Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/198486
All bodies are good bodies Lovable is a photography program for young women. Organized by two young photographers – Nicola Hodges and Sylvia McFadden – its goal is to empower women to fight back against unrealistic beauty standards and the ad campaigns aimed at women's bodies. Lovable will use digital photography to radically shift views of the female body. Working out of the Purple Thistle in east Vancouver, many of the photo shoots will happen outdoors and around the city at community gardens, parks and other public spaces. Vancouver Foundation's Youth Philanthropy Council awarded the project $5,000 to help keep it free for participants, as well as cover costs for mentors, a photography e-zine and a launch event. Coyote Café: The write stuff Aboriginal students at four north Okanagan elementary schools are discovering the joy of reading, thanks to a successful after-school reading program called Coyote Café. Twice a week for 25 weeks, participants get a healthy snack and one-to-one reading support, plus take part in group reading, literacy games, trips to the library and even outdoor activities. Based on a strong cultural practice of drumming, songs and enriched aboriginal content, the program provides literacy support to struggling readers to help boost their reading skills, their self-confidence and their enjoyment of reading. Coyote Café is a partnership between School District 83's Aboriginal Education department, Literacy Alliance, Okanagan Library and the First Nations Education Council. It has proven so successful with elementary readers that organizers want to extend the program to three middle schools. With a grant of $53,500 from Vancouver Foundation, Coyote Café hopes to enhance aboriginal student success by creating a fun environment that also encourages respect of language and culture. You want fries with that elegy? Since 1995, Word Vancouver has presented a wide range of author readings and events as part of the annual Vancouver Book and Magazine Fair. The intent is to advance education and literacy, and increase public appreciation of literature. This year, it was a new addition to the regular poetry programming that people were most excited about: the Automated Poetry Project. With a grant of $7,500 from Vancouver Foundation, organizers acquired five vending machines that dispense poems written by poets from BC and across Canada. Word Vancouver partnered with local coffee shops and bookstores to host vending machines as well as poetry readings by the authors for the month leading up to the festival. And now that the festival is over, the vending machines continue to generate funds for next year's festivities. The Vancouver Book and Magazine Fair held its inaugural festival in 1995, at the then-newly-built Vancouver Public Library; the one-day event attracted 18,000 people. Today, the Fair is one of the premiere events in Western Canada's literacy and literary community, spanning four days and attracting almost 30,000 attendees. Photos: courtesy of Bryan Pike (Poetry Cigarettes), iStock (boy with book, girl with camera) p04-05 GAAG.indd 5 Fall 2013 I Vancouver Foundation l page 5 13-10-11 1:30 PM