Civic Imagination Lab

Civic Imagination Lab Youth-powered imagination lab for community-led transformation, policy design, and systems change

Thank you for joining us for our first-ever Community Conversation Café! Yesterday was everything we hoped it would be a...
03/15/2026

Thank you for joining us for our first-ever Community Conversation Café! Yesterday was everything we hoped it would be and more. ❄️☕️

The room was full of people reading zines, engaging with youth-created art, asking thoughtful questions, and sharing ideas about the futures we want to build together! 🚀

The Café marked the culmination of Imagining Otherwise, a youth-led participatory arts program exploring more caring, joyful, and sustainable futures. 🎨 Huge gratitude to our amazing youth cohort and facilitators!

Thank you as well to our partners who helped make this possible: , , and ! 💕

We wouldn’t be here without you all !!

Join us in person to chat, dream, and share bold ideas for our collective futures at our upcoming Community Conversation...
03/05/2026

Join us in person to chat, dream, and share bold ideas for our collective futures at our upcoming Community Conversation Café ✨

This youth-led gathering marks the culmination of Imagining Otherwise, a participatory arts journey exploring more caring, just, and sustainable futures.

Experience creative work, join meaningful conversations, and step into visions imagined by youth in our community. This isn’t a formal performance; it’s a welcoming space for reflection, curiosity, and collective imagination. 💛🌿

🗓Saturday, March 14, 2026
🕦 11:30 AM – 2:30 PM
📍 The Grove, 18 Louisa Street

Last Saturday, we gathered for the final workshop in our Imagining Otherwise series — and it was a powerful & beautiful ...
02/23/2026

Last Saturday, we gathered for the final workshop in our Imagining Otherwise series — and it was a powerful & beautiful way to close our journey together ✨

Facilitated by .radish, we created zines & explored creative practice as a site of social change, reflection, and post-growth possibility. Together, we reflected on what it means to make art in heavy times, and how certain art forms carry long histories of resistance, imagination, and community storytelling.

The conversations were thoughtful & grounded — such a meaningful way to end our time together and carry the work forward. 🌱

Huge thank you as well to our partners & sponsors , , for helping us bring our program to life! 💕

Yesterday, we gathered for the second session of our Imagining Otherwise series ✨🧵Building on the ideas and reflections ...
02/08/2026

Yesterday, we gathered for the second session of our Imagining Otherwise series ✨🧵

Building on the ideas and reflections from Workshop 1, we began with a grounding reflection to carry forward what feels most urgent to transform — and what values and possibilities feel most alive to grow.

From there, we moved into a hands-on, creative exploration using fabric and mixed materials to imagine sensory futures. Together, we explored what a more caring, regenerative, and connected world could look, sound, and feel like.

So much gratitude to everyone who showed up with openness, creativity, and care 🌱

Huge thank you as well to our facilitator Rae (), our partners & sponsors , , , and to BiBi’s Catering () for nourishing us so thoughtfully 💕

Last Saturday, we hosted the first session of our Imagining Otherwise series ✨Our wonderful facilitator Yvvana (.soso) k...
01/28/2026

Last Saturday, we hosted the first session of our Imagining Otherwise series ✨

Our wonderful facilitator Yvvana (.soso) kicked us off with an energizing and grounding workshop on understanding and mapping the polycrisis.

Together, we explored how socio-economic and political systems shape life and community, through rich conversations, deep reflection, and collective sense-making.

We’re excited to gather again on February 7 for the second session, focused on future mapping. More to come 🌱 ()!

Huge thank you to our incredible partners & sponsors, , , , ! 💕

As we head into the new year, we’re reflecting on yet another wonderful community event – FAB Fest 2025 ✨Special thanks ...
12/23/2025

As we head into the new year, we’re reflecting on yet another wonderful community event – FAB Fest 2025 ✨

Special thanks to Luc and the Rideau-Rockcliffe Community Resource Centre () for creating such a beautiful event for our community. 💛

It was wonderful to be surrounded by so many organizations doing creative, artistic, and innovative work, community imagination in action!

Loved reconnecting with Mac Peacock, exploring Community in a Box, and finally meeting Integration 101 Hub, who are empowering first-generation youth through art and storytelling.

And to everyone who visited the Civic Imagination Lab booth, built futures with us, and filled our wall with big, bold ideas (especially the kids!) – Thank you! 🌈

Looking forward to more connection, creativity, and collective dreaming in 2026 & beyond.

FutureBuilding

Applications are now open!Imagining Otherwise is a youth-led participatory arts series reimagining how we live, work, an...
11/21/2025

Applications are now open!

