A visit to an Open Thursday at City Studio…from a silent partner

March 22, 2012, I attended an Open Thursday session at City Studio.  I walked in thinking that it would be an informative talk open to the public given by the invited speakers.  I knew nothing about City Studio other than the fact that D. Studio is its partner course.  And I knew nothing about the Open Thursdays other than the fact that it was one of the ways of completing the individual assignments.  So I arrived at 1800 Spyglass and in I walked…awkwardly.

Most of the attendees were there already and from the way they were socializing with one another, it was obvious that they all knew each other.  None of them were a ‘public’ person like me.  Hmm…not what I was expecting!  The building itself was an open office space with three entire walls of chalkboard and whiteboard covered with writing, which had a real studio feel – and I thought the whiteboard cabinets in D.Studio were cool.  Chairs were set up in a large circle with a name tent on each one.  Of course, my name was nowhere to be found; they didn’t know I was coming!  Uh oh… was I supposed to sign up beforehand?  I thought it was an ‘Open’ Thursday!  So I stood there obviously looking somewhat out of place when a girl named Martyna welcomed me and invited me to join the potluck lunch.  Wait, what do you mean a potluck lunch?  Was I supposed to bring food to share with everyone???  I wanted to leave right away!!

But I stayed – after making sure I could stay.  As Martyna kindly explained, pre registration for Open Thursdays is not necessary.  Anyone can attend it and the name tents belong to the cohorts – or students – of City Studio, the regular attendees.  As for the potluck lunch, it usually happens on Wednesdays but it didn’t happen the Wednesday of that week, so the potluck group decided to provide food for that Open Thursday instead.  Whew, I was okay!

And I hopped on my chance to ask Martyna even more questions about City Studio, all of which she so kindly answered.  City Studio’s goal is to help Vancouver achieve its greenest city goals of 2020.  It consists of a cohort of students from post secondary schools who work different projects in teams.  Some of the projects include finding wasted space around the city that can be turned into parks and identifying historical places around the city that can be a part of a nature tour.  They were in the later stages of their projects and were to present their deliverables at the open session on March 31 – I wasn’t able to attend it but I hope someone blogs about it as his/her individual assignment!

After a while, the talk began and it gave me a chance to talk to and discuss with more students from City Studio.  It definitely was engaging and interesting issues and ideas were raised – will talk about the details in another blog.

As awkward as I felt at first, I actually really enjoyed the Open Thursday session.  It was cool to meet and interact with the students involved with City Studio.  They are genuinely passionate about the projects that they are working on and have deep concern for the environment and the city of Vancouver.  It’s inspiring to witness them walking the talk and actually making a difference.  I cannot wait to see the  results of their projects in the near future.

City Studio had a real family vibe.  I don’t know if it is because they have been working together for a while now or because they share a common goal and interests but they all seemed really close, with their inside jokes and all.  And the friendliness extended to outsiders like myself as well.  They encouraged me to talk, respected my ideas and were excited to have me join them for the Thursday open session.

I’m glad I decided to attend the City Studio session for my individual project.  I actually wish that D.Studio was more involved with the City Studio or that we actually got to work with them – maybe help out with the business side of the projects or with the implementation process?  I would have loved to be part of the realization of the greenest city goal and make a difference in and for this beautiful city that I live in.  I didn’t even know such an opportunity existed.  Working with City Studio people would have been a valuable experience; they have so much knowledge to share and the collaboration could have provided an opportunity to apply the business knowledge acquired through Sauder.  Moura, maybe next year??