Winnipegger’s artwork chosen for Walmart’s national Orange Shirt offering

As she walked into the Unicity Walmart department store, Indigenous artist Brooklyn Rudolph-Nicholas felt her excitement levels rising.

She headed towards the racks of instantly recognizable orange T-shirts, smiling as she glimpsed the familiar image on the front.

It was a pinch-me moment: her work was emblazoned on Walmart Canada’s National Day for Truth & Reconciliation orange shirts stocked in stores across the country.

The granddaughter of two residential school survivors, Rudolph-Nicholas made her T-shirt art in honour of her late grandparents.

Introduction to Michif — one word at a time

Before the wolf can howl, Norman Fleury says a Michif word: Ooyoowuk.

“Ooyoowuk,” Fleury repeats. Or, in English, “howl.”

Ooyoowuk is one of 70 words articulated by Fleury with an animation and English translation to match — all bundled into digital flashcards.

A group of Métis entrepreneurs unveiled their Michif flashcards this week. They join a swelling movement to revitalize the Métis language, which combines languages such as Cree and French.

Getting word out in face of AI-made messaging

Manitoba marketing aficionados have named their new agency Plain Language — a nod to what they say they’ll speak.

There’s a lack of plain language around algorithms and outcomes found in online advertising, agency co-founders said. They’ve spent decades working in digital media, placing ads in an ever-changing online landscape.

“There’s a lot of different platforms, and the way that people talk about it can be quite obtuse,” said Anthony Kowalczyk, Plain Language’s chief executive. “I think that’s what we’re trying to move away from.”

He and Jason Hachkowski, Plain Language’s vice-president of digital ad operations and strategy, have worked together for more than a decade. A mutual colleague suggested the pair meet — both men were experts in digital marketing and advertising.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution to stop printing as it transitions to all-digital news

ATLANTA (AP) — The Atlanta Journal-Constitution will stop providing a print edition at year's end and go completely digital, a dramatic change for a storied newspaper founded shortly after the Civil War.

The decision will make Atlanta the largest U.S. metro area without a printed daily newspaper, although some smaller metro Atlanta newspapers continue printing.

Publisher Andrew Morse said in his Thursday announcement that the news organization will aim to expand its audience as it continues to report the news using online, audio and video products.

“The fact is, many more people engage with our digital platforms and products today than with our print edition, and that shift is only accelerating," Morse wrote in a letter to subscribers posted on the Journal-Constitution's website. The AJC has about 115,000 total subscribers, of whom 75,000 are online only; Morse has set a goal of gaining 500,000 online subscribers.

‘You’re planting your brand flag’: The power of brand building in the women’s sports boom

On a cold day in the beginning of 2024, Alastair Merry and Mary Lou Bunn had a few questions for a public librarian in Ottawa, Ontario.

“If you could describe Ottawa and what it means to you in a couple words, how would you do it?” they asked. “What do you think of the spirit of the city?”

Merry and Bunn, along with the design firm Flower Shop that they co-founded, were hired by the then newly minted Professional Women’s Hockey League to create the nicknames and logos for the league’s inaugural six teams. They were traveling around North America to figure out what made those six cities tick.

As the ever-growing crop of new women’s leagues — at least eight have launched in the past three years — all aim for longevity, one of the cornerstones of any sustainable foundation is team branding. It encompasses everything from the nicknames to the color schemes and logos, and the PWHL has set a high bar there that other up-and-comers would love to emulate.

Mise à l’épreuve pour le grand écran

Le 48-Hour Film Festival retourne au Centre culturel franco-manitobain (CCFM) pour célébrer sa 10e édition. Un événement unique en son genre.

Le 26 août, le CCFM accueillera une projection spéciale et la remise des prix du 48-Hour Film Festival, un événement qui célèbre la créativité cinématographique en un temps record. Ce festival fait suite à une première présentation au Festival International de Film de Gimli (FIFG) en juillet. Tout a commencé le vendredi 27 juin, lorsque des cinéastes et passionnés de cinéma ont relevé le défi de créer un court métrage en seulement 48 heures. James McLellan, président du conseil d’administration du 48-Hour Film Festival, nous en dit plus sur cette initiative estivale qui unit la communauté autour de l’amour du cinéma.

