Our organization is passionate about promoting aritists (musical artists of course) while at the same time creating great social, economic and personal relationships with venues, vendors, fans and the cities, towns and communities we are part of.

One issue we came across recently has emboldened us to make a positive change around a well known event in Vancouver BC Canada. For 30 years there has been a "Cannabis Awareness and Protest" on the streets and in the parks of Vancouver BC on April 20th. Every year this event has brought together about 200,000 people in support of this cause; the group is not shrinking, it is growing, and the issue in turn is also growing. This event has never been sanctioned by the city and has created tensions and problems for the city, their constituents, and venues all throughout Vancouver. Every time the city takes steps to minimize the event the following year the protesters take larger and more impactful steps that cause more issues.

Our Goal is to change this "issue" and problem and take the fact that 200,000 people come out to support it and give both the city and the protesters a better platform to connect. We are creating a 50+ venue event to be staged over 3 days of music celebration with interludes of speaking to increase awareness about the cannabis cause. The key is that 100% of our events will be properly permitted, patrolled, and organized so that all those involved are safe and follow the law, this way giving a great platform for both the city of Vancouver to be happy with as well as those that wish to make their voices heard on this particular topic.

We will work with students to design a weekend long event that raises awareness and encourages changes in attitudes / behaviours. While at the same time follows all the needs and requirements of the City of Vancouver and their constituents.

In collaboration with key contacts at our organization, students will design and carry out the event planning and advertising campaign strategy around MUSIC 420.

This will involve several different steps for the students, including:

• Familiarizing themselves with the social cause, our mission and goals.
• Familiarizing themselves with the both sides of the situation including all the needs and requirements of the City of Vancouver, the Parks board of Vancouver, and The Special Events board of Vancouver and all of their missions and goals.
• Identifying groups that the campaign will target.
• Identifying ideal outcomes and key performance indicators (KPIs).
• Identifying potential sponsors and partners who can support our campaign.
• Creating a promotion and marketing plan.

Bonus steps in the process would also include:

• Assisting in the development of leaflets, posters, videos, and / or brochures.
• Making direct connections with all levels of government and seeing what barriers community engagement projects like this run into every time

By the end of the project, students should demonstrate:

• Understanding of the social cause, our mission and goals
• Understanding the issues in working with government and several different avenues to create a single project
• Identification of target groups
• Identification of ideal outcomes and KPIs
• Identification of sponsors and partners
• Creation of a marketing plan

Bonus steps would include:

• Designing promotional materials for our campaign

Final deliverables should include

• A final report.
• A written project (event) proposal for one of the following (students may choose 1)
• The City of Vancouver
• One of the other involved Cities in the GVA
• One of 3 boards involved in the planning stage
• One of the possible sponsors of the event
• One of the many venue hosts of the event.

Students will connect directly with us for mentorship throughout the project. We will be able to provide answers to questions such as:

• Our organization’s mission and goals
• Our awareness campaigns
• Input on choices, problems or anything else the students might encounter.
• Write a reference letter for students
• Provide 24 hour mentorship and access to phone support
• Available for consult via zoom, email, and phone
• Educational connections
• Aid students in ways to get into graduate school
• Provide life experience through the school of "hard knocks"
• Provide military, government and life experience
• Actively promote their work and they will receive credit for any and all work performed
• Regularly our teams have 1-2 meetings a week which create an ability for us to transfer information between multiple groups and people all working on the same project so "teamwork" can occur!! and so all know the interconnection relationships within the project. The requirement of the Riipen program is to have a minimum of 5 hours of mentorship. The only way to mentor someone appropriately, is to meet with them to do so. Therefore it is a requirement of RIIPEN to have regular meetings. As well no business will ever change their processes or management arrangements for a new employee, let alone an intern. This is common knowledge in the business world, therefore new employees and students of course must attend the company meetings to become a part of the team rather than be an individual and not working as a teammate. Anyone not working as a teammate will be removed from the team.
• We are aware students have a mass of other responsibilities and we FULLY do our utmost to work around those needs to accommodate them as much as possible.