Awesome Foundation - Projects

Ottawa – University of Ottawa Quidditch Team

2012-02-29T00:00:00Z

The grant this month goes to Clare Hutchinson and the University of Ottawa Quidditch team! Clare helped start the team at uOttawa, which is based on the sport written by J.K. Rowling in the Harry Potter book series, a sport played by over 300 teams globally. The sport uses and adapts rules from the book to a Muggle (non-magical) context. Bringing people together from all backgrounds at uOttawa, from the athletic to the non-athletic and the engineering students to the arts students, playing Quidditch helps the students stay healthy and active all year long. The game was started by some students at Middlebury College in Vermont in 2005 as an alternative to their regular games of bocce. Alexander Manshel was the first Quidditch Commissioner and he was the one to adapt the rules from the stories to a real life game. Alex Benepe took over that role and really took the game from just being intramurals played at Middlebury to the international sport it is today (he is still the Commissioner of the International Quidditch Association). By 2008, teams travelled from across the United States to compete in the Quidditch World Cup, including a single Canadian team, McGill University. Last year 96 teams competed on Randall’s Island in New York City. The version of Quidditch played at uOttawa is extremely close to the version Harry Potter plays. Three Chasers on each side attempt to score on the opposing team’s hoops (of which there are 3) with the Quaffle (a slightly deflated volleyball). The hoops are guarded by a Keeper, who generally plays offensively as well. This part of the game is quite similar to rugby. The Beater position reflects the challenges a player would face on a broomstick. There are 2 Beaters on each side, and 3 Bludgers (dodgeballs); when a player gets hit by a Bludger, they must drop whatever they are holding and run back to their side of the field and touch the hoops before they remount their broom and rejoin the game; this is a time penalty that simulates falling off a broom. A goal is worth 10 points, and a Snitch Snatch is worth 30. The game is full contact and co-ed (current gender rules stipulate that there must be 2 players of the opposite gender on the pitch at all times; soon, it will change to a ratio of 3:4). There are rules against back-tackling and illegal tackles, but the game can still get rough, and injuries (known as “quinjuries”) are common, as no protective gear is worn during play. Because there are 4 balls and 4 positions with different rules for each, there is a lot going on, and goal referees and bludger referees are often used. In Clare’s words: “My favourite adaptation is by far the Snitch. In Muggle Quidditch, the Snitch is a person. And just like the Snitch in the game, they are playful, unpredictable, and extremely difficult to catch: Snitches have a ballsock on the back of their shorts that must be caught by either team’s Seeker to end the game. Snitches are released at the beginning of the game and have full run of the area, although they must return to the pitch at a certain time. Amid all the running and wrestling (Snitches cannot be tackled, although they can tackle other players), Snitches like to entertain the crowd with acrobatics, climbing trees, throwing snowballs or water balloons, bullfighting, and general tomfoolery. All players except the Snitch (who has no broom) must be on their brooms at all times.” There are about 600 registered Quidditch teams worldwide; uOttawa’s team plays year-round, although some teams have on- and off-seasons. While the World Cup is generally the only time that most Quidditch teams come together, there are numerous regional tournaments held throughout the year all over the world. uOttawa Quidditch is quite new in the scheme of things, at just over a year old, but they’ve already become well-known for their team spirit, gorgeous uniforms, and obnoxious cheering (accompanied by a signature snare drum and war dance). Clare and team hope to use the funds to help students who are financially disadvantaged to accompany them to away tournaments and to host more tournaments in Ottawa to spread Canadian Quidditch culture.

Boston, MA – LIFT Bike Project

2012-02-29T00:00:00Z

Hi! My name is Ben Sommer, and I'm the Director for the LIFT Bike Project, a non-profit organization founded by a Harvard undergrad in 2009 with the mission of addressing transportation issues among homeless and low-income residents in the Boston Area by donating refurbished bicycles to those in need. This year we are hoping to giveaway 100 bikes at the Green Streets Initiative's Walk/Ride Day on April 27! But we have a lot to do to get ready. Every Wednesday we hold "refurb nights" at Quad Bikes in Cambridge where volunteers can get a little greasy by helping to fix up donated bikes. We usually have a wide range of volunteers show up to help, from first time bike noobs, to professional mechanics, to local Cambridge characters. We drink a little beer, listen to a little music, and wield a little wrench. Most of our bikes come from the Cambridge DPW, which stores bikes that have been abandoned on the street. 50 of our bikes are donated by Roll It Forward, a similar program started by the City of Boston. Individuals also dredge up bikes from their basement as well to give them new life in the service of someone who needs it. I myself am a Cambridge native who moved back to the area after graduating from college in Minnesota. I have gained experience working with a tight budget since helping to found and manage the Dorchester Winter Farmers' Market, an awesome place to go for affordable healthy food this winter in Boston. I also am a community organizer for the Dorchester Community Food Coop, a start up organization that hopes to build a community-owned grocery store in the heart of Dorchester. An Awesome Foundation grant would go a long way in the LIFT Bike Project. We are a lighthearted and sometimes goofy, community-oriented organization that does a lot of good for a lot of people. Thank you for your consideration! Stay Awesome! Ben Sommer

Halifax, NS (Inativo) – SPACE BAGPIPERS

2012-02-29T00:00:00Z

I am a NSCAD student and a member of Dudes and Ladies Arts Society, a band of like-minded artists and enthusiasts committed to using our creativity, ingenuity, and love of a good time to bring great collaborative public art to Halifax and the world. SPACE BAGPIPERS is a public event/ intervention that would unfold like this: It is a weekend afternoon. Inexplicably, twenty or so bagpipers, dressed in fabulous silver spacesuits of variable specifics, appear in downtown Halifax. They walk down Barrington Street, one stopping on each corner, until they are distributed throughout the downtown core. Then they play their bagpipes, and glorious, droning, Highland cacophony fills the city for 15-20 minutes. When they are finished, they leave, reuniting with each other as they walk back from whence they came and forming a climactic, raucous, SPACE BAGPIPER parade, never to be seen again. The bagpipers would be volunteers from the legions of bagpipers employed in Halifax during the tourist season, offered lunch and the chance to participate in an event that appreciates their substantial skill and brings it to the local population in a fun, unexpected way during the off-season. The costumes will be made by me and the other talented members of Dudes and Ladies Arts Society, adapted to the functional specifics necessary for bag piping. NSCAD University’s Granville campus could serve as our home base/mothership. SPACE BAGPIPERS would be a marvellous departure from the everyday, a half-hour for revelry in the nonsensical, and an opportunity for spirits to be lifted in the grungy Halifax spring.

Houston (Inativo) – Evenings with Genetics

2012-02-29T00:00:00Z

Many families struggle to understand not only the genetic evaluation process and the medical care issues, but also the social and emotional component of this information. Several years ago I began organizing community outreach by working with our Baylor College of Medicine genetics faculty in offering seminars for the community. These are held at The Children’s Museum of Houston. The goals of our Evenings with Genetics series are to diminish the knowledge gaps, highlight local and national resources, and aid with family-to-family networking. Houston has a wonderful multicultural community and we are trying to reach out to Spanish-speaking families as well. We have offered simultaneous translation to Spanish at many of our seminars with the expertise of medical translators. The translation equipment to offer this service is rented and costly, which limits the number of times we can offer simultaneous translation. We strongly believe that families who understand their child’s genetic condition are better prepared to care and advocate for their child.

Montreal, QC (Inativo) – Les débats de rue

2012-02-23T00:00:00Z

Le projet des débats de rue vise à stimuler l’intérêt des Montréalais pour les enjeux touchant leur ville en démocratisant le débat, en le rendant accessible au plus grand nombre et en sollicitant l’intérêt et la participation de tous. Pour ce faire, nous souhaitons ramener le débat dans la rue, en créant une sorte «d’agora» spontanée. À raison de quatre débats de rue par année (un par saison), nous convierons les citoyens à débattre, dans un lieu public (parc, place publique, landmark), d’un enjeu d’actualité à Montréal. Dans un climat convivial et respectueux, des débatteurs d’opinions diverses seraient invités à intervenir et à stimuler la discussion. Puisque le tout se déroulera dans un lieu public, les passants seront attirés par l’événement et se joindront aux participants, puis au débat, élargissant ainsi l’impact de l’événement. Enrobé d’une symbolique rappelant la démocratie athénienne, les débats de rues seront le flash mob des amoureux de Montréal.

Calgary, AB (Inativo) – Gumsphere 300

2012-02-23T00:00:00Z

Gumsphere 300 is taking some very excellent musical and artistic talent from Calgary, mashing it all up into a crazy-awesome show and taking it on the road across North America in 8 tiny Ford Festivas. The audience is already pumped, the artists are primed, the itinerary is mostly locked in, and there's a lot of very good buzz about this. Everyone (and we mean EVERYONE – from radio to print to beer sponsors to online car forums) is behind this the second they hear about it! Did we mention the cars are customized? Did we mention that there'll be a full-length documentary made? Did we mention the young and talented Calgary bands are making tour contacts and career-enhancing moves all up in this festival? Car enthusiasts love it, music lovers love it, weirdo performing artists love it, and it's for all of them, and for you that Gumsphere 300 is happening. We're making it happen with a lot of their help, a lot of elbow grease and hopefully Awesome Calgary's $1000. Follow this project on Twitter (@Gumsphere300), Facebook (facebook.com/Gumsphere300) and at gumsphere300.com.

Calgary, AB (Inativo) – Timmy's Only Delivery Service

2012-02-23T00:00:00Z

We deliver coffee, donuts, and food from downtown Calgary restaurants to downtown Calgary businesses. - It's awesome because it shows people that the entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well regardless of our personal situation. - Hire on other homeless people and give them a sense of accomplishment and self worth as well as an opportunity to make a positive impact on their environment (and some income). - Our customers benefit due to the convenience and low cost of our service. - This project is scalable and easily replicated in other cities. The money will be used towards: - Providing marketing materials (fliers, business cards etc...) - Transportation fees (either transit pass or vehicle) - Materials (insulated bags) - Updated phone to enable connection through social media Follow this project on Twitter (@TimmysOnly), Facebook (facebook.com/TimmysOnly) and at timmysonly.com.

