Awesome Foundation - Projects

Washington, DC – Wangari Gardens

2012-09-28T00:00:00Z

Wangari Gardens opened in early spring 2012 as a community garden project for DC residents, honoring the work of Wangari Maathai, a Kenyan environmental activist. The garden includes 55 plots, which will be nearly doubled this fall. Additionally, we have communal education gardens and an orchard which are open to the general public. We plan to build Wangari Garden into a civic education center, a place where students can come year-round to learn about growing food, where fresh food can be grown for service projects, and where people can come together to enjoy a beautiful floral treasure tucked within the big city. Though we've been working for less than a year and not even one growing season, our team is organized and ready to take on new projects. We plan to build a pumpkin patch for the fall, a rainwater collection garden (so we can be entirely self-sufficient in water use!), a composting facility, and a rehabilitation garden in partnership with a local hospital.

Seattle, WA – Graffiti Defense Coalition's Sticker Machine

2012-09-28T00:00:00Z

GDC wants to introduce street art and our mission to Seattle by offering a nomadic street art sticker vending machine. We feel that we can promote street art, street artists and our mission in an effective way through the GDC’s street art vending machine. We are collaborating with local artists to have sticker designs donated for a diverse variety of street art stickers. The sticker machine will change locations from neighborhood art walks, to galleries and events around Seattle. We also plan to give the vending machine a life of its own by building an online persona through social media sites such as Facebook, Yelp, Twitter, Four Square and the like. This will be a fun way to update fans/friends of its current whereabouts and available selection. GDC believes this benefits Seattle because street art lends itself to community building and inspires creativity. By creating the online persona we will be inviting everyone to contribute to, interact with and promote street art. This will allow Seattle to be inspired by street art and get involved with the street art movement. Plus awesome street art stickers will be available to Seattleites for $1! GDC will gain a dynamic startup tool in the vending machine. It will open a forum for us to promote street art and our mission. Through the vending machine we will build the community support to include GDC and Seattle in the global street art arena. It will also be a helpful contribution to our fundraising efforts for upcoming goals. Projects on the horizon for GDC include a youth program and Stunning Seattle a mural event. GDC is developing a syllabus for youth to better understand the difference between vandalism and street art. We are building a curriculum around different styles of street art and will be offering it to youth centers. GDC’s Stunning Seattle is a large scale mural event coming in 2013. We plan to join local property owners and local/international mural artists to beautify the empty walls in Seattle.

Grand Rapids, MI (Inactive) – The Urban Tech Farm Project

2012-09-27T00:00:00Z

Our project is going to integrate farming to downtown locations by revitalizing abandoned industrial buildings. In doing so, we'll be developing high tech, indoor urban farming facilities, which will operate sustainably. Growing indoors allows for year-round production, much higher efficiency than traditional farming methods, greater yields, and minimal transportation costs. Using aquaponics (growing vegetables with fish), food can be grown in a symbiotic closed loop system without the use of herbicides or pesticides. With the integration of engineering, robotics, and computer control systems the bottom line of this project is to produce ZERO WASTE and utilize off-grid energy. To start scaling towards creating an entirely sustainable farm within a building, we're going to design and construct a self-sustaining farm within a 20 foot shipping container. Inside the shipping container, we're going to develop our proprietary system to grow high-end restaurant greens in which we'll be able to sell directly to downtown restaurants. With the shipping container being located in a downtown setting; we'll be able to virtually eliminate transportation of fresh produce and all the costs associated with it, including the carbon footprint. Using this proof-of-concept, we're going to demonstrate the positive effects of farming in the city and scale the technology we develop in the shipping container to a full sized farm. Our project is becoming increasingly integrated into the Grand Rapids entrepreneurial ecosystem. We've already developed a great relationship with the Start Garden team, and we're communicating and collaborating with additional GR companies including: Thinkbox Creative, the Elemental Project, and the Urban Renaissance Group. By 2050 there will be over 9 billion people on the planet. There isn't enough arable land on earth to feed that many people. We are creating the solution, we are starting now, and we want to do it in Grand Rapids.

