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Through the looking glass : manifesting Whistler’s many faces
This video, produced by Lilli Clark and Thomas Balzer, got a lot of airplay at the TELUS World Ski and Snowboard Festival in April. It was built around a manifesto I wrote for the Festival the previous year, and was a chance to turn the spotlight on some of the people who make up the Whistler, and Festival, community.
Watching another short film featuring Whistler faces, made by Matt Walker, taking long unblinking portraits, reiterated for me how powerful and expressive the human face is… even in stillness. Especially, if the subject can actually maintain stillness, which is apparently a lot harder than you’d think.
From Whistler, With Love from Matt Walker on Vimeo.
It reminds me of Bright Eyes’ video for “First Day of My Life.”
Ripple effect of the TELUS Festival’s Black Market Photo trade finally tallied
Hi Brooks from StreetToPeak kept the Black Market Photo trade going and going, finally logging an impressive $1760 in total donations to the Whistler Children’s Centre Father Daughter Dance fundraiser on May 8.
At the final tally, $200 worth of tickets to the Olympus Pro Photographer showdown at this year’s TELUS Festival netted $3300 in charitable donations to KidSport, the Whistler Children’s Centre, the Christopher Reeve Foundation and the Paul Brunes Young Heart Foundation.
Photo by Tyler Ingramt (http://www.flickr.com/photos/wssf/page7/)
The philanthropic turn was completely organic – another reason to keep things loose. Dano Pendygrasse made the initial call and it shifted the entire energy of the campaign. He later said: “I’m so glad that this idea kinda drifted towards the charitable side. It’s cool to make a little difference but even better when it feels like you’ve extended that reach through
peers.”
I connected with Cathy Jewett, one of the successful bidders, after the fact, to find out why anyone would drop $1000 for 40 bucks worth of tickets, even if the show was sold out.
She explained:
“I gave to Kidsport last year for the first time. Why? Because it was the designated charity to honour my friend Wendy Ladner-Beaudry. Wendy and I were Telemark competitors – friendly competition. We had children at the same time, there were many bonds. Wendy was a good friend, incredible person – wise, humble, smart, athletic. She was murdered while running in Pacific Spirit Park last April 3rd. We just commemorated the day with a run/walk through those trails a couple of weeks ago.
“One of Wendy’s last projects was with Kidsport. She started a program through Lower Mainland Foodbanks to reach immigrant women. Her theory was that if mothers became active in sport, their children would follow.
“I meant to match the donation I made last year to the Kidsport Wendy Ladner-Beaudry Fund but hadn’t gotten around to it. When I missed out on the Pro Photog Photo Showdown tickets for the first time in at least a decade, I went searching for tickets. Someone told me there were tickets up for grabs on the website, but they required coming up with something to doing something to trade for the tickets. I saw that other people were giving to charities and voila – time to get those $ off to Kidsport.
“We have a Kidsport organisation right here in Whistler and many communities across Canada have chapters as well. You might even say their goal is to give ‘all kids the right to play’. Kidsport supports low-income kids in sport. So wherever you live this is a great charity for those of us who find sport an important part of our lives and want to ensure everyone can bring it into theirs.”
Even when we’re playing… and maybe especially when we’re playing… we can make a difference and honour absent friends. And that’s where the ripples of one little PR campaign ended up. Keep it loose. Keep it fulla love.
Market closes at record high, as #BlackMarketPhoto trade wraps up
What’s the value of a ticket to Pro Photographer Showdown? Recommended retail : $20.
1500 seats sold out in record time for the marquee event at this year’s TELUS World Ski and Snowboard Festival, opening the way for a Black Market trade that has really probed the question.
This was one of the funnest promo campaigns I’ve ever put together for the TELUSFest, with Mike Berard riding shotgun and making sure we didn’t get lost.
There were offers of people’s children. Plenty of would-be scalpees have been waving fistloads of cash.
But the #BlackMarketPhoto experiment has really put some quanitifiables into play.
We put two VIP tickets into the hands of Mike Berard, Amber Turnau, Mike Douglas, Rebecca Bollwitt and Dano Pendygrasse, inviting them to trade for whatever we could get. The successful barterers could then try and trade the tickets up again (a la One Red Paper Clip - could they be up-traded for a house in Saskatchewan? If a paperclip could, then surely 2 tickets to the Olympus Pro Photographer Showdown could get you there…)
Mike Berard kicked things off with a trade with Voleurz’ Mason Mashon, and Pro Photo finalist, for a hoodie.
Mason then kept the trading going, choosing to go with @CoolAssPuppy. He donated $500 to the Christopher Reeve Foundation for his tickets.
Photographer Dano Pendygrasse traded his tickets in exchange for a $150 donation to the Paul Brunes Young Heart Foundation by Colin Gilliam. Gilliam donated the proceeds from the sale of a print of his work. Here’s how that little trade went down:
@mikedski @danopendygrasse @amberturnau @voleurz @miss604 lookin’ for some #blackmarketphoto tix.. how bout a print from colingilliam.com ??
@ColinGilliam sell something and donate the proceeds to charity and you’ve got a deal.
Pro photo Tix Going, going…#blackmarketphoto RT @ColinGilliam: next piece of art I sell from my website I will donate proceeds to charity
@ColinGilliam Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner. #blackmarket photo. Donating to Paul Brunes Young Heart Foundation #wssf
We then invited Gilliam to exhibit some of his work at State of the Art.
Colin Gilliam's art at State of the Art, TELUS Festival, 2010
Whistler blogger Amber Turnau traded her tickets to Gay Whistler’s CEO Dean Nelson for a mysterious package of “Island Magic”, a mystery to be revealed tonight at the Showdown.
Skiing legend and Olympus Pro Photographer Showdown host Mike Douglas traded his for a tenderloin and prawn dinner with wine pairings (an Okanagan Pinot Gris and a Chilean Carmenere) cooked by Biglines.com’s Tim Grey.
Biglines: I’ll cook an amazing jumbo prawn and tenderloin feast for 2 tickets. Think turn key date night. #BlackMarketPhoto kitchen must be supplied.
But then Grey ended up with a work assignment, so Douglas went back to the trading floor.
MikeDSki: So far @StreetToPeak is in the lead for my Pro Photo tix. Can anyone up the ante? You NEED to be there. #BlackMarketPhoto
Hi Brooks from StreetToPeak has offered $550 worth of auction items for the Whistler Children’s Centre fundraiser on May 8.
In the meantime, Rebecca Bollwitt, Miss 604, went out to tender for her tickets, and the winning bid came from Whistler’s Cathy Jewett, with an offer to donate $1000 to Kidsport.
In all, $200 worth of tickets to the 2010 Olympus Pro Photographer showdown, at the market close, netted $2100 in charitable donations to KidSport, the Whistler Children’s Centre, the Christopher Reeve Foundation and the Paul Brunes Young Heart Foundation. Plus one package of Island Magic. Pretty good ROI.