San Francisco, CA – Scents of San Francisco

2012-02-21T00:00:00Z

Create oils and perfumes from SF urban wildflowers and exhibit them. **************************** Using the enfleurage technique http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enfleurage I've collected the scent of local flowers. I would like to take my scent project and begin to collect more locally gathered essences. I am looking at this work as fine art meeting functional products that tell a story. Color and Scent Alchemy - Localism. Taking it one step further beyond the enfleurage technique I would like to begin to collect local scents in more complicated ways. This has led me to the study of distillation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distillation I have sourced several good d.i.y. home scale size safe units on the market that would allow me to collect a wider array of types of smells beyond flowers and leading into leaves/barks/coniferous needles/dry or fresh plant materials and even resins/saps... I would like to use this unit along with other methods to collect scents from specific areas combined with other media - installation-video- wall based works and sculpture to tell a story related to this scent. I will post scented material request bulletins online and in print in various locations to get locals to participate in the collection (especially in their own yards and gardens). There will be a blog, an interactive online map and an art book/look book for the project including a sample of the finished scent. Larger bottles will be available utilizing a hand blown hand etched bottle created by a friend and local glass artist. An opening party for the project would incorporate local foods and locally harvested colors via locally sourced and sustainably harvested plant dyes. Eco scent and color magic - visual art and a collectible beautiful special and rare product/art piece.

Chicago, IL – Silent Theater Seeks Voice

2012-02-18T00:00:00Z

It may seem strange that a theater artist obsessed with language decided to create a play that doesn’t use a single word. However, making theater in Chicago, I’ve noticed that language divides audiences more than it connects them. Chicago is a diverse, vibrant city overflowing with cultures and languages, but our theater scene - an art form that is at its best when it brings strangers together to share a common experience - is only available in one. That experience of a common experience is at the core of The Story Story, a new wordless theater piece premiering April 16 at The Plagiarists Salon, followed by performances in May as part of The Fable Festival, throughout Chicago and beyond, for English and non English-speaking audiences. What if, by eliminating the need for a common language, one theater piece could communicate with anyone? What if audiences from different backgrounds and cultures, could laugh, wonder, and gasp with delight next to one another? Well. I think it would be pretty awesome. So I made this play. I got rid of all those pesky words. I focused on other ways of storytelling: images, gestures, sound and music. Drawing inspiration from wordless picture books, The Story Story uses over 300 meticulously storyboarded images by a team of visual artists, each projected and hand-animated during the live performance. Our silent but articulate narrators are two painstakingly designed and sculpted puppets, each brought to life by her own actor/puppeteer. Now, all we need is the voice of the play: music. The Story Story uses one continuous, expressive score to do what music does so beautifully: draw us in for quiet moments, stun us with discovery, and ultimately charm us with its beauty. Our vision is clear: neo-classical, building in complexity: a rich, layered sound that will create movement to counter the still images, allow for moments of stillness, and rocket us through the climax of the play. From the first design meeting through rehearsals and acceptance into festivals and performance venues, The Story Story has been built in true Chicago theater fashion: using all available resources, personal funds, in-kind donations, and through the grace of individual donors. However, this final step, creating and recording the score, is a big one. With your help we can make it.

Kingston – RecordSMASH

2012-02-16T00:00:00Z

In March, I plan to unicycle 100 miles in six and a half hours and break the Guinness World Record for the fastest ever 100 miles ridden on a unicycle. I'll do this by lapping the Kingston Memorial Centre's cinder track 192 times. The goals of the event are to: - raise awareness about making Kingston a Certified Fair-Trade City and sustainability - provide entertainment and enjoyment for the community, including: chocolate fondue, learn-to-unicycle workshops, live music, and farmer's market booths - support the Engineers Without Borders Queen's Chapter's initiatives, including the youth outreach program, fair-trade advocacy, and African programs which empower and improve conditions for African farmers, and support local sustainable farmers. The goals of this project align themselves with Kingston’s goals of becoming the most sustainable city in Canada, since a major component of Fair Trade Certification is sustainability criteria. This event has the potential to move Kingston toward attaining this goal! Fair-trade products will be available for sampling or purchasing, and we will be having a huge fair-trade fondue party in the parking lot. Live bands will be playing throughout the event and people will be encouraged to try out this difficult sport themselves through our learn-to-unicycle workshops put on by the Kingston Unicycling Group. There will also be unicycle jousting at this event... maybe. We believe that Kingston can become a Fair-Trade city. This sets a tone for the city and brings people together for a united cause, and set Kingston's national reputation in a positive light.

Grand Rapids, MI (Inativo) – Kentwoodpalooza!

2012-02-15T00:00:00Z

My name is Greg Lewis, I am the teen librarian at Kent District Library-Kentwood Branch. Last summer, I reached out to local businesses, and along with our "friends of the library" we hosted the first ever “Kentwoodpalooza” which featured local teen rock bands. This was the final event in the Teen SRC (Summer Reading Club). 150 attended the event. This summer, I hope to expand this event by offering a Teen SRC kickoff event in addition to the final event. My hope is to attract many area teens to the library at the beginning of SRC. This way, teens can find out what their library has to offer and how they can become involved. Often, teens are an underserved segment in the population, and just knowing there is a welcoming place can make a huge difference in a young person’s life. The opening event would feature teen bands, free food, and the opportunity to sign up for the SRC. They will also learn about other summer offerings at their library. At the conclusion of summer, the final event will feature a local professional music act, food, and we would have the SRC prize drawings. Our library serves a diverse, multicultural community and this is a great opportunity for teens to interact and meet with new friends.

Pittsburgh, PA – Community Steps Cooperative

2012-02-15T00:00:00Z

The Community Steps Cooperative seeks to preserve and promote the Pittsburgh city steps by organizing community support and resources. To accomplish this, we plan to solicit community feedback and support, act as a liaison between neighborhoods and their local government, host events, and carry out projects that improve and promote the use of the Pittsburgh city steps. Our organization currently consists of 2 volunteer staff, a board of 5 directors, and several partners who lend their talents to our cause. The city’s steps are historic features that contribute accessibility and a distinct character to nearly every neighborhood, with over 700 sets throughout the city. Many of these sets, however, are in need of repair and even more go without regular care and maintenance. In a city already strapped for infrastructure funds, there is a critical need for community involvement to improve and maintain these historic features. With only a little help, a set of steps can kept free of snow and ice during the winter and remain a beautiful environment during the warmer months. Our organization plans to create a network of community members who care about their neighborhood steps, serve as a resource for people who want to help out or make use of the steps, and make use of available funding opportunities to make improvements. To begin, we will plan several meetings to let neighborhood groups know about our goals and give feedback, host a series of volunteer days to improve several targeted steps, and hold a few events to raise money and awareness about our organization. Our group has been planning since October, and with some initial funding, we are ready to take action this Spring. Our staff consists of MJ Flott, a local resident and community activist who has provided crucial leadership from the beginning and Alex Lake, who brings an understanding of non-profit operations, technology, and fundraising to the team. We have partnered with UpTo | Know Good, a consultancy providing initial planning and identity support. While the City will not support us financially, they have otherwise offered to assist us however they can. Our organization has begun the process of incorporation and is seeking nonprofit status. After a period of successful events and actions, we plan to raise money from individuals and foundations, allowing us to add capacity and become a reliable and effective presence throughout the city in supporting the steps and the green-space around them.

Seattle, WA – Re-Animated! An Exquisite Corpse Event

2012-02-14T00:00:00Z

SEAT (Seattle Experimental Animation Team) - we make unusual things and show them in unusual places. Animators don't get out much, the work is painfully slow and when our members collect enough new works, we screen, in theaters, cafes, barns, on walls, kites, warehouses… We need to get out and throw a party. Our last in 2009 was the Funtacular, a mobbed animation event with four projection screens featuring twelve local artists. Our first new event of 2012 is an exquisite corpse animation custom devised by us, and we need to pay the artists. Re-Animated! will be held on art walk at Zeitgeist in Pioneer square, and feature three projections, on screens and windows, and four of our flying cinema kites suspended from the ceiling. In addition to new works, seven animators are shooting an original collective film (the exquisite corpse) to be premiered that night. Bringing animation to non-film locations has been one of our best activities. Outside our globally touring animation program, we've created animation installations at Susan Robb's Long Walk (2011), Arabica Coffee (2011), Zeitgeist (2009) and we're embarked on a commission in Cal Anderson park to animate a wall mural for Sound Transit over the course of four years.

