Awesome Foundation - Projects

Awesome Without Borders (Non-active) – EARTHCARE Eco Kids

2018-02-05T00:00:00Z

EARTHCARE Eco Kids meet on weekends, learn about issues then go on a FUN field trip to reinforce the issue of the day. We are proud to boast that 85% of our students and volunteers are female.We really want to continue this exciting program. Many of our female students have gone on to become environmental professionals coming home after college to assist with conservation efforts in the Bahamas. EARTHCARE is an environmental education NGO (non-governmental organization) that works on current environmental issues facing the nation of the Bahamas and the World. Members visit schools to inform students and teachers about issues affecting the environment. Our mission is to empower students and teachers to get involved and be proactive with their voice. We encourage them to write to the Government of The Bahamas and express their views on current environmental issues. Specific topics that we constantly cover include Pollution, Climate Change, Habitat Destruction, Sustainable Fisheries, Humane Treatment of Animals, Invasive Species among others. Our goal is to continue our environmental education efforts teaching about issues such as habitat loss, invasive species, coastal management, pollution, unsustainable fishing methods and various aspects of biology, physics and chemistry that are seen in the Bahamian natural environment. The EARTHCARE Environmental Education program teaches students about the value of mangroves as well as, ground, air and water pollution, about Habitat Destruction, about Sustainable Fisheries, and Humane Treatment of Animals among others with field trips on the Glassbottom Boat, to the Lucayan National Park, the Pine Ridge Landfill, the Industrial Area of Grand Bahama, Paradise Cove where they are able to snorkel on the largest Reef Ball installation in the country, to name a few. EARTHCARE Eco Kids had funding for the past 3 years but not for 2017/2018 so we are hoping that Awesome Without Borders can help us.

Newcastle – Hunter Institute of Fashion - Help us help them

2018-02-04T00:00:00Z

Hi! My name is Gabe Robinson, I am the owner and director of Hunter Institute of Fashion, Newcastle's newest and only bespoke fashion business college offering nationally accredited training whilst mentoring the next generation of fashion lovers enter such a competitive industry. THE PROBLEM The fashion industry has changed dramatically over the past 15 years, with the influx of fast fashion retailers like Zara & H&M etc, the expansion of the internet/online buying space and the manufacturing boom of china/India/Bali has all lead to a very different fashion industry than the one that existed previously. The one thing that has not changed is how the next generation of workers for this industry are trained. To date, the avenue into fashion is through a qualification in fashion design, a very trade based training system of sewing and pattern making. But these trades have now moved off shore to other countries. meaning the requirement for these skills has also gone off shore. Now what we have is an industry requiring more business savvy minded multi skilled industry professionals to run the bigger picture business elements of the fashion industry, yet we keep training seamstresses and pattern makers... THE SOLUTION My college! which i have been working solely on funding, setting up and establishing over the past year. im are about to kick off my second intake of students, with our current students half way through their one year Diploma of business course. The entire reason i took on this project was basically to provide the institution and mentoring service I wished existed here when i was trying to establish my fashion career in Newcastle over 14 years ago. The premise of the college was to create an institution for the 18yo me, and the me with an 18yo- modern relevant training, diversified use of a qualification, mentoring, and connections to help young professionals make their way!

Twin Cities, MN (Non-active) – Blankets for REACH students that are homeless

2018-02-03T00:00:00Z

Every year, St. Paul Public School students that are experiencing homelessness do not have warm coats and blankets. Many of those students are sleeping overnight on the train or in cars. Project REACH seeks donations of new blankets and coats for students in need.

Singapore – Human Library Singapore

2018-02-03T00:00:00Z

In our busy society we often lack the opportunity and realisation of other communities around us, instead being trapped in our own social circles. Due to this lack of communication, we often form stereotypes about other communities and a general lack of understanding among Singaporeans and foreigners alike in Singapore. Through Human Library, we hope to bring about opportunities for open and honest conversations between the public and individuals whom they may not have the chance to talk to, ultimately cultivating a society respectful of one another. Since we started Human Library Singapore, we have observed that many different individuals and groups in our community share the same purpose. Over the past 1.5 years, we have received numerous requests to organise Human Library events in schools, non-profit organisations, as well as international organisations. Evidently, Human Library is part of the solution to the collective needs of different groups in Singapore. Because we are a 100% volunteer-run project, we lack the bandwidth to meet all these demands. Our goal for Human Library Singapore #4 is to provide the opportunity to train and empower leaders in the community to organise Human Library events in their respective communities. This March 2018, we hope to bring together yet again passionate leaders in the community, Human Books open and vulnerable to share their stories, and keen-eared and curious Readers who want to genuinely get to know others beyond their labels.

Washington, DC – Plants and Blooms ReImagined

2018-02-03T00:00:00Z

Plants and Blooms ReImagined (PBR) is based on two core premises – 1) that the beauty, joy, inspiration and healing power of nature’s connection, gifted by indoor plants and cut-flowers, should be accessible to all and 2) if we look with “new” eyes, there’s always something more to be expressed, to give or new expressions, new gifts to be realized -- applicable to plants and most importantly to people. Thus, PBR's mission is to increase access to and engagement with indoor plants and cut-flowers as accessible connections to nature and key contributors to enhanced quality of life, particularly for marginalized and under resourced groups who more often are disconnected from life enhancing nature based living. PBR’s second core principle underlies the means by which plants are sourced. It rescues and repurposes what would be prematurely discarded post-event arrangements, non-market sells and florist and growers’ surplus from florists, floral designers, event planners, market vendors, venue and hotel managers, bridal couples and more throughout the DC metro area. In collaboration, PBR raises awareness and provides a vehicle for facilitating a sustained commitment to socially impactful and environmentally responsible end-of-use practices. From many of these same sources, indoor plant donations are secured as well. Immediately post recovery, the critical preservation process ensues. The life affirming reimagining process follows, resulting in either the maximum number possible of small arrangements for direct delivery, or multiple larger scale arrangements for lobbies of service organizations or for facility unit floors, or various grouped florals for guided therapeutic flower arranging, or many potted up cuttings from indoor plant donations. PBR’s first year brought flowers and indoor plants into the lives and experience specifically of seniors in day programs, assisted living, nursing and rehabilitation communities, public housing and even health fairs.

Madison, WI (Non-active) – Kids Helping Kids

2018-02-02T00:00:00Z

The Kids Helping Kids program within Box of Balloons is a program that helps promote volunteerism for children at any age on a level they can understand. It's hard for a child to comprehend how another child can't have enough to eat or other basic needs, but when you tell them about a child just like them not having a birthday party or getting to eat cake and open presents on their birthday, something resonates with them. The Kids Helping Kids program promotes children's involvement in giving back to their communities and kids their age by working with a local chapter of Box of Balloons to help spread awareness of the organization and help ensure children are celebrated on their special day. Children can earn the title Kid Ambassador by completing at least three of the projects listed on our website. When the projects are completed they have become an example of kindness and volunteerism for all of the people in their life! By being a Kid Ambassador for Box of Balloons, the child can help spread the word about Box of Balloons, volunteering, show what it means to be kind and they can be an amazing mentor to other kids who are interested in doing the same!