Cinéaste et professeur de cinéma à l’école secondaire immersion Oak Park, James McLellan, explique que son implication dans le festival — qui faisait alors partie du Winnipeg Film Group — a commencé grâce à ses élèves. “J’avais des étudiants qui participaient à l’événement et connaissaient Ben Williams, fondateur du 48-Hour Film Festival. Ben m’a contacté et m’a fait part de son idée de créer un festival distinct du groupe cinématographique Winnipeg Film group et j’ai immédiatement accepté. J’ai trouvé que ce défi de 48 heures était tellement bien pour le développement des étudiants en tant que jeunes créateurs de films.”

C’était lors de son parcours au secondaire que Adam Yarish, l’ancien étudiant de James McLellan dans le programme immersion à Oak Park, a aussi découvert le 48.

Canadian researchers create tool to remove anti-deepfake watermarks from AI content

OTTAWA - University of Waterloo researchers have built a tool that can quickly remove watermarks identifying content as artificially generated — and they say it proves that global efforts to combat deepfakes are most likely on the wrong track.

Academia and industry have focused on watermarking as the best way to fight deepfakes and "basically abandoned all other approaches," said Andre Kassis, a PhD candidate in computer science who led the research.

At a White House event in 2023, the leading AI companies — including OpenAI, Meta, Google and Amazon — pledged to implement mechanisms such as watermarking to clearly identify AI-generated content.

AI companies’ systems embed a watermark, which is a hidden signature or pattern that isn’t visible to a person but can be identified by another system, Kassis explained.

Graphic novelist to lead free workshop for aspiring artists

Jonathan Dyck’s most monumental piece of advice? Start small.

Trump’s education secretary threatens to pull funding from NY over its Native American mascot ban

MASSAPEQUA, N.Y. (AP) — New York is discriminating against a school district that refuses to get rid of its Native American chief mascot and could face a Justice Department investigation or risk losing federal funding, President Donald Trump’s top education official said Friday.

U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, on a visit to Massapequa High School on Long Island, said an investigation by her agency has determined that state education officials violated Title VI of the federal civil rights law by banning the use of Native American mascots and logos statewide.

The department's civil rights office found the state ban is discriminatory because names and mascots derived from other racial or ethnic groups, such as the “Dutchmen” and the “Huguenots,” are still permitted.

McMahon described Massapequa's chiefs mascot as an “incredible” representation of Native American leadership as she made the announcement backed by dozens of students and local officials in the high school gymnasium.

Cohere asks U.S. court to toss complaint from media alleging copyright infringement

TORONTO - Cohere is asking a U.S. court to throw out complaints from media outlets that have accused the artificial intelligence company of infringing on their copyright.

In a dismissal motion filed in a New York court on Thursday, Cohere accused publishers including the Toronto Star, Condé Nast, McClatchy, Forbes Media and Guardian News of deliberately using its software to "manufacture a case."

The Toronto-based company said the outlets must have "stylized" prompts they entered into Cohere's software to elicit portions of their own work, which sometimes included inaccuracies.

It argued nothing in the complaint filed by the outlets suggests that any real customer has ever used the company's software to infringe on the publisher's copyright.

Le logo d’un francophile de cœur

Originaire du quartier Tyndall Park à Winnipeg, c’est pourtant à Saint-Boniface que l’anglophone Jonato Dalayoan a choisi de s’installer il y a 22 ans. “C’était mon premier domicile, et depuis je suis toujours resté ici avec ma femme et mes enfants.”

Lui-même d’origine philippine, et sa femme germano-philippine, ils ont pleinement embrassé Saint-Boniface, sa culture francophone, et bien sûr son Festival du Voyageur. “Mes enfants vont à l’école d’immersion française et parlent couramment le français, affirme-t-il avec fierté. Je les appelle mes francopinos! En fait, ils parlent très bien le français mais pas du tout le filipino.”

Le Festival du Voyageur, la famille Dalayoan y a donc passé de nombreuses journées à travers les années. Jonato Dalayoan raconte: “Je vis proche du parc Provencher et je me souviens que dans mes premières années à Saint-Boniface, il y avait des sculptures de neige du Festival dans le parc Provencher. C’était toujours quelque chose que j’avais très hâte d’aller voir.

“Aujourd’hui, on va souvent au parc du Voyageur avec les enfants. Le Festival a beaucoup changé dans les cinq à dix dernières années, il y a beaucoup de nouvelles activités, de nouveaux spectacles, de nouvelles musiques, c’était vraiment cool pour toute la famille!”