Sydney – Hungry Ghost sound walk

2012-02-14T00:00:00Z

A gothic play set in the alleys of Surry Hills uncovering its dark history. It will take the form of an audio walk. A listener will download an audio track or app of the play. Wearing headphones they hear the story play out on the streets they are walking, referencing landmarks and features they pass. The walk will use binaural sound recording. This is made with two microphones positioned near a person's ears so the recording replicates how you normally experience sound. The technique is more immersive then normal recordings enabling the listener to feel that they are walking in the story rather then just listening to it. A man could whisper in your left ear, a horse might suddenly exhale just behind you, the sound of drinking might seem as if it is coming from your own mouth. The setting of the sound walk will be in contemporary Surry Hills but will go back in time to the early 1900s of plague quarantines, rat catching was a lucrative job and the war was seen as a “restricted holiday” out of the Surry Hills slums. The streets were run by fashionable young gang members. And the Chinese living in the area were a dying community following restrictive immigration policies and problems with gambling and opium dens. The walk will follow two cousins of Chinese descent as they try and find the home of their ancestors. They hope to make an offering to be rid of a hungry ghost troubling their families. Hungry ghosts are spirits that return to take what they can if sufficient offerings haven't been made by their living relatives. They recount old family stories to try and locate the home and as the stories are told the listener goes back to the early 1900s. The focus of the story will be on the early Chinese of the Surry Hills community, a point of view rarely explored. When all episodes are completed they will be delivered via mobile app. TEAM Susanna Dowling (Director) Assoc Director at PlayWriting Australia, previously Associate Artist at Company B Belvoir, 2011 recipient of Mind's Eye commission at Bell Shakespeare. Ekrem Mulayim (Sound) Masters Composition at Sydney Conservatorium. 2011 nominee for best score or sound design at the Sydney Theatre Awards. Theatre credits include 'Yellow Moon', 'Cut' and 'The Kiss' at Belvoir, 'Tell it like it isn’t' for Australian Theatre for Young People and 'Vigil' for Spirit House Theatre Company. Mei Tsering (Writer) PlayWriting Australia Salon 2011, Associate Writer at Belvoir St Theatre (current). App developer

Ann Arbor, MI – Youth Fitness Room

2012-02-05T00:00:00Z

Hello, I'm Quinn Phillips from Ozone House Youth and Family Services. I am requesting an Awesome Grant to create a youth fitness room at our emergency shelter for homeless and at-risk kids. The grant would be used for equipment which would be used by hundreds of young people each year, and would save our organization $900 annually. We deserve this grant, because Ozone House is one of the most awesome non-profits in Michigan! We give homeless and runaway youth: a safe place to stay, counseling, support, and opportunities to have fun and improve themselves, all free of charge. Check us out at: www.ozonehouse.org We're also awesome at recognizing our donors. This would make a great photo op! Why do we need the money? We've been looking for ways to get our clients more active. Besides teaching them the importance of regular exercise, physical activity really helps ease the depression, stress, and frustration that many at-risk youth experience. In the past, we've bought passes to local gyms. Although the kids really enjoy going, they are embarrassed when they see people they know. Since they must be supervised at all times, their friends quickly realize they are there as part of a program. Also, gym memberships for up to six youth are expensive. Having our very own work out room would save us over $900 each year. We've recently had to cut our hours at our Drop-In Center due to funding problems, so anywhere we can save money would be an enormous help. I love taking on big projects to help out at-risk kids in Washtenaw County. As a facilitator of the Queer Zone support group for LGBTQ youth at Ozone House Ypsilanti, I single-handedly created and organized the annual “Kicked Out the Jams!” benefit concert which has raised over $8000 for LGBTQ youth at risk of homelessness in the past two years. You can read more about my awesomeness here: http://markmaynard.com/2011/10/youve-just-crossed-over-into-the-queer-zone/ How will we pull this off? The agency has already approved turning our basement into a work out room, if we find funding for the project. We have plenty of volunteers willing to set everything up, we just need money for equipment. Thank you for your consideration, Quinn Phillips Education Coordinator Ozone House Youth and Family Services qphillips@ozonehouse.org 734 662-2265

Zürich (Inativo) – (Un)bedingte Freiheit - Freiheit Unbedingt

2012-02-01T00:00:00Z

Saluti an das Awesome-Team, ich würde euch gerne mein Herzensprojekt vorstellen, für das ich eure Unterstützung dringend benötige. zu mir: ich bin ein 28jähriges Madel und arbeite seit 1,5 Jahre in der forensischen Wissenschaft in Zürich. Nach stunden- und tagelangem Akten-welzen ist mir durch das lesen der vielen, fesselnden Geschichten der jungen Straftäter eine Idee gekommen, die mich seitdem nicht mehr los lässt. zum Projekt: Dabei geht es um die Frage: Was bedeutet (bedingte) Freiheit und Gefangenschaft für jeden einzelnen der jungen Gefangenen und lässt sich dieses Gefühl in Bilder fassen. Hierfür soll den interessierten, jungen Tätern eine Einwegkamera übergeben werden, mit der Augenblicke, Situationen, Gegenstände eingefangen werden können, die mit dem Gefühl von Freiheit und Gefangenschaft assoziiert werden. Es geht um die Bewertung der Person, die unmittelbar davon betroffen ist oder war und um das Bewusst werden (sowohl des Photographen) als auch uns Außenstehenden was Freiheitsentzug bedeuten kann. Der Blick der jungen Häftlinge soll hierbei völlig wertfrei eingefangen werden und anschließend im Rahmen einer kleinen Broschüre und Ausstellung präsentiert werden. Ich habe bereits Kontakt zu dem Massnahmezentrum Uitikon (www.mzu.zh.ch) aufgenommen und das Projekt bei den Jungs der Austrittsabteilung (die nur noch im MZU schlafen) sowie der Halb-Offenen Abteilung (die nur für die Beurlaubung, den Ausgang und teilweise für die Ausbildung nach "draussen" dürfen) vorgestellt. Insgesamt haben sich 9 der Jungs gemeldet, die gerne freiwillig an dem Kunstprojekt teilnehmen würden. Die Einwegkameras wurden bereits ausgehändigt und werden in den kommenden zwei Wochen eingesammelt und entwickelt. Zudem wurden den Jugendlichen allgemeine Fragen gestellt, wie z.B. "was bedeutet Freiheit für dich?", "hat sich dieses Gefühl seit der Gefangenschaft verändert?" ....Nach der Entwicklung und Vergrösserung der Bilder werden diese mit jedem einzelnen der 9 jungen Täter besprochen und Fragen zu den einzelnen Bildern gestellt...z.B. "warum steht dieses Bild für Freiheit bzw. Gefangenschaft" "was löst es in dir aus "sind dir die Bilder leicht gefallen"...und schliesslich die Bilder für die Ausstellung bzw. Broschüre ausgewählt. Insbesondere für die nun folgende Umsetzung des Photo-Projekts ist eine finanzielle Unterstützung nötig und entscheidet auch über den Rahmen und die Möglichkeiten der Umsetzung. Vielen Dank für euer Interesse an unseren Herzensprojekten

Berlin (Inativo) – Acpad Guitar

2012-02-01T00:00:00Z

I develloped in July 2011 a guitar, i can play techno with. so far i played at several techno clubs with it, as a "live dj" in berlin, only with one guitar. A video shows it without wasting to much words here: My gigs where within half a year at venues like katerholzig, ritterbutzke, volksbühne, betahaus, sisyphos, mikz, ruigoord in amsterstam I am a berlin based artist and live with the money of my gigs since November 2011. in summer i tour with my vw bus and my self built sound equipment troley + guitar project. for booking gigs, creating music, playing gigs, surving, finding place to stay etc, the crazy live style of an artist... There are 3 different project ideas around the guitar idea with different budgets necessary to make it possible, according what you are interessted in most, i can send you more details. the 3 different ideas are written below!

Houston (Inativo) – Hear Our Houston

2012-01-31T00:00:00Z

Hear Our Houston is a hub of public generated audio walking tours that should be amplifying more of our city’s incredibly diverse and fascinating voices. All sorts of folks record their thoughts, stories, memories, and knowledge while taking a walk. They then upload the audio tour to HearOurHouston.com where anyone can download it for free to their mp3 player, retrace the tour maker’s steps, layer meaning into geography and try on another point of view. These tours are not a list of easily consumable hotspots made by flat, expected characters. From point A to point B, you walk, you discover meaning in details you never noticed and the in-between spaces you wouldn’t have sought to arrive at. Houston is a city of great but hidden richness only truly discovered by experience and word of mouth. In a place where walking is nearly a radical act, Hear Our Houston is excavating some of our hidden gems, layering meaning into geography, preserving our oral history, and celebrating our common sense of space.

Toronto – Bellwood's Push Mower Society (BPMs)

2012-01-30T00:00:00Z

The core of the idea is this: mow the grass of city parks as a community.The revolutionary part is the use of standard push mowers, rather than anything gas powered or automatic. Consider reducing the high cost of employing city workers to constantly maintain the park, which might enable the city to divert those funds to improving swimming pools, or updating other park facilities to get our children outside more often. This one small change could improve the air quality of our community green spaces, not to mention get us laughing and chatting together. It could happen monthly, or bi-weekly -- citizens could plan after events accordingly. I have a couple contacts within the Toronto Park system, which would help with co-ordination. Once the project was established, we could introduce elements such as push mower derbies: participants could decorate their mowers and introduce their ideas on grass cutting and landscaping. Awards could be offered for best design. Instructions on blade sharpening would be available. The hope is for the use of push mowers over gas powered alternatives to spread to home use, and to other neighbourhood parks. With increased interest, sponsorship would begin to crop up: manufacturers offering mowers on a trial basis. This is an easy, fun and inexpensive way to inspire our future generations that a little physical work is good for the spirit, as well as the environment. My family and I would be proud and thrilled to participate in such an enterprise.

Pittsburgh, PA – The Drift (formerly Art Barge)

2012-01-30T00:00:00Z

In November 2011, a group of seven artists and MFA students from Carnegie Mellon University embarked on the idea of creating an artificial island that will drift about Pittsburgh's rivers while hosting and facilitating creative projects and performances. Our intent is to help activate the city’s rivers as a venue for cultural events and inspire new ways of looking at what we feel is Pittsburgh’s greatest underutilized resource. By building this platform, we will be able to engage those who would not typically attend traditional “white box” arts venues. Furthermore, we intend to create ties within the arts community by opening the platform to proposals from anyone in the city. Design-wise, the island consists of a number of floating hexagonal modules or stages, approximately 12 feet across, which can be linked together to create a shape appropriate for the project at hand. The first of several platforms has already been constructed and the second is underway, but we will need additional financial support to complete the project and support programming. Currently, we are in the process of reaching out to organizations that are dedicated to connecting local residents with Pittsburgh’s rivers, such as Pittsburgh Riverlife. In addition, we are developing plans for community outreach initiatives with the hope of utilizing this platform as a catalyst for public reflection on the future potential of the three rivers. We have a diverse core team including artists, designers and engineers who work at the intersection of art and science, performance and sound, interactive projects and public art. With respect to the project, our team is dedicated to design, engineering, promotion, social networking, and community outreach. Please visit our blog to find out more about our individual and collaborative projects: http://artbarge.tumblr.com/team Proposed ideas for the platform so far include a “paddle-in” movie theater, winter desert island, concert stage, museum for objects dredged from the river bottom, miniature campsite, floating cafe, and more. Calls for submissions for guest projects will be open in late March, and our goal is to produce four projects throughout 2012.

