All in Ontario's Southwest

Covent Garden Market and TVDSB Collaborate on New Outdoor "ARt" Project!

Covent Garden Market and TVDSB Collaborate on New Outdoor "ARt" Project!

Andrew Gunn
London, Ontario's Southwest

Professional mural artists are set to work with local Thames Valley District School Board (TVDSB) students to paint a series of picnic tables for Covent Garden Market in downtown London! Over the next six weeks, London-based artists Evond Blake (MEDIAH) and Hawlii Pichette will paint one table each, and guide elementary and secondary school students to paint six others. The tables will be returned and placed outdoors at the Market this spring. As an innovative twist, London-based EXAR Studios has been engaged to build an augmented reality (AR) experience for the setting, bringing to life elements of the picnic table-top designs in their AR app Engage ARt!

Ten Things That Make Middlesex County Awesome!

Ten Things That Make Middlesex County Awesome!

Andrew Gunn
Middlesex County, Ontario's Southwest

Middlesex County is full of wide-open spaces & pleasant surprises. Surrounding the City of London in southwestern Ontario, this massive rural area may feel overwhelming at first for visitors trying to discover the essence of the place. There are lots of small towns and villages, including Strathroy, Glencoe, Mount Brydges, Komoka & Kilworth, Ailsa Craig, Parkhill, Ilderton, Lucan, Thorndale and Dorchester. What binds all these places together, aside from the obvious political boundaries? What makes Middlesex County truly a community? What is the identity of the place? This is what our team at young & free pressset out to discover.

Track to the Future Mural Project - Call for Artists - Elephants & Augmented Reality!

Track to the Future Mural Project - Call for Artists - Elephants & Augmented Reality!

Andrew Gunn
St Thomas, Ontario's Southwest

Building on the tremendous success of the ‘Track to the Future’ mural project, Railway City Tourism is requesting expressions of interest from artists who would like to design and paint an original mural of an elephant in St. Thomas! This is a rare opportunity to connect one of the key stories in the history and mythology of the community – specifically, the death of Jumbo the Elephant in 1885 – with the future of the city in augmented reality.

New Murals to Celebrate Urban & Rural Life in Downtown Simcoe

New Murals to Celebrate Urban & Rural Life in Downtown Simcoe

Andrew Gunn
Norfolk County, Ontario's Southwest

Artists are set to begin transforming downtown Simcoe with a new series of vibrant murals that celebrate the distinctive intersection of urban and rural life in Norfolk County. Coordinated by the Downtown Simcoe BIA and curated by Andrew Gunn Consulting and young & free press in collaboration with local partners, three murals are planned for the downtown area in the coming months with plans to expand the project around the community.

Call for Artists at Riversyde 83 in Downtown Simcoe

Call for Artists at Riversyde 83 in Downtown Simcoe

Andrew Gunn
Norfolk County, Ontario's Southwest

Riversyde 83 is a new food and community hub set to open in summer 2021 in downtown Simcoe in Norfolk County. Located at 83 Sydenham Street, the building will feature a marketplace, café, teaching kitchen, event spaces and an outdoor garden. Artist Meaghan Claire Kehoe will be painting a spectacular new mural on the south side of the building first thing in the spring, and we are excited to offer this call for artists to paint a mural on the north side of the building, too!

Bringing History to Life at the Aylmer-Malahide Museum & Archives

Bringing History to Life at the Aylmer-Malahide Museum & Archives

Andrew Gunn
Aylmer, Elgin County, Ontario's Southwest

The Estate of Donna Vera Evans Bushell has donated $130,000 to the Aylmer-Malahide Museum & Archives to fund a new ‘Digital Archivist’ position at the Museum, support the purchase of new technologies, boost the use of the ‘On This Spot’ app in the community, install a new large-scale mural in downtown Aylmer, and contribute toward the ‘Museum Relocation Fund’ to strengthen the long-term goal of establishing a new site for the Museum locally. This significant donation will help the Museum to connect with community members, visitors and students, and add new dimensions to the unique cultural atmosphere in Aylmer and Malahide.

New Lights & Artwork Enhance the St. Thomas Elevated Park

New Lights & Artwork Enhance the St. Thomas Elevated Park

Andrew Gunn
St Thomas, Ontario's Southwest

The St. Thomas Elevated Park has become one of the top tourism destinations in southwestern Ontario, and the experience of visiting this walkway in the sky is about to become even more memorable!

Earlier this year, our team at young & free press announced a major donation from the Estate of Donna Bushell to support enhancements to the Elevated Park, including grass, electricity and path lighting. Now, we are excited to announce that the Bushell Estate will also fund a massive new mural at the base of the bridge on one of the concrete piers located between Sunset Road and Fingal Line.

