERUM BOARD CHAIR & EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR We are writing this update together as we embark on an assessment. Now the important work begins, learning how exciting new journey as the CityStudio Vancouver Society. to shift our organizational culture, activities and program offerings. CityStudio represents a new kind of contract between post- secondary schools and civic government for collaboration, CityStudio is scaling across Canada. A significant aim experimentation and civic action. Our promise is to build within our strategic plan is to establish ourselves as a new relationships that can lead to projects for a more leader in the movement of students inside City Hall. Over liveable, sustainable and joyful city; some of these projects the next two years we will build a Canada-wide network of do lead to permanent solutions and new programs for the CityStudios. city, and all contribute to a culture shift towards inclusion and experimentation that is at the heart of our mission at Now, as we embark on the next four years with a new CityStudio. mayor and council, our aim is to dig deeper and find greater impact creating better cities with students inside Over the past seven years we have been fortunate to have City Hall, working on a number of exciting and complex the extraordinary support of our founding academic partner problems in our cities, including housing and affordability, Simon Fraser University, founding civic partner City of increased tuition and wage stagnation, increased social Vancouver, UBC, BCIT, Langara College, NEC and ECUAD. isolation, and a lack of job security for young people. They have helped us achieve some important milestones this year. By placing students at the heart of City Hall we allow them to be heard and to engage in changing the culture of CityStudio became a registered Canadian charity on municipal government. September 1, 2018 and we are excited to embark on this next chapter which includes a new four-year agreement And finally, we feel it is important to acknowledge the with the City of Vancouver. CityStudio staff team and Board of Directors without whom this work would not be possible. To work day-to-day with We held our 9th and 10th project showcases at City Hall, such devoted and caring people has been a privilege. We where students, faculty, City staff, elected officials and look forward to continuing this important work together in community were invited to see the innovative experiments the coming year. co-created by students. Our Truth and Reconciliation journey began this past summer with the completion of an organizational MISSION 8 We create liveable, sustainable and joyful cities by connecting post- secondary students with city staff to design and launch experimental projects on-the-ground. At CityStudio, students begin their role as city builders, gaining valuable What is employable skills and professional relationships. City staff receive valuable support to advance their work, and communities become better CityStudio? places to live. STUDENTS INSIDE CITY HALL We are an innovation hub where City staff, students, faculty and community create experimental projects to make Vancouver more sustainable, liveable and joyful. PROGRAMS Launched in 2011 by Janet Moore and Duane Elverum, CityStudio is a collaboration between founding academic partner Simon Fraser University, founding civic partner City of CityStudio has three main program Vancouver as well as University of British Columbia, Langara areas: studio and campus courses, College, British Columbia Institute of Technology, Emily Carr project development with City staff and University of Art and Design and Native Education College. a global sharing initiative designed to grow the CityStudio movement. CityStudio was born in response to Vancouver’s plan to become the greenest city in the world by 2020 and was designed to accelerate sustainability in higher education and provide students with direct opportunities to work in and with the city on urban challenges. THEORY OF CHANGE Build trust-based relationships between IMPACT TO DATE students, City staff, faculty, citizens and partners. 4,882 STUDENTS Launch experimental projects that advance specific city goals. 545 PROJECTS Inspire students to be more engaged 214 COURSES citizens. 270 FACULTY ShiftStudents culture at inside City Hall and higher education.HUBBUB #10. 200 CITY STAFF Contribute to a global movement that makes our cities more creative and 128,116 STUDENT HOURS innovative. 9 How We Work WE USE A FIVE STEP PROCESS FOR PROJECTS CityStudio’s mission is to create liveable, sustainable and joyful cities by connecting post-secondary students with city staff to design and launch experimental projects on-the-ground. Our manifesto guides all that we do; we say Yes more than No, we learn by doing, we trust the process and we believe small projects add up to big changes in the community. STEP 1 CONVENE CITY STAFF Once a year we convene city staff to identify and develop project concepts that further Vancouver's strategic aims. STEP 2 MATCH PROJECTS WITH SCHOOLS We match these projects with courses at our partner schools, ensuring a strong fit between city needs and faculty expertise. STEP 3 DESIGN PROJECTS TOGETHER As part of their coursework, students work together with city staff to co- create pilot projects for the benefit of community. STEP 4 LAUNCH PROJECTS IN PUBLIC Final projects are launched by students as experiments and pilot projects in the community to test what works. STEP 5 SHARE AND SCALE PROJECTS The results are presented at HUBBUB, a celebratory showcase where students, City staff, community and elected officials connect to make these solutions permanent. 11 14 courses 18 faculty 506 students 16,492 hours 128 projects 13 courses 17 faculty 259 students 3,108 hours 58 projects 5 courses 6 faculty 62 students 744 hours 15 projects 4 courses CityStudio 5 faculty 37 students 588 hours by the Numbers 33 projects 12 2017-2018 36 courses 46 faculty 864 students 20,932 student hours 234 projects 41 city staff 41 city staff Development of projects Special Project: focused on career Ten Different preparation for justice and Things public safety. CITYSTUDIO VANCOUVER • 2017-2018 SFU PROJECTS 13 Simon Fraser University CityStudio’s founding academic partner, Simon Fraser University has been a primary supporter and funder since 2011. Over 2,400 SFU students have participated in CityStudio to date, engaging with City of Vancouver staff and community through courses on campus and the Semester in Dialogue. PROJECTS FALL 2017 SPRING & SUMMER 2018 Activating underutilized spaces (Semester at CityStudio).