Raleigh, NC (Non-active) – After School Circus

2018-02-01T00:00:00Z

Circus is not a well known or accessible creative outlet for Durham youth. I want to offer non exclusive, after school programs in circus arts to Title 1 schools and non profit organizations. There are many ways to express yourself, and circus could be one of them if only you knew it existed and were able to give it a try. (Did you know that circus is a thing?! It’s a thing! Try it!) By providing instruction and equipment in a variety of circus ground skills (Could include but not limited to: juggling, hooping, flower sticks, poi, diabolo, unicycle, spinning plates, stilt walking, partner acrobatics, tumbling, innovative manipulation), it opens a door to these benefits: - Promotes short and long term goal setting, dedication, and practice - Ignites creative expression that is physically and mentally challenging - Not competitive - Fosters verbal and nonverbal communication skills, friendships, and community building - Can be adapted with success to individual needs - Provides a safe space for exploration and self expression My project would start in the 3rd school quarter (January/ February) of 2018 and continue until everyone is sick of circus. (So hopefully, never.) Organizations that are already committed to having circus after school include Sandy Ridge Elementary, Merrick Moore Elementary, and Walltown Children’s Theater. So this is happening, but oh geeze it would it be easier, less stressful, and a more complete experience for participants if there was funding behind it. Once programs are routine at these locations, I’m looking to expand beyond Durham and into the rest of the Triangle.

Madison, WI (Non-active) – Art Flags for Safe Crossings

2018-02-01T00:00:00Z

Pedestrian flags boost safety and visibility for Madisonians young and old when crossing busy streets. Art Flags for Sage Crossings will create crossing flags that follow safety guidelines, but also increase visibility through novelty and creativity. Art flags will make it more fun and desirable to use a flag when crossing, while at the same time boosting driver awareness of pedestrians via eye-catching colors and design. Community Arts Specialist at John Michael Kohler Arts Center, educator, and screenprinter, Craig Grabhorn along with artist and founder of the For the One Who Finds Me project, Danika Brubaker, will lead community workshops to create art flags and distribute them at targeted high-traffic intersections throughout the city of Madison. Art flags and artists will be featured on social media to boost awareness of the project and pedestrian safety, and to build community.

Minas Gerais (Non-active) – Projeto Africânia

2018-02-01T00:00:00Z

O ***projeto Africânia*** visa interligar pautas, tendo como foco compartilhar questões relevantes para a comunidade negra. Parte do empoderamento, dentro do escopo da beleza, porque esse tem sido um forte meio de contato com a juventude negra de BH, não excluindo a existência de outros meios de articulação com este público. O empoderamento é principalmente um processo que corre de dentro pra fora. A estética pode ser o reflexo desse processo. ***“Nós somos parte de uma linha que segue cruzando indivíduos e discursos.”*** Diante disso, ***Africânia*** tem a intenção de fazer um passeio pela identidade, protagonismo, afro-moda, desenvolvimento, empreendedorismo e demais pautas relevantes para a manutenção da cultura e pelo desenvolvimento da juventude. O projeto pretende alcançar crianças a partir de 4 anos e jovens. Eles serão contemplados com atividades realizadas ao longo dos meses de abril a dezembro e poderão se inscrever no processo de seleção para o desfile Africânia, que acontece durante o evento de encerramento, a cada ano. Os jovens selecionados participam de um workshop de modelo/manequim e após a conclusão recebem um certificado. Além disso, haverá um segundo processo visando à formação profissional desses jovens, em parceria com profissionais e/ou empresas que oferecem oportunidades de atuação no mercado de trabalho. Entendendo a necessidade de que, cada vez mais, jovens assumam seus papéis enquanto agentes de mudança da sociedade e diante de questões que afastam os jovens de atividades em prol do compartilhamento da história e da cultura do nosso povo, o ***projeto Africânia*** surge como canal que interliga a juventude negra a sua atuação social.

Melbourne (Non-active) – Kids' Urban Dreaming

2018-02-01T00:00:00Z

A child-led project that embraces kids creative wackiness and allows them to take over spaces and install their own flavor. Kid's are given the tools to design and create their own amazing creations within public space. We have a series of projects coming up that really need funding out in Northern Geelong, in Corio to be exact. Corio is an extremely underfunded community with little in the way of creative outlets for kids. Over 12 months we are working at 4 different (2 primary schools and 2 community centers) locations to allow the kids of Corio to add their bit of spice to their community, some color and help them to make their mark. Based on the original concept of the adventure playground we are collaborating with local kids to create a series of pop up and permanent works. Kids will be the lead artists, we will give them both the skills and the tools to build cubby houses, skateboard ramps, create short films, cook up a storm in the kitchen or just host a community gathering. The kids are taking over. Our two schools are our permanent sites where kids will design and build structures i.e. they will be creating their very own adventure playgrounds on the school grounds. This may include the building of a cubby house, setting up a kitchen garden or just creating some cool outdoor structures from recycled timbers and whatever else we can get our hands on. The two community centers will work slightly differently, they will be more pop up projects. We have designated public spaces located at the back and front (respectively) at the two sites. We will host pop up junkyard playgrounds, mini-festivals, performance days the list goes on. The kids will decide on exactly what happens. This project is an extension of our original Pop Up Junkyard Playground project and is also being run as a research project (which unfortunately apart from my basic scholarship which covers living expenses they don't fund) and with the hope of extending further afield.

Madison, WI (Non-active) – You Are Beautiful!

2018-02-01T00:00:00Z

The YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL mural project on East Washington continues our ongoing effort to carve out opportunities for many different voices to be represented in public spaces. We will paint the YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL mural alongside LGBTQIA+ youth while participating in a global art initiative, memorializing a talented artist-alum of Madison East, and reminding everyone living in Madison that they are beautiful. When Madison East alum Brendan Scanlon—also known as street artist SOLVE—passed away in 2008, memorial art calling out YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL popped up around Madison, Chicago, and the world. SOLVE and others in his collective had painted the message around Chicago before his death, and it grows as a public art project 14 years in the making. Aesthetically diverse YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL murals have risen out of Illinois, Oregon, Pennsylvania, New York, Texas, and California--and even beyond the states, such as Italy. When we create the YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL mural, we will be participating in a globally understood conversation that can be traced back to Madison. This mural project will live in both its history and its future simultaneously; it honors the art of those before us while optimistically anticipating what our community can do for each other in the years to come. ArtWrite artists will paint the mural alongside queer and trans teens. These youth, who will be recruited out of the queer and trans groups with which ArtWrite often partners, will be co-artists in the process of painting and designing. These youth will gain experience in public art making and find an outlet in creative expression. We’ll be partnering with programs of UW- Madison to develop a cascading model of mentorship, where professional artists will mentor college students who will then mentor teen artists as they explore their creative practice--although, from the outside, this will all look and feel like a bunch of artists hanging out, eating pizza, and reminding neighbors that they are beautiful.

North Minneapolis, MN – Curating Resistant Writing

2018-02-01T00:00:00Z

Curating Resistant Writing is an effort to expand the limited budget of North High’s library and curate a special collection of resistant literature that both challenges systems of oppression as well as expands the imagination around other possible futures. As the co founder of Ancestry Books, one of my fundamental objectives has been to take serious the existing and potential for literary excellence in North Minneapolis. I believe that often geographies like North Minneapolis, with a density of low-income and working class black, and brown, and immigrant communities, are foreclosed as sites of creative excellence from which the Toni Morrisons, and June Jordans, and Octavia Butlers emerge. But they do emerge from these geographies, and they are already here and in need of those who will set the expectations high along with the support and opportunity. So Curating Resistant Writing is about creating a site for the opportunity for the students at North High to see a selection of poetry and fiction, memoir and essays that is selected, organized, and activated with an immense amount of care. A part of this activation would be transportation to take North High Students to an off school campus Twin Cities literary event to engage work both on and off the page. As an artist in residence at North High through The Loft Literary Center’s Artist Residency Program I am well poised to facilitate this project with the partnership of North High’s Media Center and the financial contribution of the Awesome Foundation.

