WE FELT IT WAS IMPORTANT THAT THE WORK
DIRECTLY SUPPORT THE NEIGHBOURHOOD AND ENGAGE
AUTHENTICALLY WITH THE SURROUNDING COMMUNITY.

Emily Carr University of Art + Design began the
process of launching a new campus in Prince
George by partnering with the Wood Innovation
Design Centre (WIDC) in 2015. Living Labs
took on an active role in programming creative
research and industry projects through this new
lens of institutional activity. Through discussion
with Justin Langlois, Associate Professor in
the Faculty of Culture and Community, the
idea emerged to produce another iteration
of Langlois’ Neighbourhood Time Exchange
project, which he had piloted in Philadelphia in
2015. It would be the first major research project
created by Emily Carr in this new geographical
context, and would be the first time that the
Neighbourhood Time Exchange model had been
realized in Canada.

Drawing inspiration from reciprocity-based
exchange practices such as time-banking, the
goal was to create a generative framework in a
lived context that would allow us to reachinto the
local community in Prince George while creating
sustainable and supportive opportunities for
artists. Between September 2016 and April 2017
the Neighbourhood Time Exchange : Downtown
Prince George linked community-engaged
social practice with artistic studio production,
operating on a simple principle: for every hour
an artist spends in their studio, they provide
an hour of volunteer service to the community.

We saw the project as a perfect opportunity
to create a “living lab” in a city that was new
to us, allowing us to support local and visiting
artists-in-residence while forming a network
of foundational relationships with community
partners that we knew would be crucial to future
activities in Prince George. Working with the
Northern Development Initiative Trust, we
engaged Downtown Prince George and the
City of Prince George as key partners for the

project, which became the Neighbourhood
Time Exchange : Downtown Prince George.

In the summer of 2016 Living Labs circulated
an open call to the Prince George community
organizations inviting ideas for how they might
wish to collaborate with artists. This process
helped us understand the core work, and the
needs and possibilities for working witha variety
of prospective community partners. Non-profits,
locally-owned businesses, schools, councils,
social service organizations, and other groups
were asked to propose projects beyond the
scope of their existing capacity that would draw
upon the expertise of artists. Through this pro-
cess Downtown Prince George, the Innovation
Central Society, the Prince George Public Li-
brary, the Recycling and Environmental Action
Planning Society (REAPS), and the Two Rivers
Gallery were identified as community partners.

In a parallel process, the curatorial team
began thinking of how to match community
partners to the skills and expertise of artists.
As curator, Justin Langlois - in collaboration
with Emily Carr MFA grad and Assistant Cura-
tor Caitlin Chaisson - sought out socially-en-
gaged practitioners locally and nationally at
different career stages whose expertise would
serve community partners in unique ways.

In the end, nine artists worked in the Prince
George storefront studio, each for a period
of one month. Artists were given the time,
space, and resources to develop their inde-
pendent practices while being immersed in
the context of Prince George. Each artist was
paired with one or more community orga-
nizations for the duration of their residency.

We felt it was important that the work directly
support the neighbourhood and engage authen-
tically with the surrounding community. We se-
cured a vacant storefront in the downtown area

that had been closed for several years, and with
minor renovations transformed the underuti-
lized space into a lively cultural centre. We
sourced materials from neighbourhood stores,
thrifted furniture from second-hand vendors,
invited local musicians to perform at openings,
and hired local photographers to document our
events. We hired a Prince George-based Project
Coordinator - Roanne Whitticase - whose work
enriched the programming of the residency by
continuously linking artists with the local com-
munity. The community’s engagement greweach
month as more people heard about the studio.
In September, we officially launched Neigh-
bourhood Time Exchange : Downtown Prince
George with Vancouver-based artists Rachel
and Sarah Seburn as inaugural artists-in-res-
idence. Recent graduates from Emily Carr
University of Art + Design’s Bachelor of Fine
Arts program, the collaborative practice of these
emerging artists addresses real estate, architec-
ture, urban planning, and land use. Working with
their community partner, Downtown Prince
George, Seburn & Seburn activated forgotten
spaces in the downtown core by creating an out-
door platform space designed to encourage gath-
erings and dialogue. The Prince George Activa-
tor Society, a non-profit that helps reintegrate
recently released prison inmates into the work-
force, volunteered to help construct the installa-
tion. The artists also worked with the Recycling
and Environmental Action Planning Society
(REAPS) to develop a contribution to the annual
Rivers Day event. The artists developed an in-
stallation by submerging bright red silk material
below the surface of the river. The material ebbed
and flowed with the currents, unexpectedly con-
juring the bright colours of a school of salmon.
Lily Mead Martin arrived in early October.
Martin’s art practice uses drawings, photographs,

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