The Projector
Various culture beat articles written while in my first year of the Creative Communications program at Red River College.
Walking among ghosts
At the Red River College (RRC) Exchange District campus, people walk among ghosts.
Winnipeg is home to one of the largest collections of ghost signs in North America.
These fading, historical advertisements were hand-painted on the sides of buildings beginning in the 1880s and ending in the 1940s, said Matt Cohen. Cohen is a self-proclaimed ghost sign enthusiast, and founder of the website Ghost Signs, a digital archive of ghost signs in Winnipeg’s Exchange District developed by the Advertising Association of Winnipeg. “We had one of the largest sign-painting communities at the turn of the century,” said Cohen. “It was quite a craft to go paint an ad on the side of a building.”
Over the years, the ghost signs faded. But Cohen said because of a combination of the brick buildings underneath and the lead-infused paint used at the time, the signs are still visible.
These ghost signs are included in the protection that all structures received when Winnipeg’s Exchange District obtained historic site status in 1997.
Cohen said there are close to 150 ghost signs still visible in the area.
Read the rest of the article here: https://theprojector.ca/walking-among-ghosts/
EDC ATTracts film industry to manitoba
The Manitoba film industry is booming, and Red River College’s Exchange District Campus’ vintage façade is playing a part in its success.
The classic aesthetic of the RRC Exchange District Campus’ Princess Street Building makes it a desirable film set for production companies worldwide.
Manitoba Film and Music sends out marketing packages to production companies that include photos of RRC’s Princess Street façade. They are often used to promote the Exchange District as a filming location.
“It’s really nice and it’s been useful to us in marketing the province,” Collins said.
After the marketing package is sent out, production companies that are interested in Winnipeg as a shooting location connect with a member of Manitoba Film and Music’s staff. The staff then meet with them to look at the movie script and coordinate locations.
Collins said the organization has staff on hand whose specific job it is to find locations after they look at a script and send photos back that they think the movie could use.
Read the rest of the article here: https://theprojector.ca/edc-attracts-film-industry-to-manitoba/
NEW VEGAN EATS HIT THE EXCHANGE DISTRICT
It’s cheezy mac day at Acorn Cafe and after a flurry of customers leaves Generation Green, owner Sherry Sobey pauses to remind herself to snag a bowl before the new restaurant runs out.
The brand-new vegan Acorn Cafe is nestled inside Generation Green’s location on Main Street, just a few blocks from Red River College’s Exchange District campus.
After outgrowing its original spot at The Forks, adding a cafe to the new place seemed like a natural fit, said Sobey.
“We started off saying we were going to do a vegetarian cafe, but easily it just seemed to be [that] everything was focused on vegan,” said Sobey. “Since [the] majority of my staff are vegan, it was like, let’s just do this.”
The cafe offers one featured menu item that changes daily, and has been well-received by customers. Sobey said this is thanks in large part to hobby cheesemaker, Celine Land.
Land owns Vegan Fromagerie, a vegan cheese maker, and started making cheese substitutes around 2012 because the ones available in stores were disappointing, she said.
Read the rest of the article here: https://theprojector.ca/new-vegan-eats-hit-the-exchange-district/