charity: water for Twestival from charity: water on Vimeo.

Ottawa Twestival kicks off tomorrow night at 7 PM at Suite 34, 34 Clarence St., Ottawa in the Byward Market.

Big shout out to our sponsor - Overlay.TV - for making sure we can donate 100% of the proceeds from the night by covering all the base costs for the event.  Rob Lane, CEO, will be helping us pry your wallets open for this great cause so be ready.

Some great prizes were donated - check out the post below for information on the silent auction.  More came in today and we will update the list shortly.  Thanks to Ryan Anderson’s hard work the local traditional press has agreed to grace us with some coverage - Ottawa Citizen, the CBC and the Ottawa Sun (24 Hrs) have been working on their unique angles to the story.  A few event attendees have also agreed to give their unique perspective on the situation - more on this coming soon.

For the night of the event we have now confirmed the logistics for a live video feed and our ability to pickup the feed from all the other participating cities.  Having done several internet broadcasts in the past, I will ask you to bear with us in the event of us having any issues getting this part to function perfectly

We are expecting a full house now, so please be sure to get your tickets online http://www.amiando.com/twestivalottawa.html if at all possible.  If you cannot, please @bitpakkit or @sassymonkey your details to make sure we have tickets held for you in the event you are arriving late.

DJs confirmed - Ottawa scene-rs GrahamJ and DJ Plush are on the bill - more information on that below as well.  Shaping up to be a great night - plan to hang out and have a few drinks, meet some people you may only know as avatars today, shake it up with the belly dancers, and help propel Ottawa into this unique global stage and ultimately make a difference in the life of someone who does not have access to the same clean water that we take for granted.

In addition to the proceeds at the door going 100% to charity:water, we are also adding a silent auction to  help us reach the goal of $4,000 to build a well.  Several members of the broader community have donated some interesting prizes.

• Two tickets to the Founders Box at a Senators Game plus parking pass from Bruce Firestone
• CS 4 Web Premium plus some more goodies from Adobe @mikepotter
• Video Studio and PaintShop Pro from Corel @corelsoftware
• Curt Smith, Tears for Fears co-founder, autographed CD from @curtsmith
• Personal Training Session with Shanti Consulting Services
• NAC Tickets donated by Jen Covert
• Show passes (x2) for GCTC
• Coworking space passes donated by CoworkInOttawa (Jamie Calder)
• Henry V Tickets from the Third Wall Theatre Co
• 12k Permission email self-service package from inmailbox.com @chris_neil
  

By promoting dance that is tasteful and fun, Halyma is always looking at expanding everyone’s awareness of belly dancing as an artful dance form that can be practiced by all ages, and appreciated by everyone for its beauty.

Halyma teaches and performs in the Ottawa area and beyond as a solo artist as well as with Halyma’s Belly Dancing For Fun Dancers!

Halyma’s Belly Dancing For Fun Dancers

Whether it is a workshop being taught by Halyma with a couple of assistants, or a larger event with many dancers entertaining the crowd, the Belly Dancing For Fun!!! Dancers can be counted on to bring great energy to any event. With varying levels of experience, an assortment of looks, sizes and styles, these dancers are all committed to the same thing - presenting a professional show while while sharing their joy of belly dance with their audience.

They each exemplify the essence of Canadian belly dance in their love of the fusion of moves from different cultures and their ability to perform with either middle eastern rhythms or western music, depending on the situation and audience. No mistaking that a group of belly dancers is a great way to help make your event one worth talking about!

For more details, please feel free to check her out online at: http://www.bellydancingforfun.com

Graham J

Having DJed for over 15 years and run Ottawa’s premier alternative dance music community, xvi.com, for 10, Graham is excited to bring you an eclectic mix of laid back, socially conscious music for this important event. From inspiring auditory soundscapes to uplifting danceable beats, Graham’s innate ability to match music to environment is sure to open your mind and please your ears.

DJ Plush

Formerly of Chick With Decks fame, Sarah’s 10 years of DJing and unique mixing style lay testament to her unrelenting dedication to spinning as an art form. Her distinctive blend of funky, danceable breaks and house will impeccably complement the positivity and social nature of this event and will be an experience not to be missed.

