The 150 Years Young project is a Canada 150 Signature Initiative by Apathy is Boring. To recognize our country's 150th birthday, Apathy is Boring teamed up with community partners and 12 City Ambassadors (representing Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Edmonton, and Vancouver) to tell our own story about youth in Canada.

Through creative installations, we created space to acknowledge and feature the diverse ways young people are shaping their communities across Canada and mobilize the potential of their peers. The project unfolded in three phases. 

PHASE 1: Capturing Contributions

Our community partners and 12 city ambassadors, along with the broader online community, collected photos and stories from across Canada that illustrate the conventional and unconventional ways millennials make a difference. This shifts the narrative on youth engagement in Canada into a new, positive, space.

PHASE 2: Creative Interventions and City Projections

Because art is a powerful and effective way of breaking down barriers and inspiring conversations, the photos and captions being collected were shared online and projected on buildings in five cities as part of Street Talks events. The events' objectives were to facilitate meaningful conversations that will inspire reflection and action. 

PHASE 3: Information Campaign

We are connected more now through digital channels than we have ever been before. To foster this connection, we created meaningful content to empower our peers to turn awareness into action and to see themselves as agents of change moving forward. 

The project's 12 ambassadors and our Executive Director, Caro, were featured on VICE. Click below to see the video. 

For this project, we've partnered with Creative Publics Lab and Simon Fraser University (as well as MANY others listed below), who put on an exhibit to feature the stories of young Vancouverites collected as part of this project- check out a sneak peek of the exhibited works below. 

Other partners and supporters:

Canadian Red Cross, Canadian Alliance of Student Associations, Engineers without borders, Forum Jeunesse de L’ile de Montreal,  National Association of Friendship Centres , Santropol Roulant, Indspire, Youth Ottawa, 4Rs Youth Movement, MEC Outdoor Nation, Quebec Community Groups Network , English Language Arts Network, Faith in Canada 150, ImagiNation 150, Giving Tuesday, Girl’s Action Foundation, Studio Y, Volunteer Bureau of Montreal, Big Brothers Big Sisters, 4-H Canada, New Canadian Media, iPolitics, Community Foundations of Canada, 150 Alliance, The Environics Institute, MassivArt