Kitchener-Waterloo – Spark Music Festival

2012-01-30T00:00:00Z

Hello My name is Richard Garvey. I'm a musician and music promoter from Kitchener, ON. www.richardgarvey.ca I am working as Artistic Coordinator with Spark Music Festival in Waterloo, ON. The 2012 festival is set for May 26th. We have received lots of support from the Trillium Foundation and The City of Waterloo to operate this festival. The funding we have received has been allocated for promoting the festival and renting Waterloo Park and creating a stage for the day. What we need is more cash to pay the bands, and to be able to hire the best bands possible. Spark music festival is an eclectic music festival. Showcasing all types of music. We focus on promoting local musicians, connecting community members to local art and to local organizations that do good work in our community. At the festival several local organizations that do environmental and social justice work will be present and have a chance to meet new people who might be interested in supporting their advocacy by volunteering, donating or creating awareness. This is the second year for spark. With the first festival being 2010. It was a learning experience. We had amazing national talent like rock band Zeus. We took a year off to re-vision and apply for grants.

Calgary, AB (Inativo) – Projection Bombing

2012-01-26T00:00:00Z

- I am a theatre artist, animator, and tinkerer who wants to explore new ways to interact with our urban environment. - Let's create an independently powered mobile video projection unit, mounted onto a modified bicycle trailer for maximum portability. - Combinine video technologies with open-source software to allow citizens to "paint" the city's blank walls with video, or "tag" a building with a laser, or create video walls which interact with passersby. - Bicycle-powered: highly mobile, compact, and flexible enough to be set up at various downtown spots, festivals, train yards, parks, etc. for all Calgarians to enjoy. I possess most of the video equipment needed in my shop, but the money would go towards building a portable rig, specifically: - A dedicated bicycle and trailer to modify - A power generator / battery system - A powerful laser pointer or two (to use as a brush to "laser tag") - Infrared diodes and sensors for "paintbrushes" - possibly a brighter projector for maximum effect on large urban surfaces

Boston, MA – Project Afghanistan - Magicians Without Borders

2012-01-25T00:00:00Z

I have a growing children's magic class in Kabul, Afghanistan, but we need $1000 for magic supplies to make use of local materials. This project began when I was in Boston at Harvard Divinity School. I decided to raise money by running the Boston marathon -- while juggling (or "joggling" as it's called). The Boston-Afghanistan connection remains through a friend network I've worked hard to build at Harvard and MIT. I've been working in Afghanistan as a juggling teacher and aid worker since 2005. In 2009, I started a magic class for street kids and orphans, housed at the Afghan Educational Children's Circus (www.AfghanMMCC.org). The children use magic as part of their educational stage performances that reach over 300,000 children every year. Magic is a great tool for building their self-esteem, equipping them with means to earn income in the future, and improving the capacity of their educational messages to reach the masses (e.g. how to avoid malaria, how to wash hands when you don't have soap, how to resolve conflict with peers, etc.). I'm really excited for this summer. Tom Verner, founder of Magicians Without Borders, will be joining me this summer (June, 2012). Our vision is to develop some bigger stage tricks that could be used on national television in this war-torn country. In a place where everything seems impossible, magic is a great way to inspire hope that the impossible is possible. But we're missing one thing: magic equipment. Magic props for stage performances require funds for construction. Purchased in the US they are very expensive. They are cheaper to make in India. No one in the US is willing to donate such equipment, so these need to be custom ordered. $1000 would go a long way for the stage props we have in mind, some of which would need to be welded, others chemically treated. We estimate about 4 months are needed to prepare the props.

Grand Rapids, MI (Inativo) – R4AC Cycling Project

2012-01-23T00:00:00Z

Cancer affects so many people and has completely changed my life. Last October, after a hard fought 3 year battle, we lost my Mom to Colon Cancer. While watching/supporting my mother through this battle I saw how much support, strength, optimism, and luck one needs while battling this dieses. This experience has shaped me into who I am today. Through time, I have to continue to move forward with my life not dwelling in the past as it cannot be changed. As an avenue to cope with the loss, I continue to look to exercise and sports. I was always encouraged to try new things while growing up in Northern Michigan. This led me to alpine skiing, Mountain Biking, Cycling and my new awesome idea! My idea is to take my passion for cycling and use it as an avenue to raise money for cancer patients in West Michigan. Exercise is a very important part of a cancer patient’s path to recovery both during and after Chemo treatments. Lacks Cancer Center has an exercise program called Cancer Well-fit, which encourages patients to take an active role in their recovery. The program however does have an out-of-pocket expense for patients to join. This is where R4AC (Race for a Cure) Cycling Project comes in. The Cycling team will be active in fundraising by selecting three main endurance events(to be determined). We will be looking to raise at least $100 for each event that will be used to help support cancer patients in Grand Rapids. Another fundraising event the team will do is the “Race for a Reason” campaign. With this campaign we are looking for $50 donations from individuals to have loved ones initials placed on our jerseys for the year. We are already having a lot of interest with this idea. 100% of the money raised by this campaign will go to paying for Cancer Well-fit memberships for patients at Lacks Cancer Center. The Team will also plan other various fundraising activities through-out the year to provide additional funds for this cause. We are comprised of four members with a variety cycling abilities from Cat 3 and 4 for road, expert/sport for Mountain Biking. Along with fundraising our plan is to also promote cycling in West Michigan which has continued to grow over the past 10 years. Grand Rapids and the surrounding area offers close to 30 events, a majority of which R4AC plans to attend. Thank you for your time and together we can support individuals with cancer as well as grow cycling in West Michigan.

Connecticut (Inativo) – Lullaby CD for Neo-Natal ICU

2012-01-19T00:00:00Z

The Ridgefield Symphony Orchestra is a professional orchestra now celebrating its 47th year. We present subscription concerts throughout the year to a loyal audience. Last year we had the idea to collaborate with the Danbury Hospital, who recently opened a new neo-natal intensive care unit. Members of the orchestra will gather at Enchanted Garden, a facility in Ridgefield, to record a CD of lullabies from around the world. Monica Yunus, a Metropolitan Opera singer, has volunteered to record one of the songs, along with Mara Bonde, a broadway soloist who has performed with the RSO in the past. Other singers include Daniela Sikora, director of the Ridgefield Chorale, a singing group of 85 members, and Carrie Chanin, a professional singer who lives in Ridgefield and has performed with the RSO. All singers are volunteering their time. The CDs will be presented to Danbury Hospital at an event in the spring, and one will be given to every baby who is cared for in the neonatal intensive care unit. The project is being funded through donations and volunteer efforts.

Kingston – Farmer to Farmer Forum

2012-01-19T00:00:00Z

The CRAFT Kingston organic farmers' network is made up of roughly 12 farms and focuses on knowledge transfer and social networking as ways to build the capacity of member farms to run successful farm businesses and supply the Kingston region with fresh organic food. We have recently decided that a "Farmer to Farmer Forum", an online interactive communication tool, needs to be developed in order to improve our ability to share knowledge, resources, and other information about opportunities to collaborate. This would enable an entirely new way of communicating, one that could archive the exchanges for future reference by many Kingston area farmers and decentralize the coordination responsibility maintaining a limited dependence on outside funding. We have been operating as CRAFT Kingston for three years now and have been developing our ability to train new farmers and share knowledge through workshops and farm yours to support one another. We have discussed the importance of effective and simple communication to our network and the Farmer to Farmer Forum could not only amplify the effectiveness of CRAFT Kingston but also help educate and network with the community!

Ottawa – Apartment613 Lecture Series

2012-01-15T00:00:00Z

The winner of the January Awesome Ottawa grant is Ryan Saxby Hill and the Apt613 team! Apartment613 hosts a popular blog and weekly radio show focused on great events and happenings in Ottawa. Boasting over 20,000 readers a month, the team has been exploring different ways of spurring on the growth of Ottawa as an awesome place to live. The team has started Apartment613 Community Initiatives and will host a series of lectures and discussions that will explore themes on how to make Ottawa a better place. Topics range from creating a public library that would be the envy of the country to engaging Ottawa’s youth through city-funded skate parks. They hope to host these lectures seasonally starting in February 2012 and will disseminate each session through www.apt613.ca and on CHUO FM. The grant from Awesome Ottawa will allow the team to rent the necessary equipment and space costs for at least four lectures, allowing them to host a full year of events. We are excited to have this initiative in Ottawa and eagerly look forward to being a part of it!

Seattle, WA – Safe Sex Kits for Homeless Teens

2012-01-10T00:00:00Z

I work at a Crisis Residential Center for teens in Seattle and King County. We get a monthly average of 40 different teens staying with us due to some sort of crisis in their housing. We take care of their basic needs and try to provide them with tools and resources for improving their situation. One of the things we notice is that teens in this situation are more likely to engage in sex without having the knowledge or the resources to do so safely. We address the knowledge by having the folks from www.scarleteen.com come and talk to them in a non judgmental, inclusive and positive way about STI, Pregnancy & healthy relationships. However access to everything one would need for having safe sex is limited, also what is limiting is a way for them to keep this stuff together during unstable housing situations. One of comments from a teen in class was how cool it would be to create a "Safe Sex Kit", something that would hold all the little things needed and would roll up and be discreet. We looked around, didn't find anything that was specific for this purpose and came up with a prototype that would safely hold a variety of materials (condoms, dental dams, lube, birth control, gloves, cleansing clothes, etc) and could easily been sewn together by teens and volunteers. We would pull this together by giving volunteers the materials and the pattern to sew them, collect the completed kits and then stock them with the various items needed. We would offer these to the teens that come to our shelter when they do the classes or if they identify that they would use this kit. The educators from Scarleteen.com could also distribute them in their outreach. Our goal would be to create and distribute 50 fully stocked kits by the end of 2012. This is doable because we have the knowledge, a prototype and access to other organizations who would be willing to provide materials, volunteers as well as items needed to stock the kits. We will also like to be able to provide at cost a copy of the book "S.E.X.: The All-You-Need-To-Know Progressive Sexuality Guide to Get You Through High School and College".