Minas Gerais (Non-active) – Se Essa Rua Fosse Minha

2018-01-31T00:00:00Z

***“Se Essa Rua Fosse Minha”*** nasceu da ideia de pintar uma amarelinha para seus filhos brincarem na porta de casa, em abril de 2017. No início, o objetivo era proporcionar às crianças a oportunidade de brincar na rua junto com os seus colegas do condomínio, com o tempo os jovens educadores observaram que as crianças que transitavam por aquela rua sempre passavam pulando pela amarelinha. Foi então que surgiu a primeira amarelinha desenvolvida pelos educadores Lumma Siqueira e Douglas Evangelista, na Rua Lion, Bairro Bethânia em Ipatinga, MG. ***Que tal levar as brincadeiras populares e suas histórias para as ruas dos bairros periféricos da cidade?!*** A ideia deu tanto certo que, já expandiram as ações para outras cidades do Vale do Aço. Recentemente, a dupla pintou um caracol que fez o maior sucesso entre a criançada na Praça Coliseu, no Bairro Timirim em Timóteo. A ação foi desenvolvida em parceria com o Espaço Cultural Casa Laboratório, em fomento à apropriação do espaço da pracinha pelas crianças do bairro e de outras regiões. O projeto reconhece os jogos de rua como patrimônio imaterial capaz de definir a identidade de um povo, e as brincadeiras populares estimulam as relações sócio afetivas, proporcionando a integração entre as crianças criadas em apartamento e regiões periféricas, oferecendo conhecimento histórico local e uma opção de lazer de fácil acesso.

New York City, NY – Gallery Gurls

2018-01-31T00:00:00Z

Gallery Gurls founder and EIC Jasmin Hernandez on her site: Gallery Gurls is the art site for Nasty Women, POC and QTPOC. I aim to celebrate and profile marginalized artists in NYC. I founded the site in 2012, with a deep focus on writing about women in the art world, particularly women of color. Gallery Gurls is intersectional and covers all women of all backgrounds, working across various disciplines. I scour the New York art landscape on a weekly basis and come across the most incredible, engaging, women who are driving and creating social impact in their work. It's an obligation and a pleasure to write about them. I don't have a traditional art background, I'm a former fashion show producer and photo editor who has worked at several magazines. As a native New Yorker and a downtown creative, I was constantly in creative circles and engaging in the art space. My voice on Gallery Gurls is fresh, fun, accessible and not rooted in academia. I want Gallery Gurls to be a space where if you want to learn about women in the art world and have a device and WIFI, I want you to visit and think of Gallery Gurls first. Visit gallerygurls.net, follow @gallerygurl1 on Twitter, and gallerygurls on Instagram.

North Minneapolis, MN – Hanson Northside Photography

2018-01-31T00:00:00Z

My awesome project is to be a community photographer! I want to establish myself as an independent photographer/ entrepreneur named Hanson NS ( Northside ) Photography, or HNSphoto in order to better the image of my amazing community. This program will start as a self run non-profit organization that provides photography exclusively for the Northside community members so I can become the photographer I aspire to be! I already spend hundreds of hours a year doing free photography for my school, North High and local paper, North News because these services are normally costly and out of reach on the Northside. I am a self taught photographer who has persevered into shooting cover photos for North News as a freelance photographer and already do the work needed to be successful, I just lack my own supplies. Photography is my way of giving back to my community. The photo is a canvas; my community, the Northside, is the art. A picture is documentation, Memories, and history. In its stillness, a picture captures emotion, action, and injustice. This is important to me because I can use my skills to better the atmosphere and create unity in my community. I have built my connections and potentially a lifelong career through photographing this community and it is only the beginning! Hanson NS Photography will push our positive image in the media, and continue to provide a fresh, young activist perspective.

Disability – Disability & Intersectionality Summit 2018

2018-01-31T00:00:00Z

Co-organized by 13 volunteer disabled activists from across the country, this biennial one day forum centers marginalized disabled people, and disabled people of color. The Disability & Intersectionality Summit (DIS) is a biennial one-day conference that centers the experiences and knowledge of multiply marginalized disabled people such as, queer disabled people of color, undocumented transgender disabled people, or formerly incarcerated disabled people among others. This conference serves as a platform to highlight the multiple oppressions that shape the lived experiences of disabled individuals, as told by disabled people, in a setting organized by disabled activists. DIS aims to create dialogue on how our society must address systemic oppressions using an intersectional approach. Our first summit was held in 2016, and a groundbreaking success! We were able to feature an all-disabled presenters program where a majority were disabled people of color, including those who are disabled and trans, formerly incarcerated, disabled and undocumented, among others. We had upwards of 100+ attendees as our in-person audience, and 15-20 others who tuned in via our livestream option. The topics ranged from mental health in Asian American community, to resources for disabled and undocumented folx, and kink & disability. The majority of the presentation were also filmed, and then uploaded to YouTube (with captions) to further amplify the content and provide greater access. In 2018 the summit will be held on October 13th at MIT. We expect greater attendance, and our format will be to have concurrent sessions to allow a greater number of presenters. We seek cross-disability representation in our work and are partnering with Autism Women's Network as our fiscal intermediary - along with other national disability organizations. We project that our presenters will be of similar demographic as those in 2016 with majority being disabled people of color, and members of LGBTQ community. What our grantee is saying: "Being a recipient of the Awesome Disability Award gets to the spirit of the Disability & Intersectionality Summit, an event organized by disabled activists for marginalized disabled people, and disabled people of color. Knowing that this award was decided upon by fellow members in the disability community makes me so proud, and further validates the necessity of supporting intersectional events centering lived-experiences of disability." Image description: The image is the DIS logo which has the letters DIS in large block letters. The D is a light red, the I is a light orange, and the S is a light yellow. The D and S overlap a little with the I. And the phrase "disability intersectionality summit" underneath it in lowercase black.

Tallahassee, FL (Non-active) – Lincoln High School Electric Orchestra

2018-01-30T00:00:00Z

I am preparing to start an Electric Orchestra Class at Lincoln HS for the 2018-2019 school year. Today's students are surrounded by technology and I feel that it is important for us, as educators, to meet our students "in the middle." I want to incorporate technology in many aspects of my music program and I believe it will have a significant impact on my students' growth, as it has with many of my colleagues in other areas of the US. Technology and music are very similar in that they are "mysterious" and intrigues kids. Paired together, they create an excitement about music and learning that internally motivates students to succeed. Through the use of technology and electric instruments, we can expose our students to a greater variety of music genres. "Classical" and pedagogical music that is composed for young musicians is an absolute necessity for any growing musician. However, there is an abundance of music out there today that most orchestra students are not exposed to. America has produced many music genres that are critical to our societal make-up such as Blues, Gospel, Jazz, Country, R&B, Rock, Hip Hop, and other niche styles. Our kids are listening to these styles and if we want to create an even deeper appreciation and love for making music, I feel the students need to have opportunities to explore this variety of music. I have found that incorporating popular music into the curriculum in a variety of ways, I have had higher retention rates, better recruitment and a much higher level of success on our "Classical" music. The students are excited about music and now practice more! With the emergence of performing artists such as Lindsey Stirling, Piano Guys, 2Cellos, Simply Three, etc...the market for string musicians in contemporary music is booming. I believe our Electric Orchestra will bring a new aspect of "string orchestra" to the Tallahassee area for the community to enjoy.