Houston (Inactive) – Texas Spirit: Homecoming Mums

2012-09-27T00:00:00Z

Our project will be centered around the production of 12, large-scale versions of the traditional Homecoming ‘Mum’ created by 12 Texas artists. While we will provide the basic, standardized wooden backing for the works, we are asking each artist to create a work inspired by traditional ‘Mum’ designs but with new takes on motif, theme, or message. The provided material will consist of a plywood round cut to have a diameter of two feet, and with pre-drilled holes for later installation of hanging materials. The traditional ‘Mum’ consists of two main parts; first is the corsage itself, a large silk-flower made to resemble the chrysanthemum which is pinned to the shirt. Many choose to add to the center of the corsage by adding things like stuffed animals or plastic cartoon characters as a way to display personal style and tastes. The Mum is applied to a cardboard backing that also houses the ‘flair’ of the accessory. What is perhaps the real show-stopper of these adornments are the ribbons flowing from behind the flower, these wisps display your favorite team or your sweetheart and boast bells and charms that jingle loudly much to the dismay of many a high school teacher. Many Texas crafters know that when Summer rolls around, local craft stores will boast aisles and sections completely devoted to the phenomena; the supplies come varied and in a wide selection of tastes. This money-making venture is more tradition than fad in Texas. Mothers and Daughters spend energy, time and resources on creating these spectacular showcases of spirit. Our project would celebrate this tradition by asking artists to re-visit the ‘Mum’ and give a breath of fresh air to this tradition sometimes reserved for the spirit-filled cheerleader, or football star. Homecoming Mums have become a tradition in Texas, an example of folklore cultivated by the people and continued by generations of spirited high-school aged young people. This exercise in ritual through a seemingly silly or juvenile tradition hopefully will produce results that are reflective, matured, and insightful, much like we hope our participants are regarded. As part of bringing the Homecoming Mum into the mature sphere we will be collecting, documenting, performing interviews and synthesizing a catalogue that would chronicle this tradition. As part of the preparation we were surprised t find that very little academic writing on this extremely regional tradition. Hopefully by creating the pieces as well as archiving the regional folklore we can highlight something many people may never have experienced. The finished pieces would become temporary public art installations, on display in cultural centers that agree to house the piece and understand the importance of this project. The display process would be modeled after the CowParade project here in Texas, where the painted cows represented a sense of pride and excitement about living here in this large and varied state and simply resided within open spaces in office buildings, museums, government centers, and cultural destinations. These creations will be recognized by many Texans as a tribute to past days and can impart the creativity of an artist’s hand to those who may not see the connection between family crafts and fine art. These pieces produced by the artists would be on display in the Fall of 2013, during Football season, as a celebration of Houston’s great arts and sports community. At the beginning of 2013 we would began our initiative by creating a website and having a launch party that would display two prototype ‘Mums’ and celebrate a Texas tradition. From this time on we would have our artists working on the pieces in their studios, preparing for the coming football season. By July, we would like to have all the pieces completed, allowing time for a Grand Reveal of all twelve of the pieces, as well as time to install the pieces in their semi-permanent homes. The pieces would be on display until December 31, 2013.

Melbourne (Inactive) – All Of The Numbers

2012-09-26T00:00:00Z

It's basically a community radio station for Melbourne - but on the Internet. I've always enjoyed listening to the radio to find out about cool things happening around my city, new music, news, and general discussion. The problem is, amongst all of the many devices I now own, a radio isn't one of them. These days, the only times I hear the radio is when it's being broadcast in a shopping centre, or if I'm in a car, and even those interactions with the medium are becoming fewer. My project is called All Of The Numbers. It's Melbourne specific community radio, delivered online. It's curated content created by all kinds of Melburnians - designers, comedians, entrepreneurs, musicians, commentators, story-tellers. The barrier to entry to access and create content for All Of The Numbers is low. To create a show, all you need is an idea and a voice. To consume the content, all you need is a wifi connection and ears. There will be a content grid. Different shows stream at different times throughout the week on a schedule. Each show will be delivered as 8 episodes of 15-30 minutes in length, on a weekly basis. Eventually the content schedule will be full-time. Listeners can browse content by theme, schedule, presenter. Sponsors and advertisers can give their support to the whole station, or to a specific presenter or show or series. Information, knowledge, stories, and entertainment will be delivered to Melburnians by Melburnians. It will be a way to re-engage the young Melbourne community with the medium. It will be interactive. It will be creative. It will be so very Melbourne. Think "RRR for geeks", if you must compare it to something. Think "endless possibilities for sharing and growing communication within local communities" if you're feeling as excited as me. I'm very confident and very excited about this project's enormous potential to do great things. Sorry, I mean - to do AWESOME things.

Boston, MA (Inactive) – Union Square Public Benches

2012-09-26T00:00:00Z

we're located on the corner of the busiest intersection in union square, with a bus stop directly in front of the studio and a busy cafe next door. as we are committed to a lively pedestrian and street culture, we were saddened by the disappearance of the adam singha-designed benches that used to grace the sidewalk in front of sherman cafe. the benches, donated by mks design, had rusted though and were discarded. in front of our studio, we built an integrated bench / planter, but the demand for outdoor public seating is high, and the traffic from local pedestrians, MBTA riders, farmer's market-goers, and the cafe's customers is such that often one finds people sitting on the ground or moving along in search of adequate seating elsewhere.