To be designed and executed by renowned mural artist Daniel Bombardier, who goes by the name Denial, the mural will measure some 85 feet high by 40 feet wide at the base. This work of art is part of the ongoing ‘Track to the Future’ project coordinated by the St. Thomas Economic Development Corporation and Railway City Tourism, and will add to the growing collection of stunning murals around St. Thomas.

Murals in Market Lane! Welcome to the Forest City Playground

Murals in Market Lane! Welcome to the Forest City Playground

Andrew Gunn
London, Ontario's Southwest

Three artists – Stephanie Boutari, Hawlii Pichette, and Meaghan Claire Kehoe – have been given the challenge of painting murals on the exterior wall of the WIL Employment Connections building in Market Lane in downtown London. The murals will emphasize the Carolinian Forest zone and ask viewers to consider the role of human beings in shaping the culture of our cities within the wider ecosystem.

Get Ready to ‘Engage’ with London, St. Thomas & Port Stanley!

Get Ready to ‘Engage’ with London, St. Thomas & Port Stanley!

Andrew Gunn
London, St Thomas, Elgin County, Ontario's Southwest

Our team at young & free press is very excited to help introduce a new augmented reality app designed specifically to engage residents and visitors in London, St. Thomas and Port Stanley. Developed by EXAR Studios in London, the app – called ‘Engage’ – will guide users on unique adventures through each community with stops along the way to experience attractions just by looking through the camera of a smart phone. Murals will come to life, billboards and other cultural objects will move, and local history will become a stimulating visual reality!

Presenting the Westlake-Evans Civic Park and ‘Track to the Future’ Mural Project

Presenting the Westlake-Evans Civic Park and ‘Track to the Future’ Mural Project

Andrew Gunn
St Thomas, Elgin County, Ontario's Southwest

On Thursday, June 11th, our team at young & free press announced an extraordinary donation of $750,000 from the Estate of Donna Vera Evans Bushell to the City of St. Thomas. This contribution includes $500,000 to support the establishment of the new Westlake-Evans Civic Park downtown, as well as $250,000 to boost the ‘Track to the Future’ mural project that will be coordinated through Railway City Tourism. We are very excited to help St. Thomas take another step toward becoming a major street art destination in Ontario.

Supporting the St. Thomas Elevated Park and Launching the New ‘Art, Trees & Trails’ Project

Supporting the St. Thomas Elevated Park and Launching the New ‘Art, Trees & Trails’ Project

Andrew Gunn
St Thomas, Elgin County, Ontario's Southwest

Andrew Gunn and Maddie King of young & free press are acting as consultants on the Estate of Donna Vera Evans Bushell. On Wednesday, June 10, we announced a donation of $100,000 to enhance the St. Thomas Elevated Park, as well as $115,000 to support the launch of the new ‘Art, Trees & Trails’ project in collaboration with the St. Thomas Elgin Public Art Centre. Another $100,000 has been given to the Elgin St. Thomas Community Foundation to establish the ‘Evans Tree Fund’, which will support tree-planting in the community for decades to come.

Announcing the New ‘Evans Tree Fund’ at the Elgin St. Thomas Community Foundation

Announcing the New ‘Evans Tree Fund’ at the Elgin St. Thomas Community Foundation

Andrew Gunn
St Thomas, Elgin County, Ontario's Southwest

Our team at young & free press is very excited to announce that the Estate of Donna Vera Evans Bushell is contributing $1.25M to the Elgin – St. Thomas Community Foundation to support a series of projects in the Elgin County and St. Thomas area. With $100,000, the Foundation will establish the ‘Evans Tree Fund’, which will be a permanent fund that supports tree-planting in the community. The rest of the funds will be allocated to launch a series of remarkable projects across Elgin County and St. Thomas. More announcements will follow soon.

Top Ten Trails to Check Out in Ontario's Southwest

Top Ten Trails to Check Out in Ontario's Southwest

Sophie Mutch
Ontario's Southwest

Spending time in nature has been proven to have many positive impacts on your mental and physical health. Exercising and getting outside is especially important right now because most of us are inside a lot more than usual, and might not have realized how much of a positive impact getting physical activity and being outside made on our lives until the pandemic. With that in mind, you might be looking for some fresh ideas to get outdoor exercise.

Songs for the Pandemic

Songs for the Pandemic

Emily Stage
Ontario's Southwest

We need good music right now. During the pandemic, we will all feel angry, sad, anxious, excited, and occasionally happy, and listening to music will help us express all those feelings and get through. During this time of isolation especially, I have been enjoying music for hours on end.