Awesome Without Borders (Non-active) – CRIT, AN INCLUSIVE BUS STOP

2018-01-29T00:00:00Z

Urbanería is a collective from La Paz, Baja California Sur México. We channel the power of people to solve urban problems in the public space through simple, low cost and quick construction interventions. These interventions are carried out with people from the community, experts and volunteers to build and promote the users’ appropriation of the space and as a consequence their participation in its care and maintenance. Our goal is to empower and inspire people to intervene their space, making it more attractive for pedestrians, cyclists, neighbors, people with disabilities, public transport users, and businesses. Contributing to the improvement of the urban quality of life of the citizens of La Paz. CRIT Bus stop CRIT is a physical rehabilitation center for children and young people with disabilities. In 2016, Urbanería had the chance to teach a do it yourself bench workshop with reusable wood at CRIT’s installations. While we were doing this intervention we noticed the lack of urban infrastructure just outside the facilities in the public road and the idea to build a bus stop was born. This bus stop will facilitate mobility and access to public transportation for people with disabilities and their families. CRITs receive more than one-thousand patients that attend everyday with at least one companion, they get there in most of the cases via public transportation or walking. Along the route from where throute from where the bus stops to the main gate, there are many obstacles, the sidewalks are in bad condition and there is the need for pedestrian crossings, access ramps on the sidewalks and a proper bus stop. We conclude there is a need to improve the environment surrounding CRIT through the collective construction of a bus stop. Our goal is to transform an underutilized space using simple, economical and community driven infrastructure where the children and their companions can comfortably wait fo the bus sheltered from the sun.

Raleigh, NC (Non-active) – The Raleigh Goat Cart Project

2018-01-28T00:00:00Z

The goat cart was a common device for traveling photographers to use to solicit business in the late 19th century. Children sat on the carts, a picture was taken, and the photo was sold to the delighted family. The Raleigh Goat Cart Project brings the fun surrounding the goat cart pictures from the turn of the century to present day Raleigh. Little children will be thrilled to pet a goat, feed it a carrot and then "drive" an adorable cart "pulled" by a goat while their family or friends take a picture of them. Family and friends will love sharing pictures of their little goat drivers on social media, which will help spread the wonder of Raleigh to others.

Yerevan – Ձայնող պատեր

2018-01-26T00:00:00Z

Արցախի շրջաններում բոլոր դպրոցները միատեսակ ու միագույն են․․․ հին ու կիսավեր պատեր՝ լի անցյալի ստվերներով, որ 21-րդ դարի պատանու համար ամբողջ տարին դարձնում են դպրոցը մութ ու խավար մի վայրի։ Ձայնող պատերով մենք նոր ձև կբերենք դպրոց։ Դպրոց, որտեղ գոնե հանդիպումների դահլիճում պատերին հսկա ու գունավոր պատկերներ են․ Թումանյան, Շանթ, Չարենց, Թեքեյան․․․ Գույների և սթրիթ արտի միախառնումը, որոնք հասանելի ու ընկալելի են այսօրվա երեխայի համար, սովորական դահլիճի մութ պատերը կվերածեն ձայնող պատերի։ Գործելու ենք մինչ օրս համաձայնություն տված միակ՝ Բերձորի թիվ 1 Թեքեյանի անվան դպրոցի հետ՝ հավատալով, որ վարակիչ կդառնանք մյուսների համար ևս:

Gloucester, MA – Wellspring Closet

2018-01-26T00:00:00Z

In addition to homelessness prevention, Wellspring House, Gloucester, provides career and educational planning, adult education and job training, and also English for newly arriving Americans at the Sawyer Free Library. These programs all support families on the road to finding living wage jobs. All program participants are given the opportunity to receive free business attire from Wellspring but, in my opinion, the current system lacks dignity. There are gently used clothes in bins, organized by size and participants may dig through them and take what they need. My project is to claim an underutilized awkward space at Wellspring and create a "shoppe" that provides a respectful shopping experience. This space would be fitted with racks organized by size. Program participants would make an appointment and shop for free. Volunteers may help them choose outfits.

Tilburg (Non-active) – De straatdrukkerij

2018-01-25T00:00:00Z

Als trotse bewoonster van Tilburg wil ik op innovatieve wijze mijn stad tonen aan de wereld, als het ware een stukje van de stad bij me dragen of in huis tonen. Voor mijzelf en andere trotse inwoners en toeristen wil ik authentieke en one of a kind merchandise maken. Ik doe dit door items te drukken vanaf iconische plekken, te vinden op straat. Denk hierbij aan putdeksels, 'eerste stenen gelegd door', boomroosters, etc. Er zijn zeker verrassende plekken te vinden in Tilburg. Wellicht plekken waar nu nog overheen gekeken wordt. Hoe werkt het? Ik verf de straatobjecten om er vervolgens producten tegen aan te drukken, zodat deze met een afdruk achterblijven. Mensen kunnen dit ter plekke zelf doen om zo naast een persoonlijk item ook de ervaring mee te krijgen. Ze maken een herinnering tastbaar, of dit nou een herinnering aan de ervaring is, of aan de plek in de stad. Zo krijgen ze een item met een verhaal, het verhaal van de stad waar ze zo trots op zijn. Ik kan ontzettend veel kanten op met dit concept: verschillende doelgroepen interesseren zich in verschillende producten en afdruklocaties. Denk aan tijdelijke, historische of fan-based plekken, zoals Willem II. En denk aan shirts, tasjes, petten en interieuritems als ingelijste prints. Mijn concept zit nog in de startfase (vandaar ook nog geen naam) maar ik wil het serieus uit gaan voeren en een lijn aan producten produceren en deze online en in allerlei zaakjes verkopen. Hiervoor moet ik eerst investeren, wat ik ga doen, maar waar the awesome foundation ontzettend bij zou helpen. Op lange termijn hoop ik er wel wat winst uit te halen, op korte termijn vind ik het uitvoeren het belangrijkste. En dat het liefst in mijn eigen stad, waar ik het perfect vind passen (rebels, rauw, textiel, experimenteel mijn trots, etc) Er zullen ongetwijfeld nog veel vragen zijn van jullie kant en ik heb ook nog veel te vertellen. Ik kom graag bij jullie langs, of we kunnen skypen/bellen/mailen/watdanook!

Poughkeepsie, NY – Poughkeepsie High School Teen Closet

2018-01-24T00:00:00Z

Teen Closet provides students with needed resources that they can obtain free of charge to help them succeed in school. It also creates a sense of community and caring at PHS. Students who use the Teen Closet appreciate that adults in the community care about them, and they often express a desire to volunteer or give back in some way. Approximately 10-15 students visit the Teen Closet during our Friday, after school drop-ins. We've had roughly 200 students visit the closet since the first day of school.

Alaska (Non-active) – Reaching Addicts & the families that love them

2018-01-24T00:00:00Z

We would like to create a brochure/pamphlet to canvas our community to inform local residents about resources that exist to help active opioid users and their families respond to drug abuse. In addition to medical and therapeutic resources we want to educate our community members on the weekly support groups available for both the addict and those that love them. However, many families experiencing this grief and hardship are unaware these resources exist. Wouldn’t it be AWESOME to get the word out? We envision a calendar that would depict the dates and times of all of these weekly resources; this brochure/rack card would be distributed door-to-door, one-on-one throughout the southern Kenai Peninsula. The mechanism for distribution is mostly in place as KBFPC’s Community Health Outreach have volunteered to incorporate it into their packet. The following information would be contained within the pamphlet: I. Resources for Families: We have several weekly support meetings created especially for those that love someone addicted to drugs. These groups include traditional twelve step family groups (such as al anon), grief support groups and family counseling; II. Resources for Addicts: Members of our task force have created a clean needle exchange program that provides clean needles to those in need. People in need of clean needles can safely dispose of their old needles and obtain clean needles. Information concerning recovery resources and medical needs are available in a safe, confidential and kind environment. Moreover, the community has several weekly recovery meetings. These groups include traditional twelve step recovery meetings such as AA and NA. Members of our task force are also active with the local food bank and we would provide information about the location and times for access to the food bank; and III. Factual Information about the Opioid Crisis. We envision a calendar that would depict the dates and times of all of these weekly resources.

