🗞️ Indigenous art gets bigger, better space

Good morning Halifax,

When I was in PR school, we read case studies about how organizations completely mis-manage high-profile issues, and what’s going on with Dalhousie’s school of architecture has all the main ingredients to make it a timeless classic. 

Here is the simple recipe in case you want to make your own botched PR scandal at home:

1. Do something completely unconscionable. Like raising tuition 63%. This part is most effective if you have no clear reason for doing it.

2. Do not properly communicate the unconscionable thing with key stakeholders. Make sure you do it way too late so that students don’t have time to figure out how they'll cover an unexpected extra $10k per year.  Even better if you also don’t tell faculty what’s going on, so they can be blindsided when asked about it and therefore completely off-message.

3. Change your mind. The best way to do this is to pretend you’re doing it because you care deeply about the students. Talk about them being “at the heart of everything you do” and also mention “commitment to affordability” a lot. “Holistic” well-being is great too.

4. Hide the truth in plain sight via company emails: Make sure that you go on record in FOIPOP-able emails saying that the true reason you’re backing out is because you’re scared of negative media attention and that it actually has nothing to do with anything students or being “holistic” after all. Also, make sure that you refer to people’s outrage as “excitement.” They like that.

There you have it, four simple steps to being a PR flop. Hope you have a better day than they’re likely having over there at Dal!

– Julie

🌡️ Traffic & Weather

Today: 🌧️ 23°

Tomorrow: 🌧️ 24°

Next Day: ☁️ 24°

7-day forecast

🚗 Driving, biking or busing today? Check out the current traffic conditions and ongoing road closures.

💨 Here is Halifax’s Air Quality Index and the smoke report.

ARTS + CULTURE

Treaty Space Gallery opening soon in newer, bigger space

The Treaty Space Gallery, a part of NSCAD’s Anna Leonowens Gallery system, has a new and bigger location at 1887 Granville Street that will be open in September.

“I'm most excited to transform the new space into, not only a gallery where people can exhibit work, but also an Indigenous Student Centre,” says exhibitions coordinator of the Treaty Space Gallery, Natalie Laurin. “We have such a big space now that the back room is going to provide a really nice space to have workshops in a more intimate setting.”

On July 16, TSG hosted a medicine garden planting event to conclude their “Seeding & Beading” project at the Peace and Friendship Park on Hollis Street. That morning, everyone who came was able to transform a garden bed at the park into a community garden bed with a focus on Indigenous medicines and useful plants for harvesting—from plants grown with seeds sourced from Cultural Seeds and collected from the Dalhousie Pollinator Garden—which was created in 2021 by guest curator at the gallery, Frances Dorsey, in collaboration with Mi’kmaw artist and scholar Michelle Sylliboy.

These projects and others were part of the space’s Creating with Community summer gallery initiative funded by the group Indigenous Youth Roots. The summer program hosted five workshops in collaboration with community partners that were designed to “increase the wellness, resiliency, and engagement of urban-Indigenous youth through providing access to arts, art-based workshops, cultural knowledge, and traditions” through these Indigenous artist-led workshops.

The Coast’s Lauren Phillips has more on the gallery’s new and bigger space close to the school’s downtown Granville campus.

🤔 Need To Know

🏊‍♀️ Municipal officials say that the water quality at Penhorn Beach in Dartmouth and Oakfield Park Beach in Oakfield has improved enough to make it safe for swimming.

🎭 One Night Only! On September 1st Shakespeare by the Sea presents their annual Unrehearsed show: Unrehearsed Macbeth! Get your Pay-What-You-Can tickets in advance, before they sell out!*

🪩 Pacifico Dance Club received a three-day liquor licence suspension after staff closed the bar one night last December with a customer still in the restroom.

*Sponsored Post

🗞️ In Other News

✏️ Families on income assistance will get more help with the cost of school supplies this year thanks to a $400K investment in the province’s income assistance payment to parents of children aged five to 18.

💙 The Nova Scotia Resettlement Society—which has been providing crucial settlement support for newcomers and refugees—has to move out of their Agricola Street storefront by the end of August because the building was sold.

