It’s not every day that kids get the chance to work behind the scenes at UBC, but you will see them do just that at Kids Take Over UBC on the Family Day weekend.
On February 17, young volunteers from the UBC community will take on adult-sized roles, working alongside staff and volunteers to host a day of arts and culture activities on campus. This is the second year for Kids Take Over UBC which is produced by Campus and Community Planning’s Community Development unit in partnership with UBC’s Arts and Culture District.
This year’s program includes a variety of immersive activities for children and their families including a Theatre Lab at the Frederic Wood Theatre, Culture Kids at the Museum of Anthropology, as well as activities with the School of Music and the Belkin Art Gallery. And for those families with energy to burn at the end of the day, Doug Mitchell Arena will open in the evening for a drop-in family hockey and public skate.
Zhambai Trio musicians treat young guests to African dance lessons at the Museum of Anthropology during the 2018 Kids Take Over UBC.
“As a relatively new holiday in Canada, we saw the Family Day long weekend as an opportunity to leverage our arts and culture assets on campus to provide a fun destination event at UBC for families,” said Shiloh Bouvette, Manager of Community Programs at Campus and Community Planning, whose team organizes the event.
Bouvette explains that the event is unique because it focuses on kids and youth working in roles behind the scenes as volunteers as well as audience members. “This year, kids and youth will be helping with registration, chaperoning, social media, photography and sitting on panels where they will be participating in discussions about topics that are important to them.”
UBC Opera performed excerpts from their latest show Cinderella at last year’s event. After their performance young guests were invited on stage for pictures and backstage tours.
Kids Take Over UBC has expanded this year to include more activities in visual art, theatre, dance and music. “Because we are an academic campus, sometimes families don’t always think of UBC as a place for them to explore in great detail. So much of this event is about our Arts and Culture District and campus partners using their creativity to put a family-friendly twist on things that they might already be offering. We are delighted that the first year of the event sold out are just really excited to do it again,” said Bouvette.
Find out more about Kids Take Over UBC and purchase a $40 family pass here.
Creating memorable family-friendly events at UBC
Campus and Community Planning’s Community Development unit is planning several engaging events for the campus community this year. The programming team of which Bouvette is a part of, are in charge of creating, planning and hosting community events throughout the year at UBC Vancouver. The events are produced in partnership with a number of departments including the University Neighbourhoods Association, Student Housing and Hospitality Services, Arts and Culture District (Harvest Feastival, Kids Take Over UBC), Equity and Inclusion Office (UBC Pride) and UBC Food Services (Harvest Feastival and Chef Challenge).
Shiloh Bouvette (second from right) joins UBC staff at the Fireside Friday pop up event in November 2018.
“Our aim is to inspire and create a vibrant community on campus” said Bouvette, when asked about her team’s goals.
“Each year we try to mix things up, like finding new partners to collaborate with, adding new twists to our regular events, or finding opportunities to test out new ideas through smaller animation initiatives."
"We’ve also grown so much in the past few years, so we also think it’s important to reflect and evaluate on our efforts with our community members. While we want to delight and inspire our community, it’s also important to us that we are providing programming that authentically meets the needs of our community members.”
Bringing community together on campus
One of Campus and Community Planning’s missions is to design opportunities to bring all students, faculty, staff and residents together as one campus community.
The events planned this year are family-friendly, and of broad interest to students, faculty and staff. Large-scale events such as the Harvest Feastival, an evening of outdoor dining for more than 800 people, have gained popularity over the years. The event now includes an evening of arts programming following the dinner that includes musical performances, comedy improv and more.
The team also provides programming and initiatives throughout the year to build community capacity for their own projects and animation. These include the UTown @UBC Community Grants, which provide up to $1,000 for community members to lead their own projects, and the Beautify my Bike Cage contest, an annual mural contest.
UTown @UBC Community Grants
The community grants are open to UBC students, faculty, staff, residents and Musqueam community members. Deadline for applications is February 10.