Downtown Ottawa will soon have a 3,000-square-feet location exclusively dedicated to creative projects. Called IdeaSpace, the site at 131 Bank Street is scheduled to open on February 1. The brainchild of the inventive folks at MediaStyle, a local digital public affairs agency, the site is meant to allow local residents to implement imaginative ideas. Possibilities could include, but are not limited to, month-long art shows, computer hacker nights, weeklong seminars, private parties, pop up restaurants, interesting weddings or a location for movie shoots. “What we have in store for the... | Continue reading article

This is old news, but old news you might not know about. Were you aware there was an old brew train recently uncovered underground at Lebreton Flats? Neither did I. The Citizen reports on it and highlights Ottawa’s booming brewery history of decades ago. The City of Ottawa has launched its updated, user friendly website at ottawa.ca. You’ll be able to pay for several city services online. The website also adapts to the mobile experience, whether you are using a smart phone or tablet. In other city news, the Rink of... | Continue reading article

It appears that Armageddon is all around us. Whether it’s movies about the end of the world, fantasy novels by Christian fundamentalists on the apocalypse or the popular expression “drinking the Kool-Aid” that stems from the 1978 Jonestown Massacre, it seems we can’t help but think about the end of time. So what is a modern, science-loving, rational-thinking person to make of this apocalyptic buzz? Why, attend a conference for rational skeptics at a Best Western Hotel in downtown Ottawa. “We know that there are many myths and ideas about... | Continue reading article

A Toronto-based friend of mine can be mean when talking about our nation’s capital. “Ottawa is a great place to raise a plant,” he once told me, jokingly. “It’s also a good city for your parents to live in.” This opinion of Ottawa as a stuffy, boring place where dreams go to die is shared by many people. Based on the rapidly growing number of hip and young entrepreneurs in the city, however, it’s a view not grounded in reality. “Sometimes we are down on Ottawa because the rest of... | Continue reading article

Currently, the city doesn’t offer organics recycling for all multi-residential buildings but this might change. New guidelines are being discussed to standardize garbage and recycling bin requirements for multi-residential buildings, but there’s still lots to discuss. What other cities have multi-residential buildings compost? British Columbia may have a thing or two to teach us. Bitching about the price of gas? Count yourself lucky, Ottawa’s got the third cheapest gas in the country ($1.25/L in October) according to a Statistics Canada study. Cheapest cities? Not surprisingly, Edmonton ($1.14) and Calgary offer cheaper... | Continue reading article

On Saturday, November 17th at the Media Democracy conference, an abundance of workshops and discussions were provided into which participants could sink their inquisitive teeth.  Focusing on National as well as International topics, dynamic and intelligent presenters illustrated issues relevant to critical alternatives to mainstream media, and illuminated new avenues of both interpretation and participation. One such panel discussion that took place at 10:30 a.m. included Jennifer David, a media consultant and one of the founders of the APTN (Aboriginal Peoples Television Network), Jocelyn Formsma, a filmmaker and host of... | Continue reading article

The vibrancy of city life is highly contingent on the services available and the things we do to fill our time. When we think of the places and spaces we frequent, or when we think of the restaurants we enjoy, we are confronted with the immense role that entrepreneurs have in our quality of living. In our second Apartment613 Talks event we’re going to look at entrepreneurship from three different angles – as employment, as creativity and as critical to our standard of living. You will hear first-hand from locals... | Continue reading article

Things came together pretty quickly for Hub Ottawa. So fast, in fact, that they forgot to actually celebrate their opening. This week, they are putting things right with a grand opening celebration tonight. The Mayor was at the Hub for a ribbon cutting this morning and they are opening their doors for an open house from 6-9pm. They will have some fun food, a cash bar and music by Rob Reid of World Famous Music. For anyone who hasn’t been, the Hub is pretty cool spot. They have assembled a... | Continue reading article

Post by Courtney Powless. Kitchen-table storyteller Ivan Coyote and country-turned-electropop musician Rae Spoon bring their show Gender Failure to Carleton University on November 22. Apartment613 caught up with Coyote over the phone to get the scoop on the show that unwraps and unravels the gender binary and promises to make you rumble with laughter, and weep. Apartment613: You have a seven-year artistic partnership with Rae Spoon. Was Gender Failure a long-time project, or a more spontaneous idea—how did you come to it? Ivan Coyote: In the past, Rae and I... | Continue reading article

Frustrated by the narrow perspective portrayed in the mainstream media, a group of local activists is operating a news site dedicated to independent journalism. The Ottawa Media Co-op is a grassroots online publication that allows alternative reporters to post stories, videos, audio clips or photographs online. In order to participate, all you have to do is set up an account and self-publish your work. While the site has been posting news for some time now, the collective’s current project  is to become a full member of the national Media Co-op,... | Continue reading article