Summer is finally here and our office meme-sleuths are working to keep you abreast of the season’s top trends.  Fresh off the heels of the largest and loudest MMVAs ever, the annual NXNE music fest, and Toronto’s Luminato festival of arts + creativity, there has been no shortage of cool Canadian arts and cultural happenings to stimulate our senses!

So read on for a quick sip of interesting and inspirational content and follow us on Twitter all summer long to get your creative juices flowing.

- Denise Brunsdon, Director of Social Media, GCI Canada

1. Social Buying

Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto and Ottawa are cities in a group-buying bonanza with discounts made available through multi-person purchases via online communities like Groupon.com, Teambuy.ca and new daily offer websites like Fabfind.com and Groupclick.com. Everything from restaurant, spa, yoga, and car detailing certificates are up for grabs – get a certain number of committed buyers and the discount is “unlocked.”  Consumers get a bargain and retailers get online advertising, word-of-mouth attention and guaranteed customers.

2.  Clothing Swaps

Old is new again with the rise of popular clothing swap sites like ShopMyClothes.com and SwapStyle.com and with urban second-hand fashion events like Take Off Your Clothes. Fashionistas can make it through the economic tough times and now both shop and swap ‘til they drop.

3. Chicago Now

South of the border trend-watch: the Chicago Tribune is trading bona fide journalists for wannabe newsies with their new website ChicagoNow. A revolving roster of volunteer bloggers make up the editorial staff while trending posts keep readers up to date on what's happening in the city. Could this be a step toward harmony between local blogger-driven content and mainstream online news?

Projection Art Festival

Earlier this month, the white courtyard homes, rooftops and office buildings of Alys Beach, Florida lit up with the digital graffiti of three dozen artists from around the globe. The world’s first projection art festival drew hundreds of entries from 18 countries and included a fascinating selection of digital photos, videos, graphics and animation.

Paper + Craft

Paper crafting is a growing trend and hot new hobby. In this highly anticipated book, Minhee and Truman Cho—founders of popular stationery company PAPER + CUP—offer readers unique paper projects including vintage-inspired frames, hanging bird mobiles, and personalized place cards.

Whether it's pinging friends on Foursquare to share local whereabouts or using EveryBlock or TwitterLocal to track niche neighbourhood activity, the interest and ability to provide and consume hyper-local services is bigger and better than ever

People are flocking towards a growing number of mobile applications and websites that encourage users to explore and socialize on a local level. Foursquare users rack up points by digitally checking into their local coffee joints or bars while TwitterLocal users can engage in real-time conversations happening within a 16 kilometre radius.

How can you localize your communications materials or marketing message to target your audience?

Kickstarter is an innovative and inspirational website used by global artists, designers, filmmakers, musicians, journalists and inventors looking to fund unique projects. The platform offers a means to test-drive ideas and gauge the public’s interest in various ventures ranging from independent screenplays to instructional cooking tools.

Projects currently featured on the site include a touring Brooklyn-based comedy ensemble, a youth photography initiative, and an interactive eco-aluminum art installation. It’s easy and fun to browse through popular projects that have successfully reached or exceeded their funding targets.

Diaspora, a new social networking platform being developed by a group of NYU students in response to growing privacy concerns around Facebook, turned to Kickstarter for initial funding. Not only did they reach their fundraising goal of $10,000, they surpassed it 20 times over and gained the attention of international news outlets and tech blogs.

With a user-friendly platform to fund and follow some of the world’s most creative ideas, there's no better time to unleash your entrepreneurial spirit.