Annapolis, NS (Non-active) – Earth Day Shuttle

2018-01-24T00:00:00Z

On Earth Day 2018, get ready for a MindShift! Young Company Productions and Clean Annapolis River Project are teaming up for a spring production… MindShift is all about SHIFTING our culture toward environmental sustainability by inspiring action. What better way to inspire action than through theatre? This production is open to youth from Annapolis and Digby County and will be presented at schools and in the community during the week of April 22nd. A few years ago, a group of seven students working together with the Halifax Regional Municipality Adventure Earth Centre came together to create MindShift, a sustainability education program presented to high school science students. MindShift involves a humorous and hard-hitting theatrical piece that we would like to introduce to students here in the Annapolis area. Student astronauts transform their classroom into the deck of Spaceship Earth. The ship experiences increasing challenges to its life-support systems as it travels through time. Despite dire warnings, the ship strays on its course and reaches maximum distress in the year 2030...just before it crashes... Here’s what the original Mindshift Team had to say about the program: “MindShift isn’t about changing the world with a single presentation. It’s about sparking an interest in those students, the beginning of a change. It’s about shifting the culture that we live in and changing it for the better.”

Utrecht – Utrecht bloeit

2018-01-23T00:00:00Z

Rein Hazelzet gaat onze mooie stad decennialang trakteren op bloemen. Volle bossen veldbloemen langs de paden, in de bermen, aan de singel en in de borders van de parken. Vrolijk kleurende en lekker geurende klaprozen, klokjes, zonnebloemen, vergeet-me-nietjes en andere prachtige Nederlandse inheemsen die maand na maand opduiken. Om vrolijk van te worden. En nog nuttig ook: Rijkswaterstaat en de Radboud Universiteit hebben ontdekt dat een bloemrijke berm sterker wordt geassocieerd met natuur dan een berm met alleen gras. En dat een natuurlijke omgeving minder wordt vervuild. Twee vliegen in de klaproos dus. Vanaf maart verspreid Rein zijn zaad: aan de hand van een geliefd familierecept fabriceert hij van 6 kilo zaad en vele snufjes chilipoeder een slordige 3000 bermbommen die hij over een afstand van maar liefst 11,3 km rondstrooit. Met als resultaat een explosie aan kleuren deze zomer. En omdat bloemen zich steeds weer blijven uitzaaien volgend jaar weer. En het jaar daarop. En daarop. En daarop. Zodat iedereen in Utrecht komende decennia kan genieten van een kleurrijk veldboeket en schone bermen.

Newmarket – AWAKE

2018-01-23T00:00:00Z

Given the prevalence of youth using substances to cope with stress today, YouthSpeak is excited to, once again, provide its 8th annual AWAKE, youth drug awareness conference at Valleyview Alliance Church, Newmarket for grade 9 and 10 students in York Region. As a local event, Newmarket schools attend such as Newmarket High, Huron Heights, and Sir William Mulock. AWAKE brings in various community resources such as the York Region Police, 360 Kids and Public Health to give students an opportunity to learn about various services in the area and a familiar face they can turn to if they are struggling. Youth Speakers kick off the day sharing their stories of drug abuse and healthy coping tools. Addictions Services of York Region puts on an educational presentation which provides information on what they do as an agency and education surrounding drug use. The second half of the day is filled with various workshops for students to participate in. These workshops range from knitting and drawing, to martial arts and break dancing. The purpose of these workshops is to engage students in positive activities which teach them positive coping tools and alternatives to unsafe activities. The activities of the day give youth the opportunity to develop leadership skills and build rapport with adult role models such as police, teachers and youth counsellors. Students who can benefit most from this day are selected by their teachers and given the opportunity to participate in a fun, educational day away from the stresses of school. Statistics show that “early identification leads to better health outcomes, improved school attendance, contributions to society, cost-savings to health-care, justice and social service systems.” Open Minds, Healthy Minds (Ontario’s Mental Health Strategy). Research shows that youth-to-youth, interactive and engaging approach is the most effective way to reach them.

Portland, OR – Brain Storm

2018-01-23T00:00:00Z

Brain Storm is all about letting people see and experience what is happening inside their brain. The project is an interactive installation that creates a real time audio visual storm based on what is happening in someones brain. The project aims to instill curiosity, contemplation, and connection. The interactive exhibit will be a small phone booth-esque enclosure just large enough for 2-3 people to stand or sit in. Before entering the participant will put on a headband that can measure brain waves, body temperature, and heart rate. Based on these metrics an audio and visual storm will be projected inside the booth and the nature of the storm will change in real time with the participant’s biometrics. I have already made a prototype of this project and taken it into the wild but I would like to use this awesome grant to improve the project and share it with more people. I want to have the project popup in various locations all over Portland and would also like to collaborate with different art groups, science groups, and nonprofits to share with work with different people in various contexts. PS. I have images but this page is not letting me upload them no matter how small I make them.

Philadelphia, PA – Backpacks & Blankets

2018-01-22T00:00:00Z

We are requesting funds for our plight to help the homeless, with our “Backpack and Blankets” Project. Winter will be upon us soon. The weather is already cold and will only get colder. TOMORROW’S GIRLS & WOMEN mission is to put together homeless care backpacks with essential items to help people living on the streets this winter. In addition we will offer fleece blankets and emergency (space) blankets. These NASA designed, foil-type blankets are designed to be wrapped as close to the body as possible and will hold in 90% of body heat. This can mean the difference of life or death on a freezing night. We have seen measurable success with past community outreach efforts, and are confident that this program will blossom as well due to the immediate and ongoing need. There are numerous other organizations and projects which take on the task of dressing and feeding people and giving shelter. Yet very few for the homeless individual, who does not or cannot find inside shelter. “Backpacks and Blankets,” is designed for people who don’t have a permanent home which means they are not able to prepare food regularly, don’t sleep in the same place for very long, don’t have any safe place to store things and are possibly living and sleeping outside. Taking into account that they may have to carry all or most of their belongings on their back and may not have ways to get back to anything they have stored once they move on.

Kingston – Kingston Social Circus

2018-01-22T00:00:00Z

This application is for two partnered social circus projects—Soar Circus for Girls and the Invisible Youth Circus Project. Both projects are part of a growing social circus movement that combines training in circus techniques with social goals. Like most social circus initiatives, the programming is offered for free to participants to ensure accessibility and inclusion of a diverse population. Emphasis is on having fun, building confidence and community, and safe and appropriate risk-taking. Soar Circus introduces girls involved with partner organizations to circus skills in a safe and supportive environment. Through instruction in aerial silks, partner acrobatics and physical theatre, participants gain self-confidence and trust in themselves and others. Because circus encourages the development of strength and values what diverse bodies can do rather than what they look like, circus can be particularly beneficial to helping girls develop self-esteem and a positive body image. This project is based on a successful pilot project carried out with girls from Big Brothers Big Sisters Kingston in 2015. This year, Soar will offer programming to girls involved with Big Brother Big Sisters, Girls Inc., and Roots & Wings. The Invisible Youth Circus Project focuses on offering social circus programming to youth who live in the transition homes under the umbrella of the Kingston Youth Shelter. The goal of the program is to provide a safe space for youth experiencing mental health or addiction issues, or who experience homelessness, while allowing them to develop trust, explore their creativity, and learn new skills. Youth meet on a weekly basis to learn circus skills. The hope is to give these often marginalized youth a voice in the Kingston community through the circus arts. We are pooling our resources for these projects to make social circus a reality for the Kingston community.

