In an effort to raise its profile and communicate its array of functions, Vancouver Airport Authority (VAA) has launched a contest to locate a video storyteller to live at Vancouver International Airport (YVR) for 80 days and nights and chronicle the airport’s stories.
“We want to get that message out to people that this is not just a place where you get on an airport and leave and come home and be happy to be back at YVR because it’s a great airport – it’s also an economic driver,” said VAA director of communications Rebecca Catley, noting that the airport contributes $1.9 billion annually to B.C.’s GDP.
“There are 400 businesses on Sea Island, and there are 23,600 people who work at the airport so we’re an integral part of the community and we’re there and we ensure that businesses can do business overseas because they can get their people and their products there in a timely fashion.”
The Live@YVR project will select a “special correspondent” to tell its stories; the correspondent won’t be able to leave YVR for the entirety of the 80-day stay, which begins just after the airport’s 80-year anniversary July 22.
According to the authority, the project will highlight the airport’s people places and stories, “from the midnight cargo full of blueberries to the mid-afternoon cleaning of an aquarium that’s home to a pair of breeding wolf eels.”
The correspondent will be equipped with a camera and editing equipment and will act as an all-in-one producer, director, reporter, editor and post-production supervisor and will post stories on liveatYVR.ca, and through the airport’s social-media channels.
The correspondent will live at the Fairmont Vancouver Airport Hotel and receive a living allowance during the stay and an honorarium upon completion.
Currently, the airport is hosting a video contest to choose the correspondent. The selection process will involve judges identifying a shortlist of candidates and culminate in a public vote in early July.
Jenny Wagler
Twitter: JennyWagler_BIV