Elettra recently had the opportunity to produce Vancouver Airport Authority’s (YVR) annual employee event at Science World. This year’s theme was Ignite Your Wonder, which encouraged guests to have some fun with Science World’s exhibits and connect with colleagues.

As part of YVR’s commitment to providing welcoming, inclusive, and accessible experiences for people of all abilities, this year’s event featured a sensory-friendly lounge. With over 700 guests, everyone has different sensory needs. This initiative was guided by YVR’s community partner, Pacific Autism Family Network (PAFN).

Placed inside Eureka Dark, the sensory-friendly lounge was not just a quiet room, but a retreat for guests who might find the sensory aspects of a large party overwhelming. The lounge was a carefully curated space with dimmed ambient lighting, low-volume music, soft seating, and two Haven cloud installations by Tangible Interaction, which allowed guests to enter and take a few moments to themselves.

The space was also equipped with various sensory tools to provide comfort and stimulation as needed. For those particularly sensitive to noise, noise-cancelling headphones were available, allowing individuals to fully control their auditory environment. NeeDoh fidget toys offered tactile stimulation to help soothe and relax.

The benefits of including a sensory-friendly lounge at YVR's employee party extended beyond individual comfort, contributing to a broader cultural shift towards inclusivity and awareness of neurodiversity in the workplace. The sensory-friendly lounge underscores the importance of acknowledging and accommodating the diverse needs of all employees, fostering a more inclusive, understanding, and cohesive workplace culture.

Here are some photos from the event:

With more people experiencing homelessness in Vancouver, the demand for The Kettle Society’s services – particularly its Drop-In Centre – has increased over 180 per cent. In order to be able to keep helping people experiencing homelessness, mental illness and addiction in Vancouver, The Kettle turned to Elettra Communications to help them educate Vancouverites about the important work that they are doing and encourage more people to become donors.

The campaign, which includes a landing page, email drip campaign, targeted social media ads, display and native ads in local publications and an op-ed in the Georgia Straight, was timed to take advantage of the year-end giving season and will run until December 31st.

If you would like to support The Kettle, you can make a donation by visiting their website.

The Aboriginal Gathering Place at Emily Carr University hosted an Indigenous cultural ceremony to unveil the ‘Pacific Song of the Ancestors’ totem pole, a breathtaking new, permanent art installation.

The collaborative work by Master Carvers Dempsey Bob (Tahltan-Tlingit), Stan Bevan (Tahltan-Tlingit and Tsimshian) and Lyonel Grant (Māori and Pakeha) began nearly a decade ago and embodies the spirit of community building, Indigenous interrelationships and reverence for the diverse Indigenous cultures within B.C. and beyond.

The project is rooted in a longstanding connection between the Aboriginal Gathering Place (AGP) at Emily Carr University and communities in northern B.C. that began when Brenda Crabtree oversaw the creation of an articulation agreement with the Freda Diesing School of Northwest Coast Art. This agreement allows Indigenous students to ladder into a degree program at ECU — Canada’s top-ranked school for art and design and one of the best worldwide.

The 25-foot, 2,600-pound pole was primarily carved in Bevan’s studio in Terrace, B.C. with contributions from local carvers and students from the Freda Diesing School, who worked as apprentices. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Bob and Bevan intensified their focus on the pole. Crabtree surmises this newly found time to “hover” and develop the project led to the pole’s exceptional refinement and superb sculptural character. 

In the summer of 2021, the pole was transported to Emily Carr University and craned up to the main floor where it lay covered at the AGP. The following summer in 2022, Bob and Bevan worked to complete the pole alongside visiting artist Lyonel Grant from New Zealand.

We helped Emily Carr University with a media relations campaign, including pitching to media, an event advisory, media release, media advisory, and support for artist interviews with the media.

We’re thrilled to reveal our first project with our new client, Wesgroup Properties!

Wesgroup, one of Western Canada’s biggest private real estate companies, has completed construction of the largest rooftop solar power project ever built in B.C. Located atop a warehouse in Delta that was also built by Wesgroup, the solar array is arranged to form the logo of building tenant, Lululemon.

The solar array’s 2,592 solar panels have a capacity of 1.2 megawatts and produce enough electricity to power the equivalent of 100 homes. The array is the size of four NHL-size hockey rinks and is as large as it could be under BC Hydro’s net-metering requirements.

The completion of this solar project is one of many initiatives that Wesgroup has taken over the years to enhance the sustainability of its developments. In the past five years, 1,200 Wesgroup-built homes have achieved Built Green or LEED Gold standards and, of those homes, 68 per cent of the construction waste has been recycled.