Awesome Without Borders (Non-active) – I Support the Girls

2018-01-22T00:00:00Z

Homelessness affects every community and girls and women are the fastest rising segment of the homeless population. Women and girls who find themselves homeless shouldn’t have to worry about finding bras, much less proper menstrual products. Yet they wear the same bra for years (causing health problems) and each month have to make a choice between paying for meals or buying a box of tampons. Every woman should have the ability to maintain her dignity! This is our mission- to restore dignity and self-respect to thousands of women. Through more than 50 national and international affiliates, we collect and distribute gently used and new bras, and menstrual hygiene products to over 350 vetted homeless shelters and organizations that distribute to women and girls in need. We also provide a rapid relief response to natural disasters, distribute mastectomy related bras and items to low-income women dealing with breast cancer, and provide transition items to people in the gender transition process, when available. In the last two years, we have impacted over 180,000 women and girls across the country. In 2018, our goal is to distribute 1,000,000 total products, expand the efforts of our existing 51 affiliates and open 10 new affiliates in different cities across the U.S.

San Antonio, TX – Music for Tesla coils

2018-01-19T00:00:00Z

My project idea is to make music for Tesla coils! The SA museum of Science and Technology will have 6 coils by the end of December and they have agreed to let me have access to the coils and in return I can help them generate a program for children to learn about the technology behind creating music for a coil. I'm excited to make original music for coils whereas most of the time you'll see engineer majors from say M.I.T have the coils play midi programmed music such as the Mario Bros. theme, Zelda, etc. I'll be creating music that will be performed live and through this process of learning how to create the music, the SAMSAT will use this information to process a learning program for children/young adults. My vision is to have the performance in surround sound with 6 Tesla coils, a grand piano, strings and a small choir.

Boston, MA – UMass Boston at South Bay Jail

2018-01-19T00:00:00Z

I'm an English Professor at UMass Boston who volunteered to teach Introductory Comp at the Suffolk County House of Corrections at South Bay. We’re trying to make this a permanent program, but in the meantime I said "Let's just start and see what happens; I get paid to teach other classes on campus, and I'll do this for free.” Now we are in week 8 of Introductory Composition, and when incarcerated students get out, if they want to come to UMB, I'll be their advisor. Some people were worried there would be no interest in the program, but 19 women and 18 men signed up, which made me very proud. Every week now I am taking in handouts and they are reading, annotating, summarizing, analyzing, and imitating poems and stories and articles I bring in. They are already crushing it, even in-text citation, which drives every freshman comp student crazy. And they are doing it without computers, in exam books--those little blue books—with pencils they have to turn back in at the end of the class.

Singapore – Veggie Rescue @ Little India

2018-01-17T00:00:00Z

Our project rescues discarded fresh produce from shopkeepers in Little India, and delivers them to a soup kitchen for cooking and serving to low-income families. I started my food waste journey by asking my neighbours to give me their leftover cooked food, and expired food products for my personal consumption. As a result, I spent only $8 on food this year. Then I read that Singapore produced 791,000 tonnes of food waste last year. I got curious about the waste generated in the food distribution channels, and started to move up the supply chain. I dumpster dived the bins of restaurants and found loads of free food. I also explored the bins at Little India and found so many edible vegetables that I could not carry it home. I brought friends there, but whether I brought 5 friends or 20 friends, we always ended up carrying all that we could carry, and have to discard about half of what we collected because we couldn’t carry anymore. Clearly, there was a lot of food waste taking place. One night, we got to know an ex-vegetable shopkeeper. He told us that we should approach the shopkeepers and ask them for their unsold produce even before it got to the bins. However, the language barrier posed a problem. Our newfound friend helped us to overcome the barrier, and we started to get so much more vegetables. I shared our finds on various Facebook groups and a soup kitchen got in touch with us, saying that they could use these vegetables to feed the food insecure. Did you know that there are about 387,000 people in Singapore who are food insecure? This means that they don’t have access to sufficient nutritious food. Yet we are simply throwing away good food! I want to do something about that. Hence this project.

San Jose, CA – JMS Podcast Art Event

2018-01-17T00:00:00Z

The JMS Podcast profiles local creative individuals in the Arts, Music, Comedy, and Poetry outlets. Since 2015 I have been conducting interviews with over 130 creative guests and discussed their creative journey and their craft. Although the podcast serves the San Jose community, the interviews are broadcasted worldwide via the web. To celebrate and further engage the community I produce shows to showcase some of my guests works and provide both a entertaining and informative event. I would like a grant to produce an Art event with a local Art venue where a panel discussion will be held and the featured Artists works can be displayed.

Paris (Non-active) – Continent Enfance

2018-01-16T00:00:00Z

La compagnie de théâtre Sapiens Brushing intervient auprès d’une quinzaine de réfugiés à Aubervilliers (93) pour développer leurs capacités d'expression et leur autonomie dans leur utilisation de la langue française. La compagnie propose un atelier de création théâtrale sur 14 séances de janvier à mai 2018. Un spectacle sur les thèmes de l'enfance et de la filiation sera créé collectivement et représenté en fin de parcours. Un travail aura lieu autour d’improvisations sur la récolte de souvenirs d’enfance, de berceuses, d’objets amenés par les participants depuis leur pays natal. The theatre company Sapiens Brushing develops a project in Aubervilliers (Paris region) to help 15 refugees improve their knowledge of the French language and their autonomy. The company offers a series of 14 theatrical creation workshop, from January to May 2018. A collective show tackling the themes of childhood and filiation will be created and given at the end of the training. The workshops will be build around improvisation on childhood memories, lullabies, objects brought from their homelands by the participants.

Pittsburgh, PA – Sh*t Show, Flush it.

2018-01-15T00:00:00Z

This project will capture the current psychological state of it's viewers via an open interactive platform for the public to freely express their feelings thru words and/or illustration. It will also serve as a social experiment from a few parallel perspectives. The desire is to construct (3) mobile bathroom stalls. Each will have 3 stall walls surrounding a toilet in the center. The front of each will be open, the door missing, as a symbol of exposure to social constructs. Each stall will feature one toilet- one pink, one yellow and one blue- with a purpose to lightly touch on representation of male (blue), female (pink) and non-specific (yellow) genders. On each stall will hang several Sharpie markers to allow for open expression. This open ended interactive sculpture will include a placard that asks the question: "What would you like to flush from your life in preparation for a positive 2018?" It will also give a brief explanation of the project and ask any participant to "tag" or leave their age as a replacement for their signature. The purpose is to prompt viewers into expressing their raw feelings/desires of what to rid from their life in 2018. This "social experiment" would allow the community to have a feel for what others are facing (in few words) as well as allow myself to collect information for my next series of work.

Awesome Without Borders (Non-active) – unPrison Project

2018-01-15T00:00:00Z

If we want change for women in prison, then we must work directly with those who live inside. I work to help build their life skills and literacy levels with delivery of books, reading glasses, and a one-day curriculum about life skills. Earlier this year I was in a prison speaking to a gym full of 300 women and a woman passed a pair of broken reading glasses to the woman next to her. The glasses were duct-taped together. One side of the glasses was snapped off. This one pair of shattered glasses passed from one woman to the next so they could see. How can we expect women who are marginalized and isolated to increase their level of education, and level of self-esteem, if they can't see the page in a book? When I left the prison that day, I met with a private donor who took action and had 10,000 pairs of reading glasses manufactured specifically without wire for the unPrison Project to bring into prisons. These glasses sit in our warehouse storage because we couldn’t cover the freight costs to ship them around the country into prisons to coincide with the timing of my speaking engagement in prisons . We can deliver these glasses into more prisons if we secure more funding. We’ll be able to give new vision for incarcerated women. They’ll also be able to read with their children on visiting day, impacting the future of their children with mother-child bonding and building literacy. Literacy is a passage to freedom outside prison: securing employment, stable housing, expanding curiosity and purpose, and helps with setting goals. We are also building an outcome survey tool for the women in prison who we serve. The demand for our work is nationwide: 28 prisons in 20 states have requested our one-day life skills curriculum. We coincide the glasses and books delivery with the curriculum day. This particular project of delivering reading glasses and children's books is a delivery of hope and future possibility for incarcerated women.