Airdrie, AB (Inactive) – Club Cre8

2012-09-26T00:00:00Z

Laurin's awesome idea is to develop Club Cre8, a Pay It Forward type of non-profit group where they will do fundraising to hand out gift cards or supplies to children across Canada who have an idea to Pay It Forward in some way in their community. The Club Cre8 team will also include a group of local youth, who will help develop the ideas and run the program. The $1,000 will be used to kickstart the first idea, and the group targets teens aged 13-18 and will incorporate fundraising and social media marketing to plan and execute pay-it-forward initiatives. While the group is open to anyone interested in participating in the pay-it-forward campaign in the community, Laurin is teaming up with the Airdrie, Crossfield & District Youth Justice Committee to try and instil a positive focus in at-risk youth and help change their lives. Kids will spend their community service hours working with Laurin and Club Cre8 to help implement these Pay-It-Forward campaigns. Photo Credit: Discover Airdrie

Portland, OR – The Old Apple Tree

2012-09-25T00:00:00Z

The oldest apple tree in the Pacific Northwest is located six miles from downtown Portland in the middle of a highway interchange. This tree was planted circa 1826 and marks the beginning of western expansion in what is now Oregon. We have been granted permission from the Urban Forestry Commission to take ten cuttings and carry forward the legacy of this relic tree. With support from Awesome Portland, we will lead a participatory art project in which local families and residents graft their own apple trees from the 1826 apple tree cuttings. We will work with each participant to plant a tree at their home and install a placard that contains information about the participants and the project. To celebrate The Old Apple Tree project, we will host a public tour around Portland to visit each tree. We will also design and distribute a map of the tree locations. These will be printed and also published on the project's future website. This project will not only commemorate the rich fruit culture in the Pacific Northwest, it will also ask people to consider their own agency in creating history. The trees we plant will live on as permanent and growing records of the 1826 apple tree. They will act as a series of living sculptures that illuminate Portland's past and educate its future.

Tel Aviv - קרן בקטנה (Inactive) – Halev - Independent Living Program, Social cinema

2012-09-25T00:00:00Z

Halev helps these youngsters at risk who are in the worst possible circumstances negotiate crucial phase of their lives. It helps to maximize their own interests and capabilities by providing learning tutoring, educational counselling, psychological therapy, skills development and empowerment by cinema workshops. Social cinema project: Film program – Empowering youth at risk. This program is designed to allow participants to express themselves through learning of cinema, watching movies and making a short documentary. Participation in this framework would lead to empowerment in terms of enhanced self-esteem, enhanced cooperation with others within a social framework, establishing social contact through chalanges bearing of frustrating conditions and enhanced capability of influencing one's environment. The workshops include a set of exercises that focus on the empowerment aspects in all stages of film production: scriptwriting, production, directing, acting, shooting and editing. At the end, making a short film by youth. Making the film teaches them to take responsibility, to develop self-efficacy, to place an internal locus of control, working as an individual within a group, to manage time effectively. Empowerment throughsocial cinema workshop may bring personal change in the aspect of preparation for independent living.

Newmarket – "You are not alone"

2012-09-25T00:00:00Z

"You are not alone" - is a program where we are able to help students with anticipatory grief or bereavement through there peers and teachers. The staff at Doane House Hospice are inspired daily by the art making processes of the children who visit the Hospice each week and the courage and strength of families impacted by cancer and other serious illnesses. We see the benefits of being able to communicate with children and teens who become warriors, who valiantly fight cancer on behalf of an ill parent. We would like to be able to work more closely with the York Region School Boards, so that the guidance counselors and teachers are able to understand and support any child or teen dealing with the issues of anticipatory grief, loss or bereavement. DHH is already in discussion with the school boards and they are certainly open to us partnering with them. Further meetings will establish the use of this therapeutic modality in workshops to train both teachers and the psychology teams in the area of trauma and traumatic events.

Berlin (Inactive) – wOhm - a robotic pet

2012-09-22T00:00:00Z

Chicago, IL – Jurassic Geriatrics

2012-09-22T00:00:00Z

This past May, I was invited to a retirement community. At the retirement community I visited, the residents were extremely receptive, to the point that this could almost have some therapeutic benefits as well. The staff told me afterwards that there were two individuals at the presentation who were normally quite reclusive. Though it took some coaxing, they agreed to come. It turns out that, as I was passing the fossils around to the group, both of the women became very engaged and active in the conversations. The staff was really impressed by what they saw. I was told that it was such a unique and different form of entertainment to what the residents are used to that it really took the staff by surprise (in regards to the residents' positive reactions). Word has spread, and more retirement communities are requesting that I give them a visit. I always ask for a donation of some kind. I don't pay myself, but instead I use the money to cover any traveling costs (a dollar or two in gas), and the rest goes towards increasing the fossil collection. Budgets are extremely tight at some of these communities, and they have told me they can't afford to pay anything because they have no money left in their entertainment funds.

Calgary, AB (Inactive) – PODPLAYS: Downloadable Art for Your Ears

2012-09-22T00:00:00Z

Podplays are downloadable plays designed specifically for your ears. Simply choose your play and download, find the "set"/ public location on a map and head out there to discover your city in a new way.! Some are best listened to in a certain location or site, some ask you to be a spectator on the move and to listen while you walk or run a certain route, and some ask you to simply download, plug in your earphones and close your eyes. Myself and my students will be discovering some currently unused or neglected spaces in the city core in Calgary, AB. We will be creating podplays that repurpose and/or uncover these spaces for the public. The locations will be mapped and high quality pieces of sound art in the form of MP3 files will be posted on the site, and freely available to the public.