Sydney – The Dollar Shop

2012-01-10T00:00:00Z

Our project is The Dollar Shop. The Dollar Shop is a concept developed and curated by us; Alex De Bonis and Louise Helliwell. We established and run Tough Titties (toughtitties.com.au) a website which is dedicated to showcasing Australian female creative talent. At last years Sydney Design Festival we curated an group show with 20 local female artists and designers who all exhibited their work on giant dollies. City of Sydney have recently awarded Tough Titties a short-term lease on an empty shop in the city for a reduced rent, but with no funding or grants to help establish and run the project. So what is The Dollar Shop? It is a multi-purpose space that allows collaboration between creatives and is both an artistic statement, a learning environment (with workshops and talks) and a shopping experience! A reaction to the current economic crisis, the main prerequisite for the shop is that all products, despite having a low price to attract customers should nonetheless allow a profit margin for the artists. It is a unique retail experience that will sell well designed products at economical prices. The idea of The Dollar Shop is that local designers and artists sell their goods under the conditions that items must be sold for no more than $1, $5, $10 or $20. All items must be made or designed by the artist. What makes the The Dollar Shop awesome is that it’s the ultimate low cost high quality shopping experience. It challenges the idea of what a commercial retail space should be. It isn’t just a shopping experience, but is a place of value, not only economically, but in a cultural way to the community that it inhibits. Based on the model used by McSweeney’s Superhero Supply Company in Brooklyn or their Monster Supplies Store in London, The Dollar Shop will also be a space with a dual function. The back section of the shop will be a place for workshops and talks which will also be available at Dollar Shop prices. It is our intention that this space will provide the opportunity for the wider community to learn new skills, listen to talks and participate/communicate directly with artists and designers. The Dollar Shop isn’t about making money – it’s about opening up design to everyone, making it accessible and inspiring; it’s also about learning and sharing skills and knowledge by encouraging people to contribute in many different ways.

Grand Rapids, MI (Inativo) – Heels that Heal

2011-12-28T00:00:00Z

I am a mom of two girls who is passionate about youth and their struggle to be youthful. I am a LPN, I work in Public Health as a HIV/AIDS tester and counselor and Disease Intervention Specialist. I am in constant company of youth and hurt when I cant afford to take just one worry away from them for atleast a moment. My project is focused on providing Heels for young girls to wear to their school dances ie:(homecoming, sweetheart swirl, prom etc..). The original plan was to solicit donated heels from celebrities with a message along with their donated pair of heels but as I continually talk w/ my daughters, their friends and parents, alot of them need dresses as well. I plan to ask for those w/ dresses already to donate a dress, ask for a cleaners to donate the cleaning of the donated dresses, ask celebrities for donated shoes, but hold a sell, 3 times a year with the donated dresses and shoes, by selling tickets for $10. Your ticket allows you to pick a dress and a pair of shoes. The $10 fee goes towards purchasing what ever dresses or shoes are needed so that there is a pair of shoes for every dress, for every young lady who needs it. It would be awesome to have this spin off into suits and shoes for males as well. This work is planned to be carried out by Volunteers, hopefully the youth that will in return benefit from their involvement as well.

Toronto – Flamin' Rainbows

2011-12-27T00:00:00Z

My name's Alex and I run Site 3 in Toronto, which helps people make amazing things. I also like to make amazing things, some of which you can see on my website. My friends mostly like to make extremely big, noisy things with fire, and I'm interested in fire art as well, but a different aspect of it: I'm interested in interactions. Flame art interactions are quite straightforward at the moment, black and white, on or off at varying brightness and fury. I think this could be improved, and therefore have designed a system to dynamically colour LP-Gas flame effects on the fly. What I would like to do is build the system for demonstration, very possibly into a steel display sculpture of an incredibly tacky rhinoceros. The goal is to have the system shoot six-colour rainbows in bursts of flame. Full rainbows, because flaming rainbows are funny and a good indicator everything is working properly. All six really-visible colours, ROYGBV, the ones you can get out of metal salts and water. I want to make this into a system that can be taken apart and mounted to any other different _future_ sculpture, so we end up with a relatively safe system for responsively coloured flame effects that will not hose people with methanol, the most common safety risk of coloured fire after burning. This system could then be used by other people in ever more interesting interactions. Essentially, I would like to make coloured flame where the blinky LED on the demo usually goes, then install it into different things that look better with fire than floodlights. I have full schematics, designed with the help of an engineer. I also have my Record of Training for handling large amounts of propane, MIG art-welding experience, and a working demo of the Venturi effect colouring a torch green. I know this will work! I built a large part of the Heart Machine, and run an awesome workspace, and I love working with my hands. I might manage this either way, but funding would make it happen much, much faster. And I think it's funny! It is a _flaming rainbow_, for mounting to a _unicorn_. How is that anything but totally awesome? I present to you that it is, in fact, rad. Thanks for your attention.

Chicago, IL – Da Favela to the Guetto: Pinhole Photography

2011-12-17T00:00:00Z

Hello, I'm Paco Barba, designer and photographer who works with a cultural center in Brazil, (Centro Cultural São Paulo), I hope this email finds you well. Interested in the compromise with our community, the work I have developed through out the years, working with a record label in Chicago, a museum and a community radio station, has given me the tools and opportunity to pursue my dream, creating a harmony on our community where cultural exchange is our door to the world. Therefore I'm pleased to present you with this project: Working in conjunction with a Brazilian photographer who lives in Rio de Janeiro, we are creating a workshop about creativity using handmade photographic images as cultural exchange that reflects the differences and similarities of everyday life on the Favelas in Brazil and the Ghettos in the US through the eyes of kids, teenagers and young adults within the communities. By using a simple homemade camera (pinhole) made with recyclable materials (can, matchbox, soap box, etc.) the youths are taught how to make a camera, how to shoot as well as well as how to develop the film through a homemade inexpensive process. Think about an handcrafted photographic postcard project made by kids and young adults, as if they were sending these postcards to each other from abroad to let the world to see their world. The idea is to create a workshop with teenagers and young adults in a Chicago community and in Rio de Janeiro or/and Salvador, Bahia Brazil and have Yollocalli Youth Center in Chicago U.S.A and the Museum Da Imagem e do Som (Museum of Image and Sound) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to organize, get the kids together throughout their extensive network with non-profits and, at the end of the workshop to organize and exhibition, therefore show the work of the kids. The objective of this project is to integrate the kids to a program that allows them to work with their familiar surroundings and, through all different steps of the workshop create a positive impact on them by awaking their creativity at maximum. The result, images of everyday life with a camera made with recyclable materials. We have H.O.L.A. organization (L.A.) and Yollocalli Youth Center (Chicago) and Pierre Verger Foundation in Salvador, Bahia Brazil on board to organize, recruit kids and let us use their space for the classes. We are looking at a month or a month and half per city and we are hoping to have from 10 to 20 youths per workshop.

Kingston – Jeannie's Place

2011-12-15T00:00:00Z

There are many things that put smiles on people's faces! Big positive events can be some of the obvious ones, but often it is the small things in life that really can bring a lasting smile to the faces of many people. Our idea is to provide some laundry facilities to those in Kingston who are low income. HIV/AIDS Regional Services is an organization that serves people who are living with HIV/AIDS, while not all of our clients are low income a large number of them are. They are marginalized within the community, often in many ways and experience discrimination daily. For our clients many of life's small joys are out of reach. Even something like laundry, which is something most people often take for granted, when you don't have enough money to buy food, scratching up the cash to go to the Laundromat, or even buy the soap required, can be daunting or even impossible. By giving people a place where they can get something as simple as clean clothes will go a long way to improving their quality of life. There is something special about putting on a sweater on a cold day that is fresh out of the dryer. This is one simple, small thing that may seem like a stretch, but just picture how you feel when you slip into bed with clean sheets, or pull that warm sweater over your head. It's one of those moments that go unnoticed by many, but is unreachable for others. This grant would allow us to make those moments a reality for many.

Airdrie, AB (Inativo) – SLAM (Support Local Airdrie Musicians)

2011-12-14T00:00:00Z

The first Awesome Airdrie Pitch Party lived up to its name. More than 60 people came to TAJ Restaurant December 14 to cheer on the four finalists in their bid to win $1000 cash to support their awesome idea. SLAM (Support Local Airdrie Musicians) sold the judges on the innovative concept of their organization, their well thought out list of objectives and how the $1000 would jumpstart their action plan. Jay Stoudt presenter for SLAM and one of the founding members said he was up all night after the pitch party, he was “so stoked”. “We thought all the pitches were awesome and we were so surprised to win,” Stoudt said. “This gives us a really good kick start to getting our initiatives into gear which includes getting our society papers registered, booking the Bert Church Theatre for an open mic night in March and creating promotional materials to reach out to all the local basement and garage solo musicians and bands to get them involved.” The judges, who were Winning Edge finalists, faced four awesome ideas and collectively agreed that each one deserved to come to life. Guest judge Dr. Terry Rock, CEO of Calgary Art Development, who had donated the $1000 from his speaking fee in October at the Winning Edge Awards, made the announcement after the judges deliberated for twenty minutes. “There was palpable enthusiasm from all of the presenters last night!” Dr. Rock said, “The judges thought that all four ideas had merit and hope that they find a way to happen in Airdrie. We settled on SLAM in Airdrie primarily because we thought that the injection of $1000 would make the biggest difference to their plans, and would create long lasting ripples into the community. Music is an integral part of all of our lives, and music created from people who live around resonates strongest. Good fortune to all involved!” SLAM in Airdrie Objectives: - Hold musician open houses to share ideas - Organize FLASH JAM Performances - Host Battle of the Bands competitions - Sponsor song writing competitions - Plan musical equipment swap and sale events - Promote member showcase events SLAM in Airdrie Vision: - Continue to initiated local music events - Purchase instruments for local youth groups - Organize an annual Music Festival - Raise funds for a Performing Arts Centre Photo Credit: Creative Airdrie

Seattle, WA – Sunny Spot

2011-12-13T00:00:00Z

My name is Tracy Hartford, and I have a BS in Computer Science, a BS in Psychology, and an MA in Education. It rains a lot in Seattle. Even on Sunny days, particularly downtown, there are grey shadows cast from the buildings. Sunny Spot would be a mobile app that would help people on their lunch break or happy hour find a spot where the sun is shining through. It would use information about building height and the sun trajectory to model and pinpoint sunny spots in the users's area. I've worked on a couple of mobile apps with friends. One day when a friend and I were searching for the elusive sunny spot in the tiny little summer we had, this idea was born.

