Thank you again for your support of the NOW! creative education programs. Here’s an update from us!

1) NOW! play performances (February 2010)

NOW! partnered with Katimavik (www.katimavik.org) Vancouver to bring creative sustainability education to elementary schools and Katimavik program volunteers. Under the mentorship of Shawn MacDonald, a playwright and director at the Vancouver Arts Club, the Katimavik Vancouver troupe brought engaging performances of the 2008-2009 Act NOW! National Playwriting Competition junior category winning play “The Essay” to ~400 kids in Richmond, BC: Errington Elementary, W.D. Ferris Elementary, and McKinley Elementary. Thank you Beau Llewellyn and Marco Adamovic from Katimavik for an amazing opportunity to connect with dedicated youth volunteers from across Canada. We look forward to further collaboration with Katimavik!

2) Upcoming NOW What? conferences (May 2010):

• NOW What? Conference – Cochrane Edition

• Resourceful Thinking

3) 2nd annual Act NOW! Playwriting Competition (September 2009 – March 2010)

Entry submission was closed on March 31st, 2010. Decision from our judging panel will be announced on Earth Day, 22 April 2010. Outstanding entries will be posted on our website.  Here are the stats:

23 participants
Average age: 19
Average number of pages: 14

12 communities
Toronto, ON (3)
Markham, ON (1)
Mississauga, ON (1)
Anmore, BC (1)
Richmond, BC (1)
Surrey, BC (2)
Coquitlam, BC (1)
Burnaby, BC (2)
Vancouver, BC (8)
Lanley, BC (1)
Odejaye, Nigeria (1)
Hampstead, QC (1)

19 entries
Senior entries (age 19-26): 8
Junior entries (age 14-18): 11

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Next Steps:

- putting together the 2010-2011 NOW! team (Join our team)
- exciting collaboration opportunities with educators, students, community leaders, organizations, and institutions to take the impact of NOW! creative sustainability programs to the next level

Thank you again for your time, and happy holidays! :]

Sincerely,

The NOW! Team

Have you ever wondered, how did these innovators get to where they are? How did they stand up and push boundaries? How did they get started? How did they find out what they are passionate about? How did they garner the support and guidance they received? Behind the success and glitters and fanfare, what were the bittersweet journeys that make these innovators who they are? How did they make the world a better place the way the did?

I think curiosity and knowledge are some of the most powerful things in the world, and one of the most empowering form of knowledge is storytelling. This got me into launching Wanders, articles which each asks an innovator a simple yet not yet simple behind-the-scenes question: how did you get to where you are? This project will hopefully help connect aspiring difference-makers bustling with big dreams with the how’s, experiences, insights, and stories from current innovators to take courage, passion, dedication, and impact to the next level.

Who will write these articles? The NOW! Team – and you! I would like to encourage you to get involved with this project through ways such as

• give innovators who you look up to a shout, and ask them to share the wisdom they have bumped into along the way. (You could also let us know which innovator you would like to contact for the article, and we will try to connect you with him/her for the story.) Please then email us your article at info@now-org.com so that we could share it with the NOW! network and beyond. (If this article is part of your blog post or web page, please send us the link so that we could share the link).
• recommend us things that you’ve bumped into that fall into the Wanders philosophy – send us a link so we could share it!
• let us know if you would like to coordinate the Wanders project
• feel free to share any Wanders content with others

Please stay tuned for the articles and article suggestions at Wanders. The articles will also be compiled in periodic newsletters and RSS.

I hope you enjoy Wanders. We’re currently building the framework for it – the first batch will be coming in a bit.

Cheers,

Janny

janny.ke@now-org.com