Detroit, MI (Inactive) – The People of Detroit Photodocumentary

2012-09-21T00:00:00Z

The People of Detroit is a media project that uses vivid portraiture and engaging essays to change how people think about living in Detroit. Since its inception in April 2012, TPOD has received national and international attention. Portraits from the project have appeared in Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Fast Company and other national publications. In early 2011, a creative director saw the project on flickr.com and hired TPOD founder Noah Stephens to shoot an ad campaign for McDonald's Corporation in Shanghai, China.

Pittsburgh, PA – Zip Line: Mt. Washington to the North Shore

2012-09-20T00:00:00Z

The goal is to connect Mt. Washington to the North Shore with a zip line. Here's a video of what the zip line style will be https://vimeo.com/48903726 A zip line alone is great. A zip line off of one of the most picturesque urban vistas in the world is fantastic. Imagine riding the incline up, zipping over to a field trip at the Carnegie Science Center, a concert at Stage AE, Casino, or a Steelers / Pirates game. The seat (as opposed to a harness) will allow a greater audience to use the zip line and the automatic retrieval system increases throughput. (80-90 riders per hour with 4 zip lines)

London (Inactive) – upReach – improving access to the professions

2012-09-19T00:00:00Z

I want to improve access to the professions for undergraduates from less-privileged backgrounds. My vision is to achieve this in partnership with employers, universities, and policy makers by running a targeted, three-year professional development programme. The on campus programme will empower participants with the non-academic capabilities critical to realising career potential. Evidence shows that equal achievement at university does not translate into equal progression into the professions. What’s more, those graduates from less-privileged backgrounds who do access the professions earn less. These academically talented undergraduates often lack the mentoring, soft skills, knowledge and professional experience critical for entry. As recruiters increasingly value these non-academic capabilities, fewer graduates from less-privileged backgrounds enter the professions, leaving their potential contribution unrealised. (Briefing: ow.ly/cfjja) To improve access to the professions I aim to run a professional development programme that empowers these undergraduates to realise their career potential. I am therefore seeking funding for a six-month pilot, which will precede the launch of the full programme. The pilot and full programme will run concurrently with participants' degrees in collaboration with employers, and universities. Workshops, networking events, professional mentoring, and internships will provide participants with the knowledge, contacts, role models, and relevant experience that they tend to lack and struggle to build. My objective is to empower students from less-privileged backgrounds to achieve graduate outcomes that they may not otherwise have attained. For the wider community, this delivers improved social mobility and greater economic output. A report commissioned by the Sutton Trust revealed that ‘failing to improve low levels of social mobility will cost the UK economy up to £140 billion a year by 2050’.

Ottawa – Ottawa Mini Maker Faire

2012-09-19T00:00:00Z

September’s Awesome Ottawa award goes to Remco Volmer and Britta Evans-Fenton to support a Mini Maker Faire in Ottawa. Maker Faires, they explain, “have been called everything from a digital quilting bee to the greatest show and tell on Earth. In the last six years, since the first Maker Faire was held in California, this futuristic arts and crafts fair has become a global phenomenon. The World Maker Faire in New York City draws over 100,000, while small, community driven “Mini” Maker Faires have moved from North American suburbs to Europe, Asia, and even as far as Cairo.” Their Mini Maker Faire, which will be held on the weekend of October 13-14, will brings together families and individuals who celebrate arts, crafts, engineering, food, music, sustainability, and science — and those who embrace the Do-It-Yourself or “DIY” spirit. “At Maker Faire,” explains Remco, “the focus is on the process of making — not just the finished product. The real story is the curiosity, vibrancy, and passion of the Makers themselves — individuals and communities drawn together by a common delight in the magic of tinkering, hacking, creating, and reusing materials and technologies.” Remco and Britta are organizing the Mini Maker Faire through Artengine, an Ottawa-based collective of artists, technologists, and interested members of the general public with strong ties to the local, national and international community of technologically-based artists. Artengine board member Luc Lalande is supporting Remco and Britta as a volunteer and consultant. To learn more about the Mini Maker Faire, which will be free and open to the public, visit makerfaireottawa.com.

Sydney – Pop up Ping Pong at Green Square

2012-09-12T00:00:00Z

Community is the most important element for cities. Our project builds upon this premise and will provide the Green Square community with 2 pop up ping pong tables. The outdoor ping pong tables are relatively cheap, light weight and will be moved around Green Square activating previously dead spaces. The project is simple - foster community spirit through the best game ever invented- ping pong! This activation reflects the communities need for visibility and self expression. It will also help bridge language barriers between existing residents, some of whom may be from other backgrounds, and new residents, 30% of which are from China. To ensure longevitiy I'll be engaging with local businesses to 'look after' the tables and where possible bring in at night for safety and weather protection. Community Benefits: - knowing your neighbours - healthy living and sport - excitement and interest - improved liveability It would be great to have the Awesome Foundation support this project and help foster great community connection at Green Square. Thanks for the opportunity to submit this application. John

Boulder, CO (Inactive) – Yoga classes for Boulders Homeless youth

2012-09-12T00:00:00Z

Ally for youth is a partner non profit that offers food and support to homeless people between the age of 18- 24. I would like to offer a weekly yoga class to these youth. This would be the stepping stone to intreats participant in a meditation class and pranayma skills development. I would then have yoga therapists work with individuals.