Webcam - @bitpakkit talking Twestival

TWITTER USERS CREATE GLOBAL GRASSROOTS EFFORT THROUGH SOCIAL NETWORKING

Twestival, a Worldwide Fundraiser, comes to Ottawa February 12, 2009

OTTAWA, February 4, 2009 — On February 12, 2009 Ottawa will join over 184 cities across the globe bringing people together through the social networking service, Twitter, to raise money and awareness for charity: water – a non-profit organization bringing clean, safe drinking water to people in developing nations by funding sustainable clean water solutions in areas of greatest need.
Twestival is just one of many fundraisers that come to life each year through Twitter and the power of social networking. By globally taking a stand and joining together to raise money and awareness, Twitter fans volunteer their time and 100% of all donations will reach charity: water. Twestival expects to raise $500,000 worldwide.
The Ottawa event, which will coincide with events the world over will feature local musicians, comedians and lots of goodies for grabs through a silent auction. The night will kick-off at 7 p.m. at Suite 34, 34 Clarence Street in the Byward Market area. This event is supported and brought together by local businesses and social networkers, including Ben Watson of Overlay.TV, Ryan Anderson of Fat Canary Communications, and Kevin Waghorn, an Ottawa-based event organizer.
In true Twitter fashion, the event will be broadcast through the Twitter wall app that projects tweets on the big screen, keeping the community connected and up to date on the latest and greatest in 140 characters or less. The live event will also connect with other Twestival participants around the world through live video and audio.
“We’re starting to see the true power of social networking,” says Ben Watson, known on Twitter as @bitpakkit, the Ottawa Twestival Producer. “It’s not about chatting with people you haven’t seen since high school or seeing how many friends you can get online. This is the power of global connection to self-organize and do good for the world without any overhead – 100% of the funds raised from these events are going directly to help people – no administrative costs, no ads to pay for.”
Many companies active in social media both locally and internationally are helping to make the event a reality. Twestival.fm expects to raise an additional $20,000 in just two Twitter weeks by requesting musicians who use Twitter to donate tracks. Further donations will come from the Twestival T-shirt design competition, hosted by Desired Hearts. T-shirts will be sold at the event.  The main sponsor for the night is Overlay.TV who has paid for the venue, staff is covering most of the technology needs, making the event possible.
“Social media and tools like Twitter are a big part of Overlay.TV’s DNA,” Rob Lane, CEO of Overlay.TV says. “Our company is very active in social media as a way of engaging with our community and we were very proud and excited about the opportunity to link our hometown up with 184 other cities around the world to help out with one of the major problems – the supply of clean, drinkable water.”
A new well costs $4,000 and offers hope and life to an entire village of people. With over 175 Twitter cities involved, Twestival expects to change the lives of thousands and thousands of people in need.

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Contact: Ryan Anderson For Immediate Release

Tel: (613) 266-9041

Email: ryan@fatcanary.ca

We have limited DWYC tickets for students or people who can’t swing a donation.  If we run out, let me know.

This is all about helping out charity:water and the ticket money goes straight to the charity.  All event costs are covered by our local sponsors - Overlay.TV - and the event organizers.

http://www.amiando.com/twestivalottawa.html

1. Venue. Locked on Suite 34 in the Byward Market area - sweet venue with great angles for projection and a nice bar and lounge areas.

2. Kevin Waghorn, executive producer of the Ottawa Fringe Festival, has joined the Ottawa Twestival team.  He’s a pro. This is good.

3. Added a silent auction, and some good prizes coming including a Sens box, Adobe software and more.

4. Musicians are sending in their willingness to play at the event which is great - we will announce this next week.

5. We would love to add a comedian!

6. We are looking for a couple local vids or short movies produced locally to show.

7. We plan on using the Twitter wall app to show tweets from around the world and the local event as well.

8. Looks like the transit strike will be well over, so we are picking a venue that is transit-able.  This is good news on several fronts.

More on Monday!

Welcome to Twestival. Here in Ottawa the team at Overlay.TV, including bitpakkit, roblane, sassymonkey as well as local Ottawa PR dude, Ryan Anderson, from Fat Canary are working hard to pull the event together.

If you have an idea for the event, or have something to add, please DM or @ one of us on Twitter.  We are already working on getting Stephen Harper to DJ or go-go dance, so that’s covered.

We will post more details over the weekend.  It’s sure to be a capital affair.