Stories of Place is a free, five-gathering public series at UFV Abbotsford: true stories of belonging in the Fraser Valley, told by the people living them, followed by conversation with the room.

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Free admission is a decision, not a shortfall. The people this series most needs in the room are the people least likely to pay at a door. That's where sponsors come in.

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What the series offers partners

• A coherent framework. Five lenses, one conversation, grounded in local realities.

• Reach. A 150-seat amphitheatre, 75 to 100 people each night — four to five hundred attendances over fourteen months, promoted through Archway, UFV, School District 34, faith communities, the library system and the local press.

• Relationships. A series that connects institutions, neighbourhoods and cultural communities that seldom share a room.

• Something lasting. Responses gathered on the Community Wall and the Belonging Wall across all five gatherings could, with participants' consent, become a public resource: an exhibition, a digital gallery or a printed collection.

• A model designed to travel. Built to be repeated in other communities.

 

Gathering One: Belonging Begins with Welcome
Friday 23 October 2026 · Room B101, UFV Abbotsford
Free, registration required