Washington, DC – Audio Warhol

2011-12-11T00:00:00Z

CounterPoint is a groundbreaking new conductorless string chamber orchestra that will revitalize the typical classical music concert by transforming it into a concert experience and bring relevance to repertoire spanning centuries and continents. Within a few months of our founding, we have already collaborated with a National Geographic photographer, a painter, a tabla player and a woman singing traditional Pakistani ghazal. We have raised a substantial amount of money for flood victims in Pakistan and are scheduled to use our experiences to raise money for research in colon cancer and Alzheimer’s disease within the next few months. The project that we are proposing currently is based on the conceptual themes of 20th century Minimalism and pop art and the guerrilla spirit that have been realized by artists such as Andy Warhol. While the techniques and conceptual spirit employed by Warhol and other Minimalists were revolutionary and groundbreaking at the time of their inception, many of the materials used to create these new works were very old, employing paint, canvas, screening. The spontaneous punk spirit of re-purposing materials and techniques for new and fresh interpretations that subvert the status quo have become even more relevant in today’s age of cultural regurgitating, repackaging, fusion, mashup, and deconstruction. CounterPoint will highlight this concept by performing in one or many museums in Washington DC among the collections of minimalist painting and sculpture by performing works ranging from ancient to contemporary. What will truly make this event “awesome” will be the manner in which we will carry out the performance. We will station musicians scattered among pop and minimalist works of art, sometimes playing independently, sometimes in unison. At times museum-goers will go from a room in which music of the 17th century is performed to a room filled with the dissonant strains of the 20th and 21st century. The music will phase, just as many minimalist visual works of art present repeating content appearing all to be the same but upon closer inspection, is constantly varying. Musicians will be dressed in attire either reflecting or contrasting with their surrounding works of art. This guerilla event will begin spontaneously with musicians taking their places gradually without alerting the public as to what is happening. In this way, we will subvert the traditional image of what people expect from a concert and a visit to the museum.

Washington, DC – Bluebrain's 'The Living House'

2011-12-11T00:00:00Z

'The Living House' transforms an empty, multi-room home on H Street into a singular sound piece -- each room becomes a stem of a larger, multitrack recording that includes melody, ambiance and sound design. Speakers are placed in 7 rooms (4 downstairs, 2 upstairs) with accompanying colored lights that flash in synchronization with their respective audio. Sound, quite literally, runs through the house. For instance, a singular synth note might start at the back of the house, gradually spilling over and spreading into the next room until it finds its way to the stairs and snakes up the house. Or perhaps the sound of actual footsteps travel from room to room, like ghosts. The sound of the floor creaking under pressure in a room upstairs is followed by the sound of that floor giving into the weight of an imagined bathtub as the speaker in the room directly below takes over and amplifies the sound of a collapsing floor. Sounds may be isolated to a single room at times, at other times each room might harmonize with one another, the entire house singing as one. 'The Living House' will run for 2 days over a weekend, with 30 people admitted entrance at a time through reservations. -- Bluebrain is the Washington DC-based music duo of brothers Hays and Ryan Holladay. In their two years of existence, they've gained a local reputation for executing imaginative projects throughout the city and in collaboration with area institutions. Projects range from staging a 150-plus people 'boombox walk' to their most recent endeavor, a "location-aware album" designed for The National Mall. They've been featured in WIRED, Engadget, TIME, Fast Company and, for their National Mall project, a Style-section cover story in the Washington Post. More information available upon request--

Washington, DC – DC Sound Garden

2011-12-11T00:00:00Z

I'm an audio artist and sound enthusiast. I've lived in the DC area for about 6 years. Over that time I've been committed to creating cool audio events and meetups that generate conversation and listening, including the Annual Interactive Sound Scene which combines recorded, live and interactive on-site-constructed sound for District residents to play with (imagine a giant Slinky sound forest that responds to stretching and swings or an audio collage about hunger). I've led audio workshops for artists and sound enthusiasts across the arts and journalism fields. (I've produced and reported stories with National Public Radio and helped develop and launch a weekly BBC radio program -which I mention to illustrate that I know how to produce quality audio not just interesting stuff). For the DC Sound Garden project I'd like to record, construct and install a sonic garden in one of the less appreciated areas of Washington DC. I figure like planting a row of flowers on a blighted corner, planting some beautiful sounds in an under-utilized part of town will help make it more beautiful, intriguing and fun to visit. In order to pull it off, I've identified a sound "plot" with ZestFest (they're a team of local DC arts coordinators who have arranged access to a variety of public spaces in the NOMA, north of Massachusetts Ave neighborhood, of Washington DC as part of a 10day long celebration of arts and creativity aimed at attracting people into the neighborhood). The plot is on a very stark street that has mostly government buildings- essentially the area is dead quiet when its not 5pm on a weekday (that's when commuters pour out of their offices and flee the city). I will produce 7-10 distinct audio "plants" for the DC Sound Garden. These will each be a different sonic shape (from a beautiful burst of something undefinable, to a bouquet of snippets from local bands, to voices from the streets of dc (collected and edited especially for this project). Each of the 7-10 audio plants will then be planted in the DC Sound Garden in weather-safe containers (they will be decorated or tucked in among the existing grass and plants at the site). Working with a local artist (to help decorate), architect and a sound engineer (both will help build) and one producer (to help select, edit, load, and install the audio with me) we'll construct these weather-proof, but sound liberating structures and install on location to play off and on over the course of the ZestFest.

Washington, DC – Awesome Students Reinvent the World

2011-12-11T00:00:00Z

What if we...asked students to invent creative solutions to problems in their communities and then gave them the encouragement, resources, and motivation to go do it? What if we trusted them enough to take charge of their own education? What if we exposed them to all of the awesome projects other people are doing and then asked them to be awesome in the pursuit of bettering their own communities? I am a high school English teacher on a mission. I want to redesign our students' senior thesis project into an engaging authentic task that asks them to change the world. Instead of asking students to research a topic and write the longest paper they can about it, I want to ask students to identify something in the world that they think needs to change and then to think creatively about how to change it. Piggy backing on the "What if we..." project (www.whatifwe.us), I want to ask my students to come up with their own "What if we..." for a problem they see happening in their community. I want them to research the problem and ways other people have tried to solve it. Then I want them to imagine a personal action they could take to change the course of this problem. Then I want them to do it. I want them to go out in the world and take some action and see what happens. This action could be public art that is meant to evoke thought or conversation. It could be connecting people in need to resources. It could be teaching people in their community something they feel they are an expert at. It could be just about anything the student can imagine and can implement on an individual level. It must impact as many people as possible and it must be supported by their hypothesis about how this action will alter the path of the problem they have chosen to work with. Throughout it all they will interview people and take pictures and collect information about what kind of an impact their idea had. Ultimately they will reflect on why their project was or was not effective and how this project impacted themselves as well as their community. We will end the year with a celebration/presentation of all of their work and the ways that they changed the world and ultimately themselves. This is the kind of creative and authentic learning that I believe will help my students develop into compassionate, thoughtful, engaged citizens capable of problem solving and creative thinking that will benefit us all.

Washington, DC – CodeNow

2011-12-11T00:00:00Z

Originally from Los Angeles, I’m a social entrepreneur with ten years of experience at the intersection of technology, entertainment, and social activism. From producing two feature films, (one of which was selected to the 2003 Sundance Film Festival) to launching two start up tech companies to overseeing youth outreach in the Bay Area for the 2008 Obama Campaign, I’m driven, passionate, and have achieved results across sectors. In February of this year I launched CodeNow, a non-profit focused on developing the next pioneers in technology by working with underrepresented youth to provide foundational skills in computer programming. Programming is the literacy of the future. Teaching these skills to underserved youth will give them the power to innovate and create. CodeNow teaches high school students the basics of computer programming through free, extra-curricular, off-campus trainings hosted by community partners. There are 5 parts to our program: 1) Weekend Training - CodeNow partners up with other organizations to hold weekend trainings. Each student selected for the program will attend one of these trainings, which will include instruction in: -Scratch: an educational programming language developed out of MIT that allows people of any experience, background and age to experiment with the concepts of fully versatile computer programming by snapping together visual programming blocks to control images, music and sound. -Lego Mindstorms: are programmable robotics/ construction toys, manufactured by the Lego Group. 2) Project - Each student will be assigned a project after the weekend training which they must complete to attend the weeklong bootcamp. 3) Bootcamp - Students who have attended the weekend training will be invited to participate in a 4-5 day training where they will learn the programming language Ruby. 4) Netbook- Each student who attends the weekend training and bootcamp will receive a Netbook. 5) Alumni Network- Once students have completed the bootcamp they will become part of our Alumni Network. They will receive mentoring, assistance with finding internships, and will be invited to participate in student hachathons throughout the year. In August we launched our weekend program in DC. Working with 13 students age 15-18. In 2011 we will hold two more weekend trainings and a bootcamp over Christmas break. Here is a video from our pilot: http://youtu.be/VTCGDmYnhhM

