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It’s official:  Youth Week Calgary officially begins today and runs until May 2nd!

There’s tons of really cool events happening for all you awesome youth out there, and today we are kicking things off with four new events:

The Youth Volunteer Corps (YVC) in Calgary is kicking off Youth Week by celebrating Global Youth Service Day – a day that encourages youth all over the world to give back to their community through volunteering.  Today, the YVC is working on their ReGeneration Project – they’re planting a beautiful community garden for a youth transitional home in Calgary.

Into basketball? We let you in on a really cool tournament happening this weekend at the YMCA @ Bishop McNally High School…Hoops Extreme! is your chance to enjoy some b-ball this weekend!  Whether you already signed up yourself and two friends to play in this 3 on 3 basketball tournament, or you’re just interested in popping by to sit in the stands and soak in all the action, it’s going to be a great day!

Hey all you film-lovers out there!  The Cochrane Youth Association is celebrating Youth Week by holding their annual Film and Art Festival tonight at the Cochrane Ranchehouse Theatre.  Filmmakers from Cochrane, Calgary and the surrounding area were encouraged to submit short films to be judged, with the results revealed tonight!  Plus, there’s going to be youth entertainers performing all night!

Whether you’re a huge comic book fan, or just want to take in all the celebs that will be there, the Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo is happening this weekend.  There’s something for everyone at the BMO Centre both today and tomorrow, whether you’re interested in seeing Leonard Nimoy (a.k.a. the original SPOCK!) or are a Twi-hard (there will be THREE Twilight stars present this weekend), or want to meet some of your favourite sci-fi/comic book writers and illustrators – it’s an event no to be missed!

For more details on all of these events, check out Youth Week’s Events listing page – start planning your week now!

OK, pause, and rip yourself away from the Olympics for just one second.  Fact or Fiction: Cow-Town-Calgary has no appreciation for the arts.  Answer?  Fiction!  Now, sure, we’re no New York, New York, but Calgary has its fair share of haute-art opportunities.  This upcoming weekend, on the 26th and 27th, Calgary is gearing up to be a prime example of some of our city’s prime creative juices.

Friday the 26^th and Saturday the 27^th is the ArtaWEARness event put on by the Alberta College of Art and Design (ACAD).  Let’s all pull out our checklist for events worth digging into our moth-bearing wallets to see.  Does it/is it:

1)      showcase something awesome

2)      provoke your interest

3)      have meaning of some form or another

Bonus points:

4)      involve local youth

5)      affordable and accesible

The ArtaWEARness event fulfills ALL of these criteria – and more.  Essentially, and I can not put it in better words, it is a college of crazy spewing from some of the most artistic, analytical, sleep-deprived minds in our city – the students of ACAD.  Everything from sculpture to recycled material to metal working is somehow transfigured into avant-garde pieces that strut down a runway.  Really, it’s better to not try and explain the genius that is birthed out of this. So, I’ll show you an example:

Lydia Karpenko’s collection from last year’s event took place in a not-too-distant future where environmental pollution has become extremely toxic to all living things.  All humans that populate this world must wear biohazard/containment clothing that protects them from their polluted surroundings.  People have adapted their technological research and developed an extremely effective protection “suit” in the form of a living, fungus-like organism.  This organism consumes atmospheric pollution and excretes oxygen as its byproduct.  By entering into symbiotic relationship with the organism, the human is fully protected from environmental toxicity.  The result, human hosts become hybrid organisms or bio-cyborgs that have successfully adapted to their natural habitat.

The pictures are her creations. Mark the dates – this Friday and Saturday at 8pm – on your calendar. Standing tickets are only 15$ (seated is 25$) and ACAD is right off the C-train.  Want more information? See the website!

I won’t be here for it this year, but I wish I had known about it earlier.  Certainly, this is an awesome, youth-showcasing event in the city that should not be missed!

If you’re like me, you probably have several (at least) old pairs of jeans that are still in good condition, but you just don’t really wear them anymore.

