CityStudio North Vancouver students toured the new Museum of North Vancouver in October 2021 to design content for emergent social media platforms like TikTok. Photo: Alia Youssef

CityStudio North Vancouver is an experimentation and innovation hub where Capilano University students collaborate with community partners to co-create projects for the community.

The initiative is a joint partnership between Capilano University and the City of North Vancouver. They also engage with several key community organizations including MONOVA: Museum and Archives of North Vancouver, North Vancouver City Library, North Vancouver RCMP, Vancouver Coastal Health, and the North Vancouver Recreation and Culture Commission.

Program Coordinator Carol Ballard touring students through the new museum. Photo: Alia Youssef

MONOVA has worked with CityStudio North Vancouver on a number of projects over the past couple years, including Encounters with Public Art: Decolonizing Literacies of Self, Place, and Education and an ongoing project designed to engage youth aged 18 to 25 (aka Generation Z or Gen Z) in the newly opened Museum of North Vancouver.

Gen Z Engagement

Over the past year, MONOVA’s Stephen Irving and Carol Ballard have worked closely with students in Capilano University’s Tourism Management and Business Administration programs to develop both a digital strategy targeted at Generation Z, and content for emergent social media platforms like TikTok to support that strategy.

Actor-Interpreter Chantal Gallant was on hand to support student content development. Photo: Alia Youssef

Earlier this month, CityStudio North Vancouver hosted the fifth installment of their very popular Hubbub project showcase, and we were thrilled to to learn that BADM 318 students Shawn Watson, Rashneet Kaur, Jonathan Pohl, Devon Engel, Jonathan Boldt were won first place for their Gen Z Engagement Geocaching Project for MONOVA!

HUBBUB #5 Winners

1st – MONOVA Gen Z Engagement – “Geocaching project”
2nd – Street water Journeys – “Catch basin awareness campaign”
3rd – Dog Etiquette – “Social Media videos for dog owners”
Audience Choice – Food Trucks for Fish – “Food truck owner environmental awareness campaign”
Kathleen Callow – Door prize raffle

You can watch the winning submission here.

While currently just a concept, the MONOVA team looks forward to rolling out a similar campaign very soon.

“It’s so important for museums to attract younger age groups as they are the next generation of visitors,” noted Museum Programmer Carol Ballard. “We know that Gen Z is looking for more interactive and experiential options including Instagrammable pop-ups and enhanced technological experiences. We’re excited to work with CityStudio North Vancouver and Capilano University students on iterating on some innovative approaches.”

“This has been a fantastic collaboration between students and MONOVA,” added Aderyn Davies, CityStudio Project Lead, Academic Initiatives and Planning. “CapU students gain such valuable experience working closely with partners like MONOVA, and MONOVA gains a wealth of experience on how to expand its reach and appeal to younger folks.”

Science Interpreter Charlie Cook connecting with CityStudio North Vancouver students. Photo: Alia Youssef

To support this work, MONOVA has recently launched a TikTok account and has started teasing out some of this new content. If you’re a TikTok user, be sure to follow us by clicking the link below.

On behalf of all of us at MONOVA, we want to thank all of the incredible student teams who have supported our Gen Z engagement work over the last year! And stay tuned for more big things to come from MONOVA very soon!