New York City, NY – Illicit Couples Retreat

2012-09-10T00:00:00Z

The Illicit Couples Retreat is a guided adventure through an abandoned honeymoon resort a short distance outside of New York City. Twelve intrepid couples are taken on a Lynchian tour of a sexy, swinging 1970s getaway set in the current backdrop of the resort’s decay. This illicit event introduces the audience and the staff to a tragic site once was a hopping resort for romantic getaways that has fallen into ruin through family conflict. Guided through a series of buildings in the expansive complex by trained stewards, the couples both mingle with each other and have private time alone in one of the guest cottages. The experience is designed to deliver something unique to each couple. The full story is only be revealed when they compare notes in the bus on the way home. During their time in one of the kitschy suites, they receive a phone call with an audio recording produced by Project Wanderlust partner Audio Smut. The recordings are based on the documentary research on guests who stayed at the resort between the 50’s and 70’s. The project has been well-documented so everyone can enjoy what the attendees were able to experience first-hand. The Awesome Grant made possible numerous essential aspects of this project — from transportation to candles to champagne to extra-sheets at check-in.

Ann Arbor, MI – Field Trips For Tutoring Students At YMS!

2012-09-09T00:00:00Z

For the past three years, 826michigan has operated an after-school tutoring program at Ypsilanti Middle School. This program pairs trained volunteers with young people for an afternoon of sustained silent reading, homework help, snacks, and creative writing games. Tutoring occurs in a classroom at the middle school and runs from Monday through Thursday, 2:30pm-5:30pm. Students commit to attending at least once a week, although many choose to come more often. This program makes a real impact in the lives of the students. One parent told us, “I’ve seen a difference with my daughter. She had a glow in her face that she wanted to be part of the program, without hesitation, without us twisting her arm. She comes home and tells us what’s going on, and she speaks so highly of all the tutors. . .She likes the program because she sees improvement in her grades.” This fall will mark 826michigan’s fourth year at YMS, and we’re ready to make this program even more awesome. There are many benefits to hosting the program right in the school: it’s convenient for students and parents, it helps us build connections in the Ypsilanti public schools, and it works well for our Ypsilanti-based volunteers. However, one major drawback is that it means that students end up staying at their school for quite a long time. Once the program ends at 5:30, students have been in the same building since 7:15am -- a day of over 10 hours. This would be challenging for anybody, but for active middle schoolers it is grueling. 826michigan’s tutoring lab in downtown Ann Arbor is a colorful, comfortable space where students feel welcomed and excited to learn. (Not to mention our robot store, which has a magnetic attraction all its own.) Unfortunately, many of the students who participate in our program at YMS have never seen it! In the 2012-2013 school year, we want to connect our YMS students to this beautiful space with a series of field trips to 826michigan.

Sukhbaatar (Inactive) – Youth Dental Education in Baruun-Urt

2012-09-06T00:00:00Z

After holding an essay contest in the spring to determine the winner of our first Awesome Sukhbaatar grant, we finally awarded the winning students with the grant on September 7th in front of their classmates! The 14 year old students designed a dental education program that they will organize and teach with the help of local hospital workers for the two schools in our town. The students started off their program in style, presenting their idea to their classmates after they received the grant. When they finished presenting, they asked when the next deadline is so that they can try to submit another project this month! We’re looking forward to seeing what they and the other students come up with!

Toronto – LITTLE FREE LIBRARY FOR TRINITY BELLEWOODS PARK

2012-09-04T00:00:00Z

The Little Free Library idea began in Wisconsin three years ago and has spread to 9 nations worldwide. Little buildings the size of a doll’s house have a sign that says: “Take a Book-Return a Book”. They are for the public’s pleasure. There are now probably over 1000 of them world-wide and growing fast. The first Library opened in Toronto 9 months ago. There are now 7 in Toronto with another 8 under construction. They are in front of public homes and in city parks. We are presently a committee of three of me and two others promoting the idea by presentations, operating booths at fairs and talking to city officials, business and private groups. We also have a builder who offers attractive libraries at a reasonable cost for those with no construction prospect. We offer whatever help we can from the inception to final installation of any Little Free Library. Our target is 20 libraries operating in Toronto by year end: either privately owned or in public parks and playgrounds. The response of the Toronto press and TV is exemplary, for example see http://torontoist.com/2012/07/a-new-chapter-in-book-borrowing/#more-180388 The response of city council members, parks and playground staff, business initiative associations and business clubs is very supportive and positive. We realize that we must pursue financial opportunities so that individuals and communities are able to install Little Free Libraries regardless of their financial limitations. We are now spending 15 hours a week supporting and assisting the public park and playground sector and in communities that may be financially challenged and who want to get involved. We are presently communicating with the people in one of Toronto’s largest parks: Trinity Bellwood. The park always filled with people of all ages has a very active “Friends of the Park” association. This is an ideal place for a Little Free Library. The project has the support of city councillors, park staff and the “Friends” association.

