Culture

Khatsahlano! Music + Art Festival

This Khatsahlano! Music + Art Festival is Vancouver’s biggest free music event, taking place on Saturday July 13. Celebrating the best of local music and artisans, this is basically a good excuse for one big street party. And why not! This year brings more than 50 acts across 10 stages and will have something for everyone. Spread across a 10-block radius along West 4th Avenue, there will also be plenty of other things to keep you entertained, with art, shopping and food amongst bustling patios and special events.

Trashswag

We all know that phrase “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure” and now there’s an easy way to turn that into reality, thanks to Toronto’s new online crowdmap Trashswag. Started by Gavin Cameron and his friends who are “into salvage” and restoring old furniture, they turned a hobby for their small group of friends into something the whole city can be involved in. It’s a site to encourage people to reuse things and take discarded materials and turn them into something new.

10 YEARS OF ION HISTORY

WOW! Ten years of being in print! It seems like only yesterday that the first issue of ION Magazine hit the streets. We have come a long way since that issue, and we wanted to share some of our favourite “highlights” and “low points” with you. Sure, we can laugh about them now, but at the time, some of these things seemed catastrophic. It hasn’t been all rainbows and unicorns, but with every passing year we have learnt a lot about the magazine business, and ourselves. So kick your feet up, and join us on this little journey through the history of ION.

Exhaling Change | Project Thankful

Community is so important, and with the world of social media changing so fast, it clearly alters all the ways in which we interact with people. While the social media world is fascinating and allows us to connect with more people in a fairly easy way, human interaction and connections are still so important, especially within communities.

Mongolian Bling | PCFF

Forget about nomads and monks! It’s hip hop that’s making Mongolia move in the 21st century. Mongolian Bling jumps into the thriving music scene in the capital, Ulaanbaatar, and follows stars as they rap nationwide with their bitches, cars, and jewels.  But beyond this bling lies a failed democracy, and a dying ancient culture that the elders mourn the loss of.  While many artists still aspire to the West, a handful are using hip hop to try and salvage their country’s flailing democracy, and bringing Mongolia’s rich musical history into their modern beats and rhymes.

TEN YEARS OF ION [VIDEO]

This year ION celebrated its ten year anniversary by taking the party on the road with Robert DeLong. Presented by Little Burgundy and Original Penguin, we did three parties / three cities / three days: Montreal, Toronto, and the final party in Vancouver. This video is from the Vancouver event on April 6th, with performances by Robert DeLong, We Need Surgery, and HUMANS.

Love letter from the Publisher

I have written, and re-written, this letter three times. The first one was an “Academy Award” style speech thanking all of the people that have contributed to the magazine over the past 10 years (thanks guys, couldn’t have done it without you). The second was a sappy “Thank you for liking us” letter, to all of the readers that have picked up ION Magazine and taken the time to let us know that they appreciate what we are doing (thank you all for supporting the magazine).

Q & A with the creators of Perrier's latest interactive video

Every so often a company does a really interesting campaign utilizing interactive technology. The people over at Perrier are masters at this. Their latest interactive campaign, Secret Place, gives the user a chance to choose your own party experience on your way to find the secret clues to unlock your chance to be part of 5 epic parties worldwide.

Q. Tell us about this latest digital initiative for Perrier?

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