Fanshawe to hold "Fanshawe Live" street festival in anticipation of the Juno Awards

Header image for Interrobang article CREDIT: FANSHAWE REPUTATION AND BRAND MANAGEMENT
Fanshawe will hold a street festival to celebrate community and the new downtown campuses. The street festival will include live performances, food and prizes.

On March 15 from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m., Fanshawe College, in collaboration with Dundas Place, the Fanshawe Alumni Team, Fanshawe Student Union (FSU) and the Juno Awards, will host Fanshawe Live: Dundas Place on Dundas Street in downtown London.

The first ever event on the newly developed Dundas Place, Fanshawe Live is a street festival featuring live music by Music Industry Arts (MIA) students and alumni, an outdoor skating rink, buskers and performance artists, food trucks, a photobooth run by Fanshawe Photography students, games, prizes and more.

According to Dave Schwartz, Fanshawe’s executive director of reputation and brand management, the idea for Fanshawe Live came after brainstorming how Fanshawe could participate in the weekend of the Juno Awards.

“We thought, why not have a big festival on the street that celebrates the community, Fanshawe Pride and some of the great programs we have at Fanshawe?,” Schwartz said.

Savanah Sewell, Manager of Dundas Place, said that being approached by Fanshawe to hold this event was a “serendipitous moment”.

“I was getting ready to program Dundas Place for during the Junos and Fanshawe approached me about throwing this event,” Sewell said. “It was perfect timing.”

Schwartz said he hopes that Fanshawe students, staff and alumni bring friends and family, who aren’t necessarily connected to the Fanshawe community or the Juno Awards in anyway to the festival.

Being held on the Friday of March Break for elementary and high school students, both Schwartz and Sewell said they hope to see people of all ages at the event.

“It will be a great event for people are looking for things to do on that Friday with their families,” Sewell said.

Kicking off the event at noon will be six-time Juno-nominated children’s performers Splash ‘N Boots, performing a free concert sponsored by the FSU.

Fanshawe culinary students of The Chef’s Table, Fanshawe’s teaching restaurant, will be preparing appetizers which will be sold for $2 each, with proceeds going to MusiCounts, the official charity of the Juno Awards.

The festival marks the first large event being held by the new downtown campuses.

“We are really excited to be a part of the community downtown, especially since the opening of our new buildings downtown,” Schwartz said.

Only a short while ago, phase one of Dundas Place, between Ridout Street and Richmond Street, was completed. According to the Dundas Place website, the new flex street represents an opportunity to build community and make the core of London stronger.

“The fact that the street is finished between the two campuses, the fact that we have a new campus downtown in the heart of London, we think that [Fanshawe Live] is a great way to celebrate,” Schwartz said. “To be the first people to actually hold a celebration on Dundas Place is super exciting.”

Sewell said she is also very excited about Dundas Place’s first official event.

“It’s an incredible opportunity for us to not only work with our partners at Fanshawe, but also show the community what we can do with this new flexible space,” Sewell said.

For more information on Fanshawe Live, visit dundasplace.ca/events or fanshawec.ca/fanshawe-live.