Toronto – Park Yourself Here

2012-09-04T00:00:00Z

‘PARK Yourself Here’ will transform a Toronto downtown street parking spot into a temporary urban park. Rather than a placeholder for a single car this installation will become a place for people to gather. Interacting under the floating silhouette of a car, the passerby will have a chance to escape the hustle of the urban core. This installation is to celebrate Park(ing) day, an annual open-source global event where citizens, artists and activists activate the metered parking space as a site for creative experimentation, political and cultural expression, and unscripted social interaction. On Friday, September 21, hundreds of cities around the world will participate in transforming metered parking spaces into healthier and more beautiful places for their inhabitants. In Toronto, the parking authority operates approximately 17, 500 metered parking spaces on City of Toronto Streets in the core commercial areas. Using the standard parking size in Toronto (5.9m x 2.6m), that is a total of 268, 450mô for the use of private vehicles, an equivalent of 66 Yonge-Dundas squares (4, 047m²)! We will transform one of these metered parking spaces into a colorful and interactive experience for pedestrians. Our proposal is to place a rectangular enclosure on a parking space. It has a full scale silhouette of a car cut out at the bottom. By lifting it up to the proper height, a public space is revealed. Showing how much of our actual environment is occupied by cars, as well as an invitation to pedestrians to enter. Once underneath, they will find themselves immersed under a canopy that made out of recycled pop bottles. Each person will be given an opportunity to fill one of these empty bottles with the color they like. Throughout the day, these colored bottles will be transformed into a colorful canopy. We like to call it the Sunroof. Note: The original idea of the canopy design is by Garth Britzman called (POP)culture: http://www.behance.net/garthitecture

Oahu, HI – Sound Project

2012-09-01T00:00:00Z

The goal of Sound Project is to create a Non-Profit Organization that strives to incorporate local youth into Hawaii’s thriving music industry. The project seeks to: 1. Involve students in the process of creating music on the professional level with guidance from established artists, producers, and experts in the field. 2. Educate students on the production and business aspects of the music industry through real life experience 3. Encourage artistic creativity and musical innovation in our islands youth through educational outreach, competitions, and hands on learning 4. Elevate musical aspirations and promote socially and culturally constructive uses of music 5. Connect reputable island artists, producers, and studios with up and coming musical talent to nurture and mold young musicians and pass along musical ingenuity to future generations. The project idea was formulated between myself and several other well connected members of the local music scene. Using our existing connections, distribution networks, and access to studios we came up with a simple method to achieve the above goals of the project. The basic concept is to hold bi annual or quarterly youtube competitions open to students k-12 around the state. Students submit a video as an individual artist or band and can be in the form of an acoustic performance, live performance, or a recorded track. Selected winners will be brought into the studio alongside experienced producers/musicians to create original songs that will be released on Sound Project Series albums for ITUNES & radio airplay as well as an opportunity to open at a concert event. The online competitions encourage students to not only continually practice and enhance their sound throughout the year but also allow them the time and comfort to produce quality music while even giving them exposure in an medium with massive viewership potential.

Houston (Inactive) – Emmaus Ministries Houston

2012-08-31T00:00:00Z

When “J” got out of the hospital with 42 staples in his chest from being stabbed two days prior and couldn’t afford to buy a $15.00 medicine prescription, the first person he came to was me, knowing that Emmaus would help him out. When “B” got of jail and was finally ready to go to drug rehab, the very next day he came to our Monday lunch knowing that we could assist him in this process. Houston is an “awesome” city and I love living here. But Houston has a dark side as well, and one its many dark secrets is the issue of male prostitution. Emmaus Ministries reaches out to these men letting them know that there are other options apart from the current life most of them feel forced to live and that there are people who are willing to help them get out from the habits that are literally killing some of them. We currently have Monday lunches and Wednesday breakfast every week, and also provide toiletries, clothing, a place to do laundry, counseling, bus passes to run errands, and assistance to help obtain Texas ID, housing, or rehab. Emmaus Ministires Houston has been around for more than 8 years and in the past 18 months alone, we have assisted over 90 men who have come to us seeking help. A few stats we gathered about these men from their intake forms 49% Have Been Shot or Stabbed 32% Have Overdosed 82% Currently are, or were Addicted to Drugs 23% (at least) Are HIV Positive 55% Have Experienced Violent Crimes 36% Have Been Raped ...others wouldn’t say 55% Have Been Molested 84% Are Homeless We are unique in that we are the only organization in Houston that specifically reaches out to this population and we are also unique because we have a very positive and trustworthy reputation among the male prostitute community. Having been around for so many years has given Emmaus the chance to establish a solid presence with these men so that many of the new guys that come are invited by older ones who know that Emmaus really cares and can help.