In fact, they’re probably just sitting in your drawer, taking up space.

Why don’t you put them to good use? A few weeks ago, Aéropostale started up the third annual Teens for Jeans drive. So, since you have that old pair just lying there, this is the perfect opportunity to find them a new home. The Teens for Jeans drive is meant to inspire YOU to collect jeans for homeless young people all over the city.

All you have to do is grab that old pair of gently-worn jeans sitting in your closet and drop them off at any Aéropostale store in Calgary and Aéropostale will donate all the jeans they collect to a United Way funded local homeless shelter.

*Note: The first 100,000 pairs given to Teens for Jeans will be donated to Haiti, as Aéropostale’s response to the devastating earthquake.

As a big THANK YOU to you when you donate your old jeans, Aéropostale is will give you an additional 25% off your next pair of jeans.

The Teens for Jeans drive ends this weekend on Valentine’s Day, so share the love and go grab some denim!

I found this advertisement by CCIS to be quite interesting and think that you should all check this out.  The target audience of this contest is youth between the ages of 12-30 and it ends on March 22nd (so you still have lots of time to submit!).  Check out what CCIS has to say about their new contest, Echoing the Youth Experience, below:

CCIS is always looking to initiate new and exciting projects to involve not only our significant client base, but also our Partners. With over hundreds of Youth in CCIS’ database alone, we are excited to see what these Youth are able to share.  Moreover, we see this as an opportunity for CCIS to collaborate and connect with other service providers and community stakeholders – knowing this initiative is about more than one organization.

Echoing the Youth Experience is a unique and collaborative book project that will allow Youth across Calgary to artistically share what it means for them to be in Canada.  The experiences can be told through various artistic forms – from photographs to short stories.  The entries for the book will be selected through a competition process, with some prizes for submissions, and top prizes for outstanding effort.

The contest will be posted throughout the city by engaging service providers and community partners.  It is the hope that with some incentives, the contest will draw quite a number of submissions.  We are aiming to showcase the final product at the 2010 Multicultural Youth Health and Well Being Conference put on by Alberta Health Services and Southern Alberta Child and Youth in May.   The contest will culminate with a ceremony where the art is displayed, the supporters are recognized, and the winners of the contest are announced and awarded.

The contest will culminate in a printed collaborative book entitled: “Echoing the Youth Experience: A Cross Cultural Exchange of Young Ideas”. 

For more information on the program, or to enter a submission please email Yiorgos Boudouris at: echo@ccis-calgary.ab.ca or visit www.youthexperience.tumblr.com  for continuously updated information.

So check it out! And if you’re feeling artistic, enter the contest!

Mayor’s Youth Council (MYC) is the voice of Calgary’s youth and (just like YAA) a program of Child and Youth Friendly Calgary.

We research and work to improve the issues in Calgary that affect youth.  In the past, we’ve tackled problems such as transportation, nutrition, and youth homelessness.  

To give structure to the committee and allow us to complete as much as possible, MYC is broken into three subcommittees:

Committee 1 focuses on relating MYC to the city by attending events, endorsing city facilities as youth friendly, meeting with Aldermen, and planning a city-wide youth event. Look for updates on this nearer to June!

Committee 3 recording a podcast about issues that are important to YOUTH!

Committee 2 chooses a theme to focus on, researches the issue through various means, and presents a report to the Mayor. Last year’s issue was youth homelessness; this year, the committee is focusing on teen drinking and driving and focusing on a safe graduation.

Committee 3 is a media based committee, focusing on making podcasts about topical issues, interviewing people in Calgary, and producing videos.

All the committees are doing amazing things and discussing important issues that affect youth within Calgary. Pretty soon, you’ll see blogs right here on YAA from the members of MYC about city issues and things that are happening in regards to youth and government. They’re going to be really interesting and keep you up to date about what’s happening in our city!

That’s all for now, but keep looking for MYC to appear on YAA!