The NOW! Organization
The NOW! Organization (The NOW! Org. or just NOW!) is a Canadian non-profit, youth-run, sustainability organization based in Vancouver, British Columbia.
History
NOW! was founded in 2006 by Janny Ke, a TD Canada Trust Scholarship for Community Leadership Scholarship winner, in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Mission statement
NOW! inspires and empowers synergistic solutions toward social, economic, and environmental sustainability.
Programs
Act NOW! National Playwriting Competition
NOW!’s flagship program is the Act NOW! National Playwriting Competition, Canada's only national playwriting competition on sustainability run by youth for youth that engages young people across the nation to learn, evaluate, innovate and act with a splash of creativity. The competition is open to youth ages of 13 to 26, divided into 2 categories, Junior (13 to 18) and Senior (19 to 26). The winner of each category receives $500. Their plays will be performed to an estimated 10,000 in Canada and will be aired on Sustainability Television. The 2008-2009 winners are Olivia Rempel with her play, "The Essay" and Michael Agostinho with his play "The High School Environmental".
Other programs
NOW! also runs the NOW What? Conference for grade 5 to 7 students. The day-long conference challenges students to learn about sustainability, take action, and devise solutions through hands-on activities, dialogues, and explorations. Approximately 200 students participate in the conference every year since its inception in 2006.
The "SuP 1+1" (Sustainability Playwriting 1+1) Program was launched in November 2009. This programs pairs up students or industry worker in sustainability with another theatre student or playwright to encourage new ways of thinking and spark dialogue.