Living walls, fix-it workshops, and a piano: Charlottetown micro-grant recipients

The City of Charlottetown has announced its community sustainability micro-grants for 2017.

The program selects 10 recipients for grants of up to $2,500.

The recipients are

• P.E.I. Food Exchange for a community garden mentor program.
• Island Food Skills Initiative for a food literacy program aimed at eight- to 17-year-olds.
• Charlottetown Farmers Market for a bike shelter with a living roof.
• MacphailWoods/ECOPEI for phase 2 of Confederation Forest project at Upton Farm.
• Arduino for Autism for a public access piano.
• Charlottetown Tool Library for a series of six workshops.
• First Baptist Church to support a new community garden.
• Charlottetown Rural High School for a living wall in its greenhouse.
• Waterlution to develop a walking tour of the city's water supply.
• Desbrisay Community Garden for a solar-powered rain collection system.

David Sheppard of Arduinofor Autism said the Charlottetown piano will be modelled after a similar program in Halifax.

The Arduino for Autism group teaches youth to work with mico-controllers and code, and they will be involved in the piano project.

"We'll also be installing some micro-controllers inside of it that will track the people's use as well as the use of the piano and possibly pedestrian traffic around the area," said Sheppard.

Sheppard hopes to locate the piano somewhere near Confederation Centre.

The community sustainability micro-grants have been awarded annually since 2011.

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