⛺ A new designated homeless encampment off Windmill Road in Dartmouth is almost ready, but nearby residents and business owners are calling for strong safety plans before people move in.

🗒️ Nova Scotians are being encouraged to check their private health insurance to see if a note from a doctor or nurse practitioner is still required for massages, physiotherapists or chiropractors— chances are, it's not.

💸 Some charities in the province are expressing concern about changes to the online platform Rafflebox—that helps with fundraising—with one animal rescuer calling it a “kick in the stomach.”

🚒 The Nova Scotia Firefighters School has been issued a stop-work order by the province, which means classes at the Waverley facility have been suspended indefinitely.

SPONSORED BY SUPPORT4CULTURE

Support4Culture proudly supports NS Museums

Support4Culture is a designated lottery program that supports arts, culture, and heritage in communities across Nova Scotia including the Highland Village Museum and other important cultural sites. 

🗓️ Things To Do

Looking for something to do this week? Check out these Coast picks:

🗓 Eastern Shore Pride Festival: Come celebrate with a community of leaders and allies who work together to foster, encourage and model diversity, equity and inclusion on the Eastern Shore. The festival includes drag shows,  markets, yoga, music and much more. | Aug 17-25  

🗓 The Tragically Hip Final Concert Anniversary Viewing Party: Commemorate the 8th anniversary of The Tragically Hip's final concert by joining fans in a screening of The Tragically Hip: A National Celebration and raising a glass to the patriotism, camaraderie and community on display on that August night. | Aug 20 | 6pm | $17.25

🗓 2024 WASZP North American Championship: Get ready to witness top-tier sailing talent from across North America converge on our shores for a spectacular event filled with speed, skill and camaraderie. The WASZP class of boat—as in “wasp”—is renowned for its exhilarating foiling action, and we are privileged to be chosen as the host venue for this prestigious championship. | Aug 20-25

🗓 Myoflex Canadian National Pickleball Championships: Come see the best amateur pickleball players in Canada compete over five days to see who is the best in the country! Mens and womens singles and doubles, plus mixed doubles, will battle it out during the competition in round robin as well as age and skill levels. | Aug 20-24

Have an event to share? Let us know at [email protected].

⚓️ What’s In The Harbour

➡️ The NYK Romulus container ship leaves Halifax for Southampton at 2am.

🛳️➡️ The Atlantic Sun container ship arrives in Halifax from Liverpool at 5:20am and leaves for New York at 12pm.

🛳️ The Tropic Hope container ship arrives in Halifax from St. Thomas at 7:15am.

➡️ The Algoberta oil tanker leaves Halifax for Point Tupper at 12pm.

🛳️ The Algoscotia oil tanker arrives in Halifax from Sydney at 12:15pm.

🍴 Where To Eat & Drink

🤌 Get a taste of traditional Italian flavour with the Conchiglie at the Brooklyn Warehouse: Maria’s Pantry shell pasta, grilled shrimp, roasted tomato and garlic, caramelized onions, chilies, arugula, fresh basil, asiago.

🍅 Try something super local and super delicious at The Canteen with the Tomato and Stone Fruit Salad: local heirloom tomatoes, fresh stone fruit (plums, nectarines and peaches), feta, jalapeno, jalapeno-lime vinaigrette, breadcrumbs, Thai basil, honey.

👀 In Case You Missed It

🚍 The city of Halifax takes fiscal responsibility seriously, but only when it wants to punish people for doing the right thing. This is why bus fares are going up 9.1% to $3 as of September 1. One of the reasons the city charges so much for transit is that Halifax Transit costs a lot of money to run and having a good transit system is important to the long-term success of the city. Therefore Transit must be well funded. This makes sense. What does not make sense is why Halifax Transit is the only mode of transportation that gets this type of fiscal scrutiny in a city that claims to care about fiscal responsibility and risk management. The Coast’s Matt Stickland has more on why it might be time for council to start making drivers pay their fare share.

⚖️ A man from Voglers Cove has been sentenced to four years in prison for raping a 13-year-old girl more than four decades ago.

🚒 New information has revealed that Skyler Blackie—a firefighter who was killed in training—informed his instructor the expired fire extinguisher he was using had rust on it, but was told to use it anyway.

That’s it!

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