Write on the Street

It all began with a Cultural Connections Conference hosted by The City of Guelph and Guelph Arts Council. A live crowdsourcing ideathon ensued and this idea was awarded a small start-up fund. But what is the idea? Borrowing heavily from the word flâneur….. “The term flâneur comes from the French masculine noun un flâneur [ahn flah-NUR]—which has the basic meanings of ‘stroller’, ‘lounger’, ‘saunterer’, ‘loafer’—which itself comes from the French verb flâner, which means “to stroll”. Charles Baudelaire developed a derived meaning of flâneur—that of “a person who walks the city in order to experience it”. Because of the term’s usage and theorization by Baudelaire and numerous thinkers in economic, cultural, literary and historical fields, the idea of the flâneur has accumulated significant meaning as a referent for understanding urban phenomena and modernity.” –wikipedia And then the idea went everywhere, but in a nutshell it’s this: A walking community meets at the intersection of words, memory, and art. We want to read your perspective of Guelph as you see it while on foot, to read about the way of seeing your neighbourhoods, 100 feet from where you live or beyond. Perhaps where you shop, grew up, or the parks you love, the alleyways, your neighbour’s lawn – anything that moves you to respond. Any and all perspectives are encouraged. The ultimate goal of this project is to compile your stories here (with your permission), then take a tiny slice of some of them and literally WRITE THEM ON THE STREET. Everything – including the street writings/art will be documented, and then handmapped. If there is an absolute end to it all, ideally this entire project would be compiled and published. But we must first take baby steps, so with that, we first ask people on Twitter to tweet to @writeonguelph using the hashtag #DearGuelph. The confines of 140 characters will be a challenge, but it’s a start. For all those ready to write longer, loving passages of their neighbourhood/city, please send them to culturemaven[@]me.com. This project is not just for twitter only! Check the HOME page for succinct instructions.