Detroit, MI (Inactive) – I Am Young Detroit 2.0 & CitySpotters

2012-08-31T00:00:00Z

Using I Am Young Detroit's new web application CitySpotters, citizens are incentivized to "spot" young citizen entrepreneurs and play supporting roles; earning points simply by championing them as nominators, customers, mentors, and resource providers. We’re not only using civic engagement as a tool for data-gathering, we’re making it easier for everyday people to find and support the under-the-radar and next-gen businesses, and really get involved in creating the news! I Am Young Detroit successfully collected soft “data” for three years by accepting nominations through its website. CitySpotters is simply a next phase nomination system that allows us to gather more advanced data—still gathering informative content—but also finding new ways to share this data and new tools to allow citizens to champion local businesses. We’ve launched the beta version on July 2nd, 2012. We’ll be using IAmYoungDetroit.com and Google Maps API to populate the city’s “bright spots” of young entrepreneurs and movements, tell their stories, and encourage users to engage and interact with them online and off. We’ve also organized several drop-off locations that will allow people to “spot” in physical spaces around Detroit, and plan on introducing our mobile and SMS app in the near future. You can check out our newly launched app in beta at www.thecityspotters.com

Boulder, CO (Inactive) – AwesomeBoard

2012-08-31T00:00:00Z

I want to set up a giant whiteboard in the middle of campus for students to brainstorm, collaborate, and ideate on. The primary focus of the whiteboard would be to promote the idea of entrepreneurship and innovation to students. By introducing them to the fact that their are groups like CUNVC and AwesomeBoulder, they could be inspired to write/draw ideas on the board. Another possible thing that could be written on the board is what they like about Boulder, and what they want to see improved. From there, the thought would be that there is a giant object right in the middle of campus that everyone can't help but stop for a second and check it out. Once we have their attention, the ideas on the board can only lead to more inspiration and better ideas. One of the other goals of the project for me is to inspire more involvement in entrepreneurship by students, so the whiteboard can be heavily promoted through pictures and social media after the event, and hopefully a few new Awesome Boulder or Startup projects can be started. This project was done by a friend of mine at NC State, the picture I uploaded is from the day they did it.

Austin, TX – Burnet-Ohlen Treescape

2012-08-30T00:00:00Z

We're planting a forest on Burnet! We've mapped out every location on Burnet from 2222 to 183 where a tree can grow. We know all about the utilities, the City's corridor plans, the businesses that are most likely to be supportive. Season by season, we're planting 10 to 50 trees until Burnet is transformed. The next tree-planting project is in October, when we will plant 50 trees near Steck and Ohlen.

Tel Aviv - קרן בקטנה (Inactive) – Historical Building Preservation Posters

2012-08-30T00:00:00Z

Ilan's posters are kicking off Keren Baktana in Tel Aviv! Ever walked passed one of those neglected, sad looking buildings in Tel Aviv and thought to yourself - this building was probably once the king of the street! Well, Ilan has drawn these buildings in all their former glory and, with a little help from his friends at Keren Baktana, is producing massive sized posters to show off the beauty to all passers-by. You can't escape it now - this edu-street art is enriching the whole city with injections of beauty, reminding us how special our historical city really is.

Boston, MA (Inactive) – Rescuing Cold-Stunned Ocean Sunfish off Cape Cod

2012-08-29T00:00:00Z

The New England Coastal Wildlife Alliance (NECWA) is a volunteer nonprofit that focuses on marine wildlife off New England. Since 2005, we have maintained a community-sighting network for basking sharks and ocean sunfish in the waters off New England. Each fall, we now respond to stranded ocean sunfish along the north shores of Cape Cod or in back bay areas. Ocean sunfish are the heaviest bony fish in the world and can reach lengths of over 10 feet. They migrate to our cold waters each summer to feed on jellyfish. As winter approaches, they head south to spend their winters in warmer, more tropical waters. However, some individuals get trapped in the arm of Cape Cod and become cold-stunned as water temperatures continue to drop. For live ocean sunfish that strand, NECWA staff and interns push them back into the water. When responding to carcasses, we conduct a necropsy to learn more about their biology and eoclogy. NECWA now has the largest database on ocean sunfish off Cape Cod including the largest tissue bank that we share with other researchers worldwide. This fall we created a portable weighing tripod that allows us to weigh ocean sunfish carcasses that wash up on beaches. So far, we have been able to collect weights on 3 carcasses with weights ranging from 350 to 650 pounds. When rescuing live, cold-stunned ocean sunfish, the act of pushing them back into the water is not productive since they will more than likey re-strand sometime in the future. To assist these animals on their southerly migration, we need to relocate them to the southern side of Cape Cod or get them to the Cape Cod Canal. To do this, we need to make a portable sling that can be used to tow a live, cold-stunned ocean sunfish behind a small boat. Even though these fish are quite large, they can be easily moved given their hydrodynamic body shape. And since they are cold-stunned, they are not that active when handled. We also need to come up with a way to tag all rescued sunfish with some type of metal dart tag. Tags would display NECWA’s contact information to allow anyone finding a rescued sunfish to contact NECWA about its condition and location. This would help us determine the level of our success regarding the relocation of cold-stunned ocean sunfish.