Ottawa – The First Kagate Dictionary

2011-12-11T00:00:00Z

This month’s grant goes to Lauren Gawne (The Academic Linguistics of LOLspeak) for her project to document and digitize the Kagate language, spoken by a thousand people mostly living in the mountains between the Likhu and Khimti rivers at an altitude of 3,000 meters (9,840 feet) above sea level in Nepal. Lauren is currently doing her PhD in linguistics and has recently published a dictionary of Lamjung Yolmo, a neighboring language to Kagate. In her words: “While on a field trip in 2009 I met speakers of a language called Kagate through a friend. These people had a linguist come and work with them in the 1970s, she published a paper on the sounds of the language and left them a single copy typewritten dictionary. The language is endangered with only around 1000 speakers and one of the youngest is now 26. He’s also computer literate and speaks Kagate, Nepali and English. He wants to record his language before it’s too late.” For the project she’ll be working with her friend to make the dictionary better and share it using a small custom press to make copies and creating a web version. The dictionary will become the first major publication made in this language and will be a chance for the speakers to proactively work to maintain their language. This also offers us the remarkable opportunity to merge LOLspeak and Kagate to make us truly knowledgeable internet users. Well done Lauren!

Pittsburgh, PA – The Puppet Photo Booth

2011-12-06T00:00:00Z

I propose a project so surprising, so fantastic, so magical, you will require a keepsake from the event to remember it forever. Its name: The Puppet Photo Booth. The Puppet Photo Booth will be a week long installation at Market Square in Downtown Pittsburgh. Using plywood, found objects, and fabric I will construct a structure that appears to be an old-fashioned photo booth. Unbeknownst to passersby, a real live puppeteer (me) waits within to give any person who sits inside a seven-minute puppet show. When the participant enters, they are transported to another world – an under the sea themed live action puppet spectacle. And of course, during the course of this show, I will secretly snap a photo, fulfilling the booth’s promise to capture a moment forever. My name is Murphi Cook and I am a playwright and puppeteer in hot pursuit of my M.F.A in Dramatic Writing at CMU. But why should Murphi Cook in hot pursuit of an M.F.A be the person to make this Puppet Photo Booth happen? The answer is simple: the Puppet Photo Booth is a product of my three major interests manufactured into a compact, effective, artistic experience for any Pittsburgher. My art is one of atmospheric transformative creations. Currently, I am working on The Society For the Advancement of Miniature Curiosa, a Pop Up storefront installation that replicates the feeling of Victorian Cabinets of Curiosity. Visitors may view live shows, visit our toy theatre parlor or step inside a gallery space filled with rotating cabinets that house fantastic objects. When not transforming spaces, I am performing and writing plays for the stage and other unlikely locations. These plays have been workshopped and produced from Valdez, Alaska to New York City, and feature voiceless circus hustlers, lobotomies, lovers at the bottom of Lake Tahoe, ageless women inside lighthouses, and spam after the apocalypse. And finally, to top it all off, I am a certified Master Scuba Diver giving me the experience to serve as an authority on all things under the sea.

Pittsburgh, PA – Pop-up Co-op

2011-12-06T00:00:00Z

We are a team of incredibly awesome Pittsburgher’s that work hard every day, as individuals and professionals, to make Pittsburgh a better place. Our team includes, Grant Ervin: policy wonk and passionate neighborhood leader, Christina Robertson: marketing expert and baking entrepreneur and Talia Piazza: community builder and communications guru. Our project, the Pop-up Co-op is a revitalization strategy which will benefit a neighborhood, its residents and local entrepreneurs. Our project will repurpose an empty storefront into a locally run and organized co-op and incubator for small retail businesses. Those looking to open a small business are challenged by the start-up building expenses and find it difficult to succeed while working to keep the bills paid. Similarly, a challenge for neighborhood commercial districts is that while they may have market potential and an untapped customer base, matching product availability with customer demand is perceived as “risky”. The inability to solve this “chicken and egg” scenario for small businesses and commercial districts–of what comes first, the people or the businesses, has not had an answer...until now. Pop-up Co-op has come up with a solution! The empty storefront can comfortably house 4-5 local vendors as well as a small seating area for guests. Vendors will rent space at the site and sell their homemade and organic goods under one roof, sort of like an indoor farmers’ market. Each vendor will commit to operating the storefront and selling the other vendors’ products one-two days/week. This model will eliminate the need for each small business to purchase or rent a storefront and will relieve the burden of operating a shop 7 days a week and let the vendors share other operational and marketing costs. We have a property, located in Morningside, identified (with a cooperative owner) for use and interested vendors on board. We want to create a temporary co-op that will allow us to conduct a feasibility study as well as on the ground market-research while actually operating the business. During the 3-6 months the pop-up co-op is operating, our team will be gathering data and market information, and the vendors will be gaining experience in running a business as well as feedback from customers that can be used to create a better product. Based on this, we will create a business plan and strategy for the creation of a permanent community co-op that sells local goods to local people at a local price.

Ann Arbor, MI – Peddle Powered Vegetable Grow Rack

2011-12-04T00:00:00Z

I'm Nate Ayers, a permaculture researcher and educator in Ann Arbor and Detroit. Permaculture is a design system based on bio-mimicry, appropriate technology, and renewable energy. With permaculture, we can transition our neighborhoods and communities to sustainable food and energy production, without using fossil fuels. I am lucky, because I get to teach people solutions to many of our world's problems, and this makes people hopeful and inspired. In permaculture design, there is the concept of "stacking functions". This is based on observing how nature works, and that nature likes to use a lot of different plants and animals working together to create eco-system balance and resilience. Using those same principles, I have designed a food and energy production system that will solve a lot of the problems found in our communities, namely, access to healthy organic food, clean energy production, and the American obesity epidemic. My design, called the "pedal powered vegetable grow rack", is an example of closed loop, whole systems permaculture design. It works like this: 1. An individual pedals a stationary bike, which is hooked up to a small generator. The person gets valuable exercise, while at the same time, the generator produces valuable electricity. 2. That electricity is stored in a battery, and then used to power super efficient, LED grow lights. These lights are really great (they were developed by NASA). They allow vegetables like lettuce, kale, chard, herbs, peppers, tomatoes and spinach to be grown indoors, in a small space. 3. The Individual eats the vegetables, getting healthy vitamins and energy, which then allows them to return to step 1 the next day. This is a closed loop design system, where the output of one element, becomes the input of another (stacking functions). Here is a prototype that I developed: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=214862881920587&set=t.1378442260&type=1&theater The best part about having the money to properly make my design, is that I would get to use it while teaching permaculture to K-12 kids. This type of design would get kids really excited about science, making their own food and energy, and taking care of their health. It would also allow me to teach all kinds of people how to make their own vegetable grow racks, further increasing the locally produced food and energy supply. Thanks for considering my project, I hope you think its Awesome!

Grand Rapids, MI (Inativo) – GR Creative Youth Center

2011-11-30T00:00:00Z

My name is Lori Slager, and I am the sole owner of The Sparrows Coffee Tea & Newsstand, and a founding ArtPeers board member. I have a degree in Art Education from Calvin College, and have been an art teacher for Grandville Avenue Arts and Humanities for the last eight years. My proposal for The Awesome Foundation is for the Creative Youth Center, which I have been working on for just over two years. Cecile Fehsenfeld (co-owner of Schuler Books) approached me about opening an after-school creative writing center in or near the Baxter neighborhood that would serve the area’s underprivileged youth between the ages of 6 and 18. I agreed to work with Cecile on the idea, and the Creative Youth Center project began. The goal of the CYC is to empower area youth with the growth mindsets and creative capacities necessary to become successful adults. Through one-on-one attention and project-based learning in an inspiring, non-school environment, we will work to help local children find, develop, and share their voices. We believe that making students published authors gives a tangible credibility to their accomplishments, which creates an empowered sense of self and an enthusiasm for developing their voices and unique communication skills. This will help them to become creative problem solvers and increase their chances of staying committed to education, in turn decreasing drop-out rates and improving positive participation in the classroom. To move that belief to action, we will publish yearly collections of student work to be sold at local bookstores and other retail outlets. The sense of accomplishment has already driven some really creative work from children in my workshops. For example, in two hours, a group of children can write a book together and have it illustrated and printed before walking out the door. The excitement over being “published” instantly helps grow their passion for writing - when they realize that their books are for sale in area bookstores, they truly see the value in their creative work. When we open, the CYC will host story writing field trips for classes each day and will also send tutors to classrooms to help teachers achieve their “dream projects”. The CYC will also offer after school tutoring, and offer ESL classes during the summer. However, at the outset of launching the center, we plan to focus on the book publishing experience as a flagship program and provide students with other similar creative writing projects.

Boston, MA – Lightening Fast Snow Slide

2011-11-30T00:00:00Z

Hi there. My name is Sadie Urban and I'm the events coordinator at the Kickapoo Valley Reserve (KVR), an 8,569 acre tract of land located between the villages of La Farge and Ontario in southwestern Wisconsin. Every January we hold an awesome winter festival with skating, sledding, skiing, archery, snow sculpture, ice cave hikes, chain saw carving, birds of prey presentation, face painting, horse-drawn bobsled rides, snowshoe exhibit & hike, dog sled race, weight pull, and mutt race, horse-drawn tours and snow cave. The local Lions Club hosts an annual chili and bread contest for the public. We also hold an auction of art produced in the Kickapoo Valley to raise money for our education program. What a great line-up, right? One thing I've always wanted to offer is a snow sculpture slide. We have a very small budget for Winter Festival and we like to keep it free to the public since we're located in one of the poorest areas in Wisconsin. The kids would really get a kick out of sliding down a sculpture in their lightening fast snowsuits. I hope you will seriously consider funding a lightening fast snow slide for the 2012 Kickapoo Valley Reserve Winter Festival on January 7th, which draws over 600 people (a lot for our rural community). Thanks for your time.

