Ask a millennial to define herself and you’ll likely hear words like “eco-conscious,” “tech-savvy” and “go-getter.” Ask anyone else and you’ll probably hear just one: lazy. That stereotype—of the spoiled, entitled, live-at-home millennial—is what Apathy is Boring hopes to shatter with its 2017 campaign, 150 Years Young. Forget lazy: Apathy is Boring is out to prove that young Canadians can be motivated to become active agents of change.
To make that happen, the 150 Years Young campaign will champion civically engaged youth in five cities across Canada in hopes of inspiring other young Canadians to feel that they too have the capacity to become more empowered and socially aware.
Taking inspiration from Humans of New York—a hugely successful photography project chronicling the everyday lives of New Yorkers— ambassadors in Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Edmonton and Vancouver will seek out and share inspiring stories about civically engaged Canadians aged 18 to 30.
Using captioned photos posted on social media, Apathy is Boring ambassadors will go beyond the moment-in-time HONY concept and chronicle the myriad ways that their millennial subjects contribute to and care about their communities. They’ll also go past the parameters of social media, staging “creative interventions” in the five participating cities from May to July 1.
At each intervention, the curated posts will be projected, billboard-sized, on the side of city buildings in high-traffic downtown spaces such as Montreal’s Mile End or Ottawa’s ByWard Market. Here, city ambassadors and volunteers will host Street Talks to generate conversations about millennial engagement and the significance Canada’s 150th should have for young Canadians.
In addition to the ambassador-chosen millennial subjects, 150 Years Young will also open up the conversation to anyone who uploads their own #150YY story to Instagram, Twitter or Facebook in an online campaign that runs until this September. There’s a lot more than selfies going on in the millennial mind—get involved and prove it in 2017.
This story was originally posted on Passport 2017.