Gabrielle Roy, une saison 3 pour aller encore plus loin

C’est à partir du 5 décembre que la saison 3 de la série Le monde de Gabrielle Roy sera diffusée sur ICI TOU.TV. Cette saison raconte le départ de l’écrivaine du Manitoba pour l’Europe, notamment Paris et Londres. Une période essentielle pour sa construction professionnelle et personnelle.

Alors que le public s’apprête à découvrir déjà cette troisième saison, pour Renée Blanchar, réalisatrice et scénariste, c’est toujours la même excitation avant un lancement. “La durée de cette série apporte une réelle profondeur que ce soit devant et derrière la caméra. Ça fait donc trois rendez-vous qu’on se donne avec le Manitoba pour raconter cette histoire-là, et au lieu de s’essouffler, elle se bonifie.”

Renée Blanchar définit cette troisième saison, toujours co-produite par Les Productions Rivard et Zone 3, comme un vrai “tour de force.” Pourquoi? Car les équipes de production ont réussi à tourner toutes les scènes de cette série qui a lieu à Paris et à Londres… au Manitoba. “Cette saison raconte donc le voyage en Europe de Gabrielle Roy entre 1937 et 1939, à l’aube de la Seconde Guerre mondiale. Et tout a été tourné ici, au Manitoba. C’était un beau casse-tête. Sur ça, je tiens à féliciter l’équipe de Réjean Labrie, concepteur artistique, pour son travail. Donc l’architecture ici nous a permis de recréer un théâtre, un appartement parisien, on a pu aussi donner l’illusion d’être à Londres. Et tout ça a été complété avec des archives de l’époque.”

Un vrai défi de production

New Jenna Rae cookbook focuses on bakers’ favourite home recipes

There’s a sweet new edition on the way.

Sisters Jenna Hutchinson and Ashley Kosowan are expanding their successful local bakery business with a new cookbook venture. Jenna Rae Cakes at Home: Our Favourite Recipes to Enjoy with Family and Friends hits bookstores Oct. 8 and features more than 100 colourful, family-friendly recipes.

The cookbook is a followup to their first release, Jenna Rae Cakes and Sweet Treats, and is a labour of love that brings together the twins’ individual interests.

“Ash was meant to make cookbooks,” says Hutchinson, whose passion for cake design prompted the entrepreneurial siblings to open their first Jenna Rae Cakes shop in 2014.

City company set to expand online tutoring presence after raising large equity stake

Winnipeg education technology company Hoot Reading has landed one of the first investments in a new venture capital fund from toy maker Spin Master.

Interest in Hoot Reading, which has developed an online tutoring platform whose mission is closing the gap in what’s been identified as a reading slump in the fourth grade, has grown significantly through the pandemic.

With school-age children home in various parts of North America at various times during the pandemic, parents have been forced to look for more tools to help with early childhood educational habits and Hoot Reading has caught on.

“We have had incredible traction during the pandemic,” said Maya Kotecha, co-founder and co-CEO of Hoot Reading. “It has been a tailwind for us.”

Falling for a splash of colour

How silently they tumble downAnd come to rest upon the groundTo lay a carpet, rich and rare,Beneath the trees without a care,Content to sleep, their work well done,Colors gleaming in the sun.

Leaves, by Elsie N. Brady

The autumn equinox has come and gone, leaving a fully-fledged landscape to show off its finery every day. The luminescent yellow aspen leaves tip back and forth, back and forth. Maples slip into deep burgundy coats. And in the north, the delicate tamaracks blaze with gold. Fall foliage is in full swing. Time to grab a camera and hit the road.

Hecla Island Provincial Park promises a variety of landscape, offering plenty of diversity in not only its resident trees — including tamarack and birch — but also its stands of phragmites (common reeds) and cattails. You also have a great chance of spotting migrating bald eagles and plenty of waterfowl too.

For a quarter-century, McNally Robinson's Grant Park location has tapped into local book lover's desires

Twenty-five years ago this week, the staff of McNally Robinson were frantically preparing, bounding about their Grant Park store, a 20,000-square-foot behemoth that had yet to welcome its first customer.

The grand opening was near, and so was Margaret Atwood.

Atwood, if not the country’s most famous author then at least its second or third, was in Winnipeg to promote her latest book, Alias Grace, and to lend her authoritative support to what was to become the country’s largest independent bookstore, with a reading and book signing. A large crowd was anticipated.

There was a wild push to get ready for Oct. 15: staff were shifted from the company’s smaller locations, shipments were arriving in rapid succession. Shelves still had to be set up when Atwood arrived a few hours early to discuss the details of her reading, where she would be joined by a local literary icon, Carol Shields.