Boston, MA – Operation Dinoblasters

2011-11-30T00:00:00Z

Dear Awesome Foundation, For two years I have been a volunteer. I am an AmeriCorps member serving at DotWell in Dorchestah and I have a brilliant idea: Dinosaurs. I serve (not allowed to say work) with kids in a Boston Public School called the Joseph Lee Elementary. The students there are OBSESSED with dinosaurs. One student, Devon, tells me all there is to know, “Have you ever seen a plateosaurus? They grow up to 10 meters tall!!” By the way, did you know a pterodactyl is not considered a dinosaur? It’s in fact a pterosaur. Let me tell you a bit about myself. I am Colin Hunt, a 23 year old graduate of the University of Vermont, an Adirondack 46er (#5427) and a recent convert to veganism. I love to hike (hence the climbing the 46 highest peaks in New York) and am an adventureholic. Last year, I taught Tai Chi and yoga to senior citizens in Burlington, Vermont for my first year of service with AmeriCorps. Now, I am a transplant to Boston. Here, I am trying to make a difference by hooking up under-privileged families with much needed community resources. Originally, I am from Washington, D.C: a city full of dinosaurs. This is where Project Dinoblasters comes into play. As a well traveled, adventureholic, I have had the privilege to learn outside of my community. I want to bring that privilege, that right, to my kids in Dorchester. Many students are confined by resources, unable to even get out of Dorchester to see the museums of Boston. I am dreaming big and I want to bring these kids to my hometown. My dinoland. There, we would turn the kids into archeologists, initiating a city-wide 24 hour treasure hunt! A treasure hunt for what? Dinosaurs of course. Devon is the kind of kid with a perpetual goofy grin on his face. At the age of 7, he is already positive he will be professional paleontologist. I once made the ‘mistake’ of telling him that I had seen a Tyrannosaurus Rex at a museum in D.C. Since that day, Devon has been exuberantly interrogating me on every single dinosaur I have ever seen. To help make dreams like Devon’s come true, I would love to help inspire an overnight trip to the museums in Washington, District of Dinosaurs. Thanks for your consideration, Colin Hunt For your imagination and entertainment: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PPf3aaZmUw

Houston (Inativo) – Treat Em Right

2011-11-30T00:00:00Z

Six months ago, we moved our kennel to a large warehouse in Klein. While the space was large and open, it was empty and needed a lot of work! We have been able to do some construction, but are still in great need of completing the project due to money constraints. We house 30 of some 80 dogs in our program at this facility (the others have been placed in foster homes) and are eager to get the facility up to par with the dogs' needs. We have devised a plan as follows to complete the outdoor space as well as give the dogs some interior space to play.

Toronto – Ikea Hack Installation

2011-11-29T00:00:00Z

I'm a designed-minded writer who has recently been inspired by the Ikea hacking communities that I've discovered; there are a growing group of Ikea enthusiasts who make slight modifications to their out of the box furniture. I want to take this idea further and create a large piece from various Ikea components (chairs, tables, etc...). The project would focus on the notion of housing/shared space for the homeless. The completed project could take one of two routes, depending on the interest it receives. One, it could be installed in a public location; Nathan Phillips Square for example. The project might build from that initial location and others could be created and set up across the city (much like the spray-painted bikes). The second route would be to partner with Ikea and have them put the installation in of their Toronto stores. This idea fits in with Ikea's brand of finding interesting ways to inject itself into the public dialogue; for example, Ikea has just recently announced that it has plans to build an entire micro-city in East London. A piece, made from the company's furniture, that deals with space for the homeless would bolster the brand's social agenda and spark the imagination of customer's coming into the store. The building aspect of this project is something that I've wanted to do for some time but haven't had the opportunity to purchase furniture that wasn't going to be used for a functional purpose. For the PR component: I'm a Contributing Editor for TrendHunter and I have contacts at an array of design publications, both in the city and abroad; amongst which: PSFK, Springwise, CoolHunting, Vertical Review, Toronto Standard, The National Post, DesignBoom. I also have a strong grasp on effective social media practices and would generate interest in the project through various channels.

Calgary, AB (Inativo) – Haysboro School Dream Catcher Edible Garden

2011-11-24T00:00:00Z

I am the key facilitator of a group of incredibly talented and dedicated parents who shared my vision to create an edible garden for Haysboro School. Not only did they share it, they took the idea and turned it into something AWESOME. In the spring of 2012, my committee and a veritable army of volunteers will build the most unique edible garden in Calgary. It is our vision to blaze a trail for other schools to create one of a kind gardens of their own; to start an AWESOME revolution in education where it becomes as common place to dig in the dirt to learn as it is to sit at a desk and study subjects like science, math, and reading. We will create a beautiful outdoor classroom which will inspire the children to learn where food comes from, concepts of environmental sustainability, multicultural diversity in cuisine, social responsibility, and patience. A crucial requirement of the garden design for me had to be uniqueness. I really wanted more than a bunch of cookie cutter boxes filled with dirt. I had visions of a classroom of students sitting on benches underneath a beautiful pergola looking out onto their garden. This would be an integral component of the outdoor classroom design. But equally as important, I also wanted unusually shaped raised beds. I gave these criteria to a fellow parent within the committee with the request to design us something AWESOME. She came up with the Dream Catcher concept. Half would be the seating under the shade of a pergola, the other half created by 7 raised beds (one for each class) and a seating area for the teacher in the middle. The ground surrounding the beds will be a 38 foot diameter circle made from Holland paving stones in multiple shades to depict the inner mosaic of a dream catcher. The "feathers" will be beds designed by the students in shape and form as we expand the project into the second year. In the space of 8 weeks we have grown from a group of 7 to a list of more than 50 volunteers willing to build, and maintain our vision. This is an AWESOME number when you consider there are only 133 families with their children attending our school. We have sold the idea to the community stakeholders and will create a Green Thumb Grandparents mentoring group. These are senior citizens in the community who would love the opportunity to share their knowledge with the children. The teachers are equally as excited about this venture as they currently work to tie curriculum requirements into the garden.

Los Angeles, CA – Urban Roots Field of Dreams

2011-11-23T00:00:00Z

Hello Awesome Foundation! I'm a documentary filmmaker that could not just walk away from the issues featured in my latest film Urban Roots. Urban Roots call to action is to put farms in schools. Across the nation, schools cover large areas of land that are often covered in asphalt. This asphalt-covered land offers up a terrific opportunity to turn it into organic, food-producing land while also creating a valuable, outdoor classroom. Currently, school budgets nationwide do not provide for this activity, so we are taking the lead. Urban Roots has partnered with Sarah Didvar-Saadi and Gina Gambill of The Green Schoolhouse, a Los Angeles-based school garden consulting and design build company, to create a pilot program to build school farms. We are calling these farms, “Field of Dreams”. A Field of Dreams Farm is an outdoor classroom where High School students learn the sustainable practices of planting, composting and water con-servation to grow food with the highest organic nutritional value. Each school will experience the growth cycle of Seed to Harvest to Table. Students will take the message home that growing your own food is a simple and vital process. Also, schools will have the opportunity to parti-cipate in their communities by growing food for their local community’s food banks and homeless shelters. The Urban Roots/Field of Dreams pilot project starts in Los Angeles and soon after, Detroit. The five LAUSD High Schools in the pilot program have Environmental Academies within their curriculum. The following schools have been selected to receive funding for a Field of Dreams. Alexander Hamilton High School Global Studies Network Academy Van Nuys High School Academy of Health Careers, Nutrition, Culinary Arts Phineas Banning High School Global Environmental Science Academy Roosevelt High School Academy of Environmental and Social Policy James A. Garfield High School Green Architecture and Design Academy For more info: www.urbanrootsaction.com

San Francisco, CA – Little Opera

2011-11-22T00:00:00Z

I started Little Opera two months ago, with the goal of creating a professional children's opera company where everything is done by kids. I've worked as a teaching artist for San Francisco Opera for four years, and led over 40 classes through the creation of their own operas (I'm also a playwright by night). The class operas were so good, I wanted to find a way to take the idea further. So I start Little Opera. My funding plan relied on tuition at first, but then I got our first scholarship inquiry. Right below the checked box that says the family survives on food stamps, it read: X is the middle of five children. The arts seem to be the area where she belongs. It's where she can stand out from her siblings. This opportunity would really boost her self esteem and set her on a path that she will probably continue for life. That's when I changed my mind about what I wanted to do. I didn't just want to start Little Opera for privileged kids, I wanted to start Little Opera for kids like X-- the precocious, creative child who is probably not signed up for any after-school arts programming because the classes are either prohibitively expensive, or at a location their parents can't get them to on time. So I re-worked the budget, fronted all of my savings, and started Little Opera. We are now in our 4th week of classes, and have eight young artists (aged 6-9) who are currently writing their own opera about an unfriendly forest (read: werewolves, lost children, alligators, swamps, goblins, evil trees). Only one of our students is paying full tuition. They perform in March. Some more nitty gritty details about how it works: Over the course of seven months, our students work together twice a week to create, rehearse, and perform an original opera. They do everything themselves. Everything means they will: Write an original story Turn it into a libretto Compose music Choreograph dances and movement Design simple sets and costume pieces Build simple sets and costume pieces Peer-direct scenes throughout the rehearsal process Perform their original opera How will they do all of that? One step at a time (and with help from local professional working artists). In fact, half of our fall classes are specialized Master Classes that focus on things like: Stage Combat Set Design Dance/Choreography Masks/Puppetry Music Composition Singing Technique I know I'm biased, but I think it's pretty awesome. Check it out for yourself: www.youtube.com/user/LittleOpera