Discover Saint John Announces Canada 150 Cargo-tecture Competition
SAINT JOHN–Discover Saint John is calling on New Brunswick architects, designers, artists and creative types to submit their ideas for a different kind of design competition.
On Monday, the tourism organization announced its Canada 150 Cargo-tecture competition, where participants submit conceptual designs focused on how they would transform a shipping container to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Canadian confederation.
The five finalists will get the chance to bring their shipping container designs to life at the Area 506 Festival in August, with the final winner receiving a cash prize. Discover Saint John has also announced that they will be hosting a Canada 150 Culture Stage at the festival which will feature musicians, visual artists and dancers from across New Brunswick.
The federal government has committed $150,000 through the Canadian Heritage foundation to help pay for the competition and culture stage. Discover Saint John executive director Victoria Clarke said Monday’s announcement was just the beginning for Canada 150 celebrations in the city.
“Discover Saint John has been taking the lead in attracting some Canada 150 funding, so this is the first of what I hope are a number of announcements around Canada 150,” Clarke says.
“Things are underway. It’s a really exciting year. This is a little bit out of scope for Discover Saint John just in that we have businesses that we’re trying to attract every year, but Canada 150 is a special year so we put in the special effort to attract things that really are different to the city… [so] we’re really excited.”
The competition finalists and Canada 150 Culture Stage performers will be announced in the coming months.