Bright orange safety shirts now beacon of hope, thanks to young designer

Isaiah Binns, who graduated last spring from Elmwood High School, arrives at the downtown headquarters of Richlu Industries, the manufacturer of Tough Duck workwear, to see the logo he helped create for a line of the company’s reflective safety clothing ahead of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

Set of The Porter a testament to the special connection production has with Winnipeg's Black history

On a rainy Friday evening in Winnipeg’s landmark Nutty Club building, camera crews, grips, food services, hair and makeup teams, stand-ins and actors are spinning about in dance-like organized chaos.

The five-storey candy warehouse — first erected in 1905 and still standing in the shadow of active CP and CN rail lines — has been transformed, pulled back to its turn-of-the-20th-century roots as a set for CBC’s upcoming TV drama The Porter. At each stop along the building’s steep wooden staircase, the team behind Canada’s largest Black-led production is hard at work bringing the roaring ‘20s — and an oft-forgotten story of Black liberation and empowerment — to life.

On one floor, cast and crew block their scene movements, listening raptly to directors, speaking in huddles, donning crisp white shirts and suspenders or gowns, preparing for the crack of the clapperboard.

A floor above, the members of the “video village” tuck on their headphones, lean over screens and warn each other not to move, lest the ceilings shake below.

The show must go on as Selkirk buys theatre

Many in Selkirk thought the credits had rolled for the Garry Theatre, but it appears there’s a sequel.

Landmark Cinemas decided to close it in May and on Wednesday, the City of Selkirk announced it had purchased the theatre for $350,000, plus closing costs.

“What we’ve heard so far is people are very excited and very happy that the city has been able to secure the property,” said Selkirk CAO Duane Nicol.

Nicol said the city will reach out to the community to determine how best to use the building. The city hopes it will become a centre for arts and culture, he said.

I meme, you meme: internet language brings us together

Sometimes, a public health campaign gets it right.

The Baltimore City Health Department has been earning praise for a new initiative that spreads accurate information about COVID-19 and vaccines online by using an internet-native language: memes.

“Ginger ale can’t cure COVID, Derrick!” reads one. “Mimosas with the girls? You’re still not vaxxed, Debra!” reads another. “What the FAQ is Delta? It’s new. It’s scary. But we’re here to break it down.”

Done wrong, a public health department using the language of the internet can smack a bit of, to evoke a popular meme, actor Steve Buscemi dressed up unconvincingly as a teenager and asking, “How do you do, fellow kids?” (To be fair, so does describing memes in print.)

Prominent fact-checker Snopes apologizes for plagiarism

A collection of breaking news briefs filed on August 19, 2021

• Trudeau, O’Toole to make campaign stops here Friday

• Twelve arrested, two at large after Norway House woman held against her will and sexually assaulted

• River East Transcona school board mandates masks for K-12 students, staff

• Missing teenage girl found in Portage la Prairie

• LRSD, teachers' association one step closer to implementing staff vaccine mandate

• Winnipeg police investigate 28th homicide of the year

• Twenty-seven new COVID infections, one death reported Thursday

• U of M, U of W, Red River announce vaccine mandates

• Two arrests made following June homicide

Tree-felling display home transport generates online buzz

A Winnipeg display home that recently smashed into trees and street signs as it was transported via truck has now been to British Columbia, the Panama Canal and Oz — via the internet.

An online Manitoba starlet, Photoshopped images of the house in the city and beyond have gone viral.

The home’s transport Saturday led to the destruction of nearly two dozen trees in the Charleswood neighbourhood along Roblin Boulevard, between Scotswood Drive and the Perimeter Highway. The house was too wide to fit on the road. It also hit several street signs.

The Winnipeg Police Service said officers arrested the driver, who’s facing a charge of mischief over $5,000. The incident is now subject to a provincial investigation.

Former mechanic gives a face to Rainbow Stage's Beast

It’s not exactly a tale as old as time.

About 20 years ago, Christian Hadley was an auto mechanic dissatisfied with the grind of machining auto parts and deflated at the prospect of repairing another tire.

He needed a change, and not the kind involving 5W30 motor oil.

His career pivot was, quite literally, dramatic. At the age of 25, he went to the University of Winnipeg to study theatre arts. He emerged with skills in both set-building and makeup design. And he brings those skills to fruition in the Rainbow Stage production of Beauty and the Beast.