A Vancouver-based non-profit is putting on a series of events to help Vancouverites express gratitude for the businesses and spaces the city has to offer.
Instruments of Change is offering Vancouverites the chance to participate in several “pop-up shout-outs” in the organization’s Infectious Gratitude initiative. At the events, participants will be asked what they would like to see thrive in their community, a question designed to get them thinking of what business or space they hope will survive and thrive moving forward from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Participants will then create one of three ways to express their gratitude. They can either write a short thank you letter, form that letter into a Haiku poem, or create a thank you drawing.
Their work will then be added to a watercolour background they would also have a hand in making. The complete piece of art will then be digitized to be displayed on a map corresponding to the business or location indicated in the letter. The works of art themselves will also be displayed at the corresponding location around the city.
Laura Barron, the founder and executive director of Instruments of Change says the idea is to create many dots across the map of Vancouver to represent an "infection" of gratitude.
“This initiative is intended to spread gratitude instead of fear, as we emerge from this collectively challenging time, more hopeful and connected,” the non-profit wrote in a recent release.
Here is the schedule, times and locations for each of the six events.
- Saturday, July 10, 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. Trout Lake Park
- Saturday, July 17, 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. Riley Park
- Monday, July 19, 3 p.m. - 8 p.m. Kitsilano Beach Park
- Monday, July 26, 3 p.m. - 8 p.m. Second Beach
- Tuesday, August 3, 3 p.m. - 8 p.m. Locarno Beach
- Thursday, August 5, 4 p.m. - 9 p.m. David Lam Park
The pop-up booths will be set up weekly with social distancing measures employed.