Grand Rapids, MI (Inactive) – The Best Prom Ever

2012-08-29T00:00:00Z

How much time, energy, or donation would you give to help a fellow human have the best day of their life???? Think about it! Well, that's what our mission is all about. What started out as a dance for the 16 special needs kids at the local high school has blossomed into a West Michigan event that had over 270 from several surrounding cities last year. We have outgrown our facility in the local church and want to keep the dream alive by renting out one of the nicest facilities in Grand Rapids. This event is so extraordinary to young adults with special needs, as this is their one opportunity each year to get together with others who share their unique gift, to get dressed up in formal attire, to socialize with new friends, to enjoy different compilations of music and to just have fun in a safe and supportive environment.

Boston, MA (Inactive) – The H.E.L.P. Foundation

2012-08-29T00:00:00Z

Wouldn’t it be awesome if any high school student who needed a private tutor could find dozens for free right at their school? The average cost of a high school student’s time for tutoring is around $30 an hour. Steep for someone without a job and parent busy paying the mortgage. Learning this fact just a now made me even more proud of my organization’s ability to provide well over 100 hours of free high school tutoring in its first year at only one location, pretty awesome right? Unfortunately, the program has reached its limits and then some, but don’t worry, you can help! With just this one grant we could run for more then two years at any number of schools and likely sustain ourselves indefinitely afterwards! The idea for the HELP Foundation was born from the peer tutoring program, called the HELP Club, that I started that brought the intelligent and driven students desiring community service hours and work experience together with hard working students struggling to learn a particular discipline from their teacher, a common problem in a school with 25 student classes and overworked teachers. The program was extremely successful, ending the year with over 80 members in a school with little over 1,000 students. Though I was extremely proud of the program it inevitably fell apart after my failure to receive any grant money or fiscal sponsorship. The fact of the matter was that no one was able to put in the immense amount of time required to operate the club without a website smoothly. For this reason I spent many 15-20 hour weeks working to find a way to build a cheap website to assist the organization process so that not only Somerville High would be able to smoothly run a peer tutoring program, but any other school. Once the website is acquired I plan to file for incorporation and a 501c3 for the HELP Foundation, a non-profit that would monitor the website and provide it to any school that had an individual who desired to start a HELP Club.

Airdrie, AB (Inactive) – Green-Lighting Creativity

2012-08-29T00:00:00Z

It was just another awesome night in Airdrie on Wednesday March 21, when ten Airdrie citizens (and trustees) listened to four pitches from the community on how $1000 could turn an awesome idea into reality. The winning idea, to turn 28 plain traffic signal boxes into 3D works of art, was the choice of the ten trustees who each committed $100 of their own money. “What really set our winner’s idea of traffic signal box artwork apart from the other entrants was the potential to start a movement, which was fantastic in all our eyes. We saw this as an opportunity for Airdrie to be reminded of our commitment to this awesome city and involve more people with each project, as artists, and as sponsors. We could see a tangible piece of artwork and feel “WE did that! That’s awesome!” said trustee Keith Wilkinson. He also noted that if Awesome Airdrie was recognized for helping the project get off the ground, it would encourage everyone to submit ideas. Called “Green-lighting Creativity” the project was pitched by Sherry Shaw-Froggatt based on conversations she had with the City Public Works Department. The City owns the boxes but could not cover the costs associated with the project. “Traffic signal boxes and utility boxes are painted in cities around the world, including Calgary,” says Shaw-Froggatt, “it just takes paint and an eager artist to turn a boring metal box into something beautiful to brighten up the community.” Shaw-Froggatt says the next steps are to put out a call for submissions from the arts community on a design for the first box. Once an idea is selected (with City and community input), special paints will be purchased and the box could be finished early this summer. Choosing the location of the first box is also a critical factor. “Once we have one completed traffic box, we then have a tangible piece of art to show to those who would like to invest in the arts community and from there we can sell the sponsorships of the remaining boxes to cover all of the costs. “The added bonus is we are employing our local arts community and showcasing their talent while beautifying our city,” Shaw-Froggatt added. Photo Credit: Airdrie Echo

Chicago, IL – Milwaukee Avenue Mini Golf Course

2012-08-28T00:00:00Z

The Milwaukee Avenue Mini Golf Course is a one day event that will transform a series of public parking spaces on Milwaukee Avenue [from Kimball to Central Park] into a 9 hole mini golf course for one day; Friday September 21st, 2012. We have been working in partnership with Alderman Colon for the past year to rezone the above section of Milwaukee Avenue in Logan Square/Avondale to allow for live/work artist storefronts and thus create a vibrate arts corridor over time in an area that is experiencing serial vacancy. In order to draw attention to the new zoning change, the potential of the new space to the community and building owners, we are proposing a one day activation of public space along this commercial strip. Each course hole would be designed by an invited local artist, creative business or individual with the funds going to cover material costs. The course hole would be located in front of a particular vacant storefront that has been rezoned. The date corresponds with PARK(ing) Day, an annual open-source global event where citizens, artists and activists collaborate to temporarily transform metered parking spaces into “PARK(ing)” spaces: temporary public places. The mission of PARK(ing) Day dovetails with the goals of Alderman Colon and the newly rezoned art spaces of generating critical debate around how public space is created and allocated and to improve the quality of the urban infrastructure at all scales.

San Francisco, CