17:00 to 18:00 GMT
(London Time)

THE BEIRUT GREEN PROJECT, LEBANON
Dima Boulad, a Lebanese designer, co-founded the Beirut Green Project in 2011. This is a collective aimed at creating more public green spaces in Beirut and bringing awareness to the importance of them being a right rather than a privilege. Dima will outline the project’s: innovative awareness-raising on greenspace; the Beirut Green Guide; and the different initiatives in beirut that are contributing to that goal.

BRUSSELS' MUSEUM NIGHT, BELGIUM
Pieter Van der Gheynst of the Brussels Museums Council will introduce the Council’s awareness work - in particular its annual Museum Night. This major event sees the collective marketing of the Belgian capital city's museums. There are guided tours and activities linked to the permanent and temporary exhibitions of 25 museums. The program is heavily focused on, and shaped by, young people – activities in the venues include dance, music, performances, circus, and theatre.

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17:00 to 18:00 GMT (London Time)

LIVE THEATRE, NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE, UK
Chief executive Jim Beirne (MBE, FRSA, Dr Litt. (hons)) will outline the theatre's longstanding plans to operate in a context of reduced city council financial support. Three of the theatre's social enterprises are up and running: a small but highly-successful online playwright course, an office development, and a gastropub. The fourth enterprise is a large property development – with the City Council as lender rather than grant-maker.
https://www.live.org.uk/

HENNEPIN THEATRE TRUST, MINNEAPOLIS, USA
Tom Hoch, President and CEO of Hennepin Theatre Trust, will outline how the city government bought three historic theaters that were either closed or moribund, and pulled them back into the public sector fold with a view to improving them. To pay for the investment, the city issued bonds. It has since fulfilled its intention of putting the theaters in the hands of a non-profit, the Hennepin Theatre Trust. The Trust is continuing to operate and program the theaters and repay city investment, whereupon it will then own them outright. Tom will also touch on the Trust's role in Minneapolis's emerging Cultural District.
https://hennepintheatretrust.org/

About The New Barn-Raising

The New Barn-Raising is an initiative to encourage the exchange of international best practice around sustaining community and civic assets such as parks, recreation centers, libraries, neighborhood stores, senior centers, museums and theaters. These are places and spaces characterized by a high degree of accessibility, popularity and sense of belonging to 'the people'.

The term New Barn-Raising refers to how different groups (business, citizens, foundations, non-profits groups, politicians, social entrepreneurs, social investors, taxpayers and unions) can all pull together to support assets.

Read more and register

17:00 to 18:00 GMT (London Time)

COMMUNITY SHARES, U.K.
Community shares are an increasingly popular form of capital for enterprises serving a community purpose such as shops, pubs, community buildings, renewable energy initiatives and local food schemes. Jim Brown, consultant and Strategic Adviser to the UK Government’s Community Shares Unit, will outline progress with these shares and discuss the Microgenius crowdfunding platform which the Unit uses for brokering community share offers.

ioby CROWD-RESOURCING, NEW YORK, USA
Erin Barnes, co-founder and Executive Director of Brooklyn-based ioby (derived from the positive opposite of NIMBY) will talk about the crowd-resourcing platform that facilitates a mix of crowdfunding and resource organizing – local people help get neighborhood projects off the ground with money, volunteer time and connections. She will also talk about the potential (and limits) of crowd-resourcing and about what makes for successful campaigns and projects.

About The New Barn-Raising

The New Barn-Raising is an initiative to encourage the exchange of international best practice around sustaining community and civic assets such as parks, recreation centers, libraries, neighborhood stores, senior centers, museums and theaters. These are places and spaces characterized by a high degree of accessibility, popularity and sense of belonging to 'the people'.

The term New Barn-Raising refers to how different groups (business, citizens, foundations, non-profits groups, politicians, social entrepreneurs, social investors, taxpayers and unions) can all pull together to support assets.

Read more and register

4:30pm to 7:30pm Eastern Time
N124, North Campus, Bow Valley College
332 - 6 Avenue SE Calgary

Please join us for a searingly honest conversation with corporate leader and social business guru Liam Black as he presents his new book, The Social Entrepreneur's A-Z.  This event is for students hoping to bring social purpose into their careers, for social entrepreneurs looking for a refreshing dose of honesty, for supporters who want to know how to provide better supports, for naysayers who would enjoy some humor, and for anyone who wants to learn more about what it means to use markets to solve social problems.

Liam is a UK based social entrepreneur, impact investor and writer.  His early work with Liverpool-based Furniture Resource Centre (FRC) Group in the 1990's moved the small charity supplying second-hand furniture to council tenants, into a £5.5m business group giving work to hundreds of unemployed people and providing thousands of low-income families with the chance to buy good-quality recycled furniture. He has helped create and led a dozen social businesses most famously Fifteen, which, with Jamie Oliver, he grew into a global brand.

Liam brings together leaders from a wide range of sectors and industries and his clients, members and partners include Rolls Royce, the BBC, Dyson, Lego, IKEA as well a global range of social businesses including Grameen, Aravind, and many community based organizations engaged in finding solutions to some of our societies toughest problems.

He is co-founder and the Chief Encouragement Officer of Wavelength a company with the mission of 'changing the world for the better through business'.  He helped create and advises two investment funds: Impact Ventures UK and Ignite (created by energy giant Centrica) which between them are investing $80 million in social innovation.

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First 100 attendees receive a copy of "A to Z"

Talisman Energy Social Enterprise HUB at Bow Valley College, British Council Canada, and Trico Foundation are pleased to offer this exciting opportunity with the support of community partners such as Mount Royal University, British Consulate Calgary, and University of Calgary. Light refreshments and networking session to follow.

11am - 12pm Eastern Time

Join Liz Mulholland, CEO of Prosper Canada for an interactive one-hour webinar to discuss findings from a new report looking at emerging ideas on best practice in financial counselling for people living on low incomes.

The report, Financial Counselling for People Living on Low Incomes: International Scan of Best Practices, summarizes research undertaken in response to growing demand from low-income consumers for personalized financial support to help them tackle financial challenges like debt, difficulty accessing benefits, and financial planning for the future. Different jurisdictions have taken different approaches to meeting this demand, but practitioners and other experts in Canada, the US, the UK, and Australia share some similar views when it comes to their thoughts on best practice.

Liz will explore key findings from the report and their implications for future work in this area.

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Sign up early. Space is limited.