Cass Clay – Twin Buttes Community Garden

2018-01-15T00:00:00Z

Because of poverty and geographic isloation, many Indigenous American peoples do not have access to quality stores for fresh fruits and vegetables. As a result, food scarcity, obesity, and diabetes have become epidemics in 'Indian Country". The Orchard will strive to be a component that battles the epidemics at South Segment on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in North Dakota. The Community Orchard will provide fresh fruit to approximately 350 enrolled members. This number grows over the summer as South Segment is situated on the south shore of Lake Sakakawea. There is an annual Pow-Wow in June (attendance 2,000+) and ongoing summer activites at the lake. The goal is to grow food-producing trees that the community has access to and feels safe to eat. The Orchard will bring members back to a personal relationship with 'Mother Earth' while providing therapy and healing by having access to whole foods that are plant based. It will engage all age levels from the early elementary to community members at-large for planting and classroom studies, to food preservation/demonstrations, and annual harvest festivals. A Honey Bee farm is planned for appurtenance to our Orchard. The Orchard will help supplement the food supply in rural North Dakota with fresh home-grown fuit that can be sold at our C-store, given to our Elders, and also those facing economic hardships. Classroom studies can take place at the Orchard on fruit and honey bees. Although South Segment is part of the Three Affiliated Tribes which has oil and gas development, not all members reap the benefits, but most reap the culmination of the development. South Segment is steadily working to reverse the hard effects ( oil and gas development) on the reservation land-locked community so that all members can take part in a healthy and sustainable component to living and walking on the good 'Red Road.'

Ottawa – Girls on the Spectrum Ottawa Drop-in

2018-01-14T00:00:00Z

January’s Awesome Ottawa award goes to Suzanne Allen, to support the establishment of a weekly drop-in program for girls on the autism spectrum. “My daughter Miriam was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder in May 2017,” explains Suzanne. “Since then, I have been trying to access resources to help her. While there are many great programs for kids on the spectrum here in Ottawa, there are very few programs geared specifically towards girls.” “Boys tend to be diagnosed more often with autism than girls – a ratio of four to one,” Suzanne continues, “and girls who are diagnosed are often not reached until their tween and teen years – boys are usually diagnosed around the age of five. Because of this, programs offered for kids tend to be planned more around things that boys are interested in.” “I did find one program for tween girls,” Suzanne explains, “but there was limited space and my daughter wound up on a waiting list. I realized that there must be other parents who have also come up against this and I thought that instead of complaining about the problem I would try to do something about it.” This past fall, Suzanne started Girls on the Spectrum Ottawa – a weekly drop-in for girls of all ages and their parents, grandparents, or caregivers. It provides a safe place for girls to make friends and participate in activities such as arts and crafts, baking, playing games, and building with Lego. It also offers an opportunity for their parents and grandparents to provide each other support, as well as on occasion listen to a guest speaker. The drop-in has so far been featured on Rogers TV and CBC’s Ottawa Morning. The award from Awesome Ottawa will support the purchase of supplies and snacks. Suzanne is a mother of three, and works with the federal government’s New Horizons for Seniors program.

Sydney – FLEX

2018-01-12T00:00:00Z

‘FLEX’ is a group exhibition which will be presented at AirSpace Projects, Marrickville in January 2018. With new work by emerging artists Belle Blau, Paula McCambridge and Cameron Stead, and with curatorial assistance contributed by Upasana Papadopoulos (M. Curating, USyd), FLEX aims to explore, challenge and disrupt the underlying power structures of our personal, professional and political lives, through use of various mediums, including painting, installation and digital media. ‘FLEX’ was devised as the result of a number of round table discussions between the artists and curator, to produce a cohesive exhibition with a mutually agreed upon direction and areas of focus. As recent graduates of The National Art School in Darlinghurst, the artists of ‘FLEX’ examine and respond to the conventions of their institutional training – their work both acknowledges tradition and steps outside set parameters to investigate new modes of thinking, seeing and doing. Blau’s body of work, which includes painting, drawing, writing and music, approaches the traditionally male-dominated genres of abstraction and reductionism from a female perspective, while McCambridge and Stead make installations and artworks from unconventional materials such as underfelt, latex and found plastics to encourage new perspectives of self-representation, objects we encounter and places we inhabit. FLEX therefore aims to create a platform for conversations and questions about learned behaviour and ways of thinking about the self and others. AirSpace Projects are opening their gallery doors to a summer audience to present four concurrent exhibitions from 17th to 27th January. Utilising AirSpace’s formidable social media networks, as well as those of the artists, it is anticipated that the gallery will attract more than 500 visitors on opening, with numbers growing throughout the duration of the exhibition.

Milano (Non-active) – RECUP

2018-01-11T00:00:00Z

Recup is a project against food waste and social exclusion, going on in Milano's local markets. The action is easy but efficient: at the end of the market, a group of people, both students, people in need, volunteers, recover food surplus directly from merchants, creating a parallel stand into the market space. Everybody can take what he/she needs from the stand, respecting other people and the environment. It is important to collaborate, clean, don't take more than is needed. Recup means sharing, meeting, socialize. The food that has lost its economic value gains a social value. The goal would be to create a Recup spot in each area of Milan, with a “glocal” approach: people would participate in the area where they live and the project would cover the entire city. Then, we would bring Recup outside of Milano, in other Italian cities. At the moment, the project is going on in eleven markets in the urban area. Once we would have a headquarters, we would start more activities: -Education at school -Awareness to food waste problem -Events with social kitchen, music, theatre -"No waste cuisine" lessons -Show cooking -Workshops on Conservation of food -Social garden And many other ideas that we have. Little by little, we would like to pay people who work in the project, to create new job positions and transform the association into a social enterprise.

Orlando, FL – The Dinner Party Project - Let's Talk It Out

2018-01-11T00:00:00Z

As many of you may be familiar w The Dinner Party Project, we are looking to do an specific series next year called, "Let's Talk It Out." (Working Title) It will be a Series of 6 Dinner Parties in 2018 w 12 Guests at each Dinner. There will be a Content Expert as the Guest Host for the Evening. These Dinners will provide a safe place to discuss deeper issues. We set the table w care and provide 4 delightful Courses and drinks, all while having meaningful conversation around the Dinner table! The purpose is to hear from people from all different backgrounds and creeds. It's pretty awesome to set aside assumptions and learn something new about someone you didn't think you would connect with!

Chicago, IL – Where is Washington Heights?

2018-01-10T00:00:00Z

Where is Washington Heights? photo-documentary series is part of a larger exhibition that documents the community area and people of the little known far southwest side, predominately African- American community area in Chicago called Washington Heights (WH).The project asks questions about WH as it relates to geography, people, health and the overall economic development of this community area from past, present, and future. I will utilize my artist studio (H.L. Anderson Arts & Culture Studio) to invite at least 20 residents in my studio monthly for me to photograph them and use my studio for them to paint or write their stories that relate to their connection to WH. Additionally, I will partner with StoryCorps to invite community members who live, work, or play in WH to share their audio stories:https://storycorps.org/ After eight months, I will curate an exhibition at H.L. Anderson Arts & Culture Studio and other venues, and invite people from other communities in conversation about WH.

London, ON (Non-active) – Chain of Smiles

2018-01-09T00:00:00Z

I make little gifts for shut-ins, nursing home residents, sick folk and their caregivers, anyone who needs a little TLC. I've been doing this since 2011 and to date Chain of Smiles has given away 6344 cards and gifts.

