Lipscombe talks up media at McLuhan House

The first Wednesday of every month means that First Wednesday comes around McLuhan House once more.

The Craftsman-style home is the former childhood residence of Dr. Marshall McLuhan, the famous philosopher behind the concept that ‘the medium is the message.’ Built in 1912, the property is a designated municipal historic resource and is now managed by Arts Habitat Edmonton. It includes a micromuseum celebrating McLuhan.

Started in November, First Wednesday is used to gather the cultural class and other interested members of the public into an intimate setting for presentations and open conversation on a variety of topics regarding the intersection of culture and technology. Past events have included presentations on new media, video screenings, music of resistance, and McLuhan himself.

“Its mission is to build vibrant and healthy creative spaces. One of the ways we’re doing that is through First Wednesdays,” said Chelsea Boos, the community programmer at Arts Habitat Edmonton, the organization that manages the facility and offers its activities.

The monthly program of cultural engagement features different presenters each time out.

Jesse Lipscombe is one of the names on the current slate and he’s set to talk about what it’s like to be a social media hot topic and how he has used a variety of media (including film, television, and social media) to make larger social changes.

“It’s an interesting day and age. Back in the day when I was growing up, you had your media following if you were a celebrity. Nowadays, you could have millions and millions of followers just because you’ve spent some time dedicated to growing your platform and having a real reach. With that, what responsibilities exist there? How should you use them?” he said. “I think it’ll be a good conversation just to talk about the emerging, evolving world of influence that we live in.”

Last summer, he famously found himself in the middle of a controversy that he worked to spin into something positive. While he was in downtown Edmonton filming a promotional commercial, a motorist and his passenger yelled racial slurs at him. The #MakeItAwkward social media campaign aimed at convincing more people to speak up when confronting the discriminatory statements and actions of others.

The campaign is still growing weekly, he said, adding that he has a busy speaking schedule across the country on the topic. Lipscombe sees the hashtag mentioned in news articles across the continent on an almost daily basis.

“It’s really neat to see that it has a life of its own with or without me, but we’re still driving that #MakeItAwkward train. It’s still effecting change all over the country.”

Other presenters will include McLuhan House artists-in-residence the Tennis Club Collective – comprised of the visual artist team of Alyson Davies, Megan Gnanasihamany, Morgan Melenka, Marie Winters, and RenĂ©e Perrott – with another video screening; as well as resident scholars, historian Stuart MacKay (and Marshall's cousin once removed); and Dr. Marco Adria, who will talk about how the telegraph changed how we see the world.