Imagining Otherwise is a youth-led participatory arts series reimagining how we live, work, and care for one another beyond traditional growth models. 🌱✨

We’re looking for 14-16 youth (ages 18-30) in the Ottawa area to join us for three creative workshops + a public Community Conversation Café between December 2025 and March 2026.

💭 If you’re curious about art, imagination, sustainability, or social change, this is for you.

Program benefits:
💰 $50 gift card of choice
🚇 Transit support available
 🥤 Refreshments provided
 📜 Program Certificate included

📅 Apply by December 3, 2025
 🔗 Link in bio

🚀 Les inscriptions sont maintenant ouvertes!

Imaginer autrement est une série artistique participative menée par des jeunes, qui réimagine nos manières de vivre, de travailler et de prendre soin les un·e·s des autres au-delà des modèles de croissance traditionnels. 🌱✨

Nous recherchons 14 à 16 jeunes (18–30 ans) dans la région d’Ottawa pour participer à trois ateliers créatifs + un Café de conversation communautaire entre décembre 2025 et mars 2026.

💭 Si tu es curieux·se d’art, d’imagination, de durabilité ou de changement social, ce programme est pour toi.

Avantages du programme :
💰 Carte-cadeau de 50 $ (magasin de ton choix)
🚇 Soutien pour le transport disponible
🥤 Collations et rafraîchissements fournis
📜 Certificat de participation inclus

📅 Postule d’ici le 3 décembre 2025
🔗 Lien dans la bio

Grateful for the opportunity to share the work of and the futures we’re building through creativity, care, and collabor...
11/16/2025

Grateful for the opportunity to share the work of and the futures we’re building through creativity, care, and collaboration at ’s Exchange Circle last night. Thank you to everyone who showed up, listened, asked big questions, and imagined new futures with us. 💭🌱Community fuels this work. 🤝💫

Gentle reminder: Our Imagining Otherwise facilitator applications are due only a week away! Don’t forget to get your applications in! 📥

We’re hiring: Facilitators (Ottawa-based)! 🌿Do you love using art to drive change and imagine a better, more equitable &...
11/16/2025

We’re hiring: Facilitators (Ottawa-based)! 🌿

Do you love using art to drive change and imagine a better, more equitable & sustainable world? Join Imagining Otherwise, a youth-led arts series, to lead and co-design workshops and a Community Conversation Café with youth participants.

We’re looking for three facilitators (ages 18–30, Ottawa-based) who are experienced in arts-based facilitation, care about sustainability and degrowth, and are excited to work with equity-deserving youth.

📅 Apply by Nov 23, 2025
💰 Honorarium provided
🔗 Link in bio

What if youth could imagine futures that go beyond the systems we know today? 🌱✨ We’re so excited to introduce Imagining...
11/12/2025

What if youth could imagine futures that go beyond the systems we know today? 🌱✨

We’re so excited to introduce Imagining Otherwise, a youth-led participatory arts series where young people move beyond critique to imagine, design, and embody just, post-growth futures.

Through creative workshops, storytelling, and collaborative activities, participants explore new ways of living, leading, and creating community.

In the coming days, we’ll be recruiting 3 facilitators and 15 participants (ages 18-30). Stay tuned for applications and join us in shaping alternative futures together! 🌿✨🌍💫🤝

Et si les jeunes pouvaient imaginer des futurs au-delà des systèmes que nous connaissons aujourd’hui ? 🌱✨

Nous sommes ravis de vous présenter Imaginer autrement, une série artistique participative dirigée par des jeunes, où ils vont au-delà de la critique pour imaginer, concevoir et incarner des futurs justes et post-croissance.

À travers des ateliers créatifs, des récits et des activités collaboratives, les participants explorent de nouvelles façons de vivre, de diriger et de créer du lien dans la communauté.

Dans les prochains jours, nous recruterons 3 animateurs et 15 participants (18-30 ans). Restez à l’affût des candidatures et rejoignez-nous pour façonner ensemble des futurs alternatifs ! 🌿✨🌍💫🤝

Just over a week since returning from Dubrovnik, Croatia, where we pitched The Belonging Studio on the global stage at t...
10/31/2025

Just over a week since returning from Dubrovnik, Croatia, where we pitched The Belonging Studio on the global stage at the WorldSkills Conference 🌍

From applying in May to becoming one of the Top 5 finalists of BeChangeMaker 2025 (out of 1,123 teams from 117 countries!), this journey has been humbling and unforgettable.

Grateful for the friends, learnings, and the care of Oliver & Michal, and for connecting with fellow changemakers: , , , and 💛

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Ottawa, ON

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