Traces: Projecting Stories of Strathcona

The Traces project created a living history project through various artistic mediums that connected, engaged, and built the capacity of local youth, seniors, and artists in celebrating and documenting East Vancouver’s Strathcona neighbourhood.

Through a process of collective creation and connecting the range of residents, the project resulted in a community engaged public art project that involved youth, seniors, and artists from both the Strathcona and Downtown Eastside neighbourhoods. Outdoor projections inspired by stories of the neighbourhood illuminated the 400 block of East Hastings Street were.The pieces fused video, animation, shadow puppetry and sound. These works were installed and screened at various neighbourhood venues as part of a free, month long series—at schools, libraries, community centres, vacant retail storefronts, and public spaces.

The Traces project:

• Strengthened artists community engagement skills
• Fostered youth interns’ community involvement and instilled a sense of pride in their neighbourhood
• Connected and created relationships between residents from varying social, cultural and economic groups in a creative community building process
• Received a large amount of media publicity, further adding to neighbourhood story-sharing

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