Ann Arbor, MI – The #Eating Project

2018-01-08T00:00:00Z

Hello friends, My name is Joseph Alnarshi and I am nominating a friend's project for the $1000 grant opportunity! The project is the known mostly as the "Flint #Eating Garden" and it was started by a group of wonderful individuals. The organization's name is Team Gardens and the founders include three University of Michigan graduates including two former football stars. Vincent Smith, Martavious Odoms, and Sonya Sutherland created this concept during their college days. As Martavious and Vincent were originally from Florida, They decided to start the first Community Garden in their hometown of Pahokee. From there, Sonya and Vincent quickly shifted their focus to find a location in Michigan to begin a Community Garden in an effort to help the underserved population. With the help of other former football players, Vincent and his team made the decision to make their newest location in Flint, Michigan.

Awesome Without Borders (Non-active) – Free childcare for filmmakers - Park City

2018-01-08T00:00:00Z

Film festivals are where careers are launched. At top-tier festivals, filmmakers have an opportunity to gain significant exposure, network, build relationships, find collaborators, and distribution. However, traveling to other cities can become challenging with children: finding babysitters, appropriate venues for children to play, etc... And traveling with a nanny quickly becomes prohibitive in terms of cost. As a result, parent-filmmakers miss out on crucial opportunities. Moms-in-Film is attempting to change that, and make sure that filmmaker-parents can participate fully in the festival experience. We will provide quality care by expert professionals in a venue that is intended for that purpose, with plenty of play-based activities, toys, books, changing tables, and quiet areas for napping. Anyone who has a credit in a film or project at the festival can use our FREE services, whether above or below the line. Actors, Directors, Cinematographers, Makeup Artist, Art Directors, Gaffers, and more. At SXSW last year, we piloted the Wee Wagon project: a MOBILE childcare unit that was stationed outside the Zach Movie Theater in Austin, TX. The idea is that this mobile unit can also be used on film sets! However, Park City in January has unpredictable weather, so we could not replicate the program. Instead of our mobile WEE WAGON PROJECT, we are therefore proposing a brick-and-mortar BASECAMP model.

Vegan (Non-active) – Peas & Love Community Garden (Veganic)

2018-01-08T00:00:00Z

We are planting the seeds of peace, love, and justice at the Peas & Love Community Garden. In a city where obesity is rampant, fast food restaurants abound, and little space is devoted to natural habitats, our garden will be an oasis for those who wish to restore themselves and reconnect with nature. Crops will be grown to feed volunteer members as well as neighbors in need through the Manchester Area Conferences of Churches food pantry. We use veganic (vegan organic) farming methods such as cover crops and composted vegetation to enhance the soil, mulch with natural materials to suppress weeds, and companion planting to minimize disease and insect infestation. The garden will also serve as an educational resource for children to discover where their food comes from, how it grows, and how to prepare nutritious and delicious meals made with fresh fruits and vegetables that they've grown. Anyone who wants to eat healthfully can learn how to, regardless of age, race, gender, income, or ability.

Oakland, CA (Non-active) – Contagious Spirit

2018-01-04T00:00:00Z

Contagious Spirit is an event that celebrates Black women and girls' courageous and contagious spirit of resilience. Our proposal requests $1,000 for Contagious Spirit, an interdisciplinary arts project that reframes widely held stereotypes about Black women and girls’ perceived lack of innocence. Contagious Spirit was initially inspired by a recent Georgetown Law Center on Poverty and Inequality study titled, “Girlhood interrupted: The Erasure of Black Girl’s Childhood.” The study found that Black girls are viewed as “less innocent” by society as a whole and when compared to their White peers. These findings are concerning since Black women and girls face disproportionately higher rates of sexual assault. Although the #Metoo movement, initially sparked by activist Tarana Burke, has drawn widespread attention to the pervasiveness of sexual assault against all women, it is vital that we continue to center the perspectives of Black women survivors. Contagious Spirit uses photography, music and dance to invite the Oakland community to imagine world in which Black women and girl survivors receive the emotional support they deserve. Contagious Spirit includes photography, video and music that empowers Black women and girls. Thus, the event will occur during Women's History Month. The project culminates in a live performance at Betti Ono Art Gallery on March 31st of 2018.

Miami, FL – Before It's Too Late

2018-01-04T00:00:00Z

Before It's Too Late (BITL) is a non-profit climate action prototyping lab founded out of MIT to leverage arts and technology to awaken and unite society to take action on climate change. BITL is partnered with The CLEO Institute and City of Miami to launch pilot programs that shed light on sea level rise impacts and solutions. Our programs include virtual reality, team workshops and activist art. We are also collaborating with research centers across MIT, FIU and UM to develop and share our social theory of change, which incorporates the latest research on climate communication, behavioral science and design. VR Lab Pilot: We are engaging a team of 9th and 10th graders at Cushman High School in Miami, FL to produce and market virtual reality pieces to raise awareness and motivate action on local climate change issues. We will widely distribute the VR experiences to K-12 schools, public libraries and target audiences across South Florida. The VR Lab is conducted in partnership with Genius Plaza and CLEO Institute. The VR lab projects include: “Miami Rising: The People Fighting Climate Change” - 360 short films and photos will build climate change narratives for real people in Miami among three target audiences in Greater Miami - businesses, vulnerable/ low-income communities and faith/spiritual base. These films share these communities’ attitudes about climate change, solutions already underway and hopes for the future. “Miami Year 2050” - VR prototypes will feature the students’ visions for a green Miami city of the future through immersive VR.

Awesome Without Borders (Non-active) – Healing Justice Podcast

2018-01-01T00:00:00Z

Healing Justice Podcast is an audio project to democratize access to inspiring stories, leaders, and practices to support activists from the inside-out and outside-in. It's a story-mapping of the experiments of courageous and soulful change efforts already thriving all over the world, sowing connection between us to build more of the deeply committed community we long for. These are times of extreme amplification -- of climate violence, white supremacy, patriarchy, political corruption, late-stage capitalism, xenophobia, anti-LGBTQ hate, and more. Our lives depend on our ability to make significant, urgent, dramatic change in our society. But working to change the world while neglecting ourselves and our immediate communities depletes us and replicates patterns of trauma, trigger, harm, and extraction. And "being the change we wish to see in the world" doesn't sufficiently dismantle the structures that are systematically dehumanizing us all either. My experience training organizers and building connection between healing justice practitioners nationwide for the past 3 years has shown me that many of us are hungering for community to support the integration of self care, collective care, commitment to challenging injustice, and powerful action. We need a place to share our stories and struggles to build trust and gain insight together, to strengthen the capacity for resilience in ourselves and in our collective movements for change. Stories of resilience in the struggle and simple sustaining practice ideas are part of the medicine we long for, and this project aims to be a campfire around which we gather to share our victories, pain, innovations, and generative debates. We're starting with a podcast sharing a new story and practice each week and building toward convenings, training, and support networks for leaders wanting to incorporate healing into their activism. See some of the leaders & topics we'll feature at www.healingjustice.org/conversations

Austin, TX – Civics 101: Your Guide To A Functional Democracy

2018-01-01T00:00:00Z

Amy Stansbury is a firm believer in the importance of local government. "It impacts everything from affordability, to traffic, to the preservation of Austin's art and music culture," she says. "If we want Austin to continue being the awesome city that it is, it will require participation and effort from each and every one of us." Working with local artists, Stansbury and her team at the Austin EcoNetwork created "A Beginner's Guide to Local Government," an adult coloring book designed to help teach Austinites how to get involved in the local community. The Guide includes information about who the mayor of Austin is, what he does, and how to figure out who your City Council member is. Stansbury says the idea is to take someone from total City Hall "newbie status" to a knowledgable, active, and engaged citizen of Austin. A $1000 grant from the Austin Awesome Foundation will fund the printing of 1,000 copies of the Beginner's Guide to Local Government, which will be distributed free in multiple locations around Austin. "With this guide," says Stansbury, "we'll basically be teaching 1,000 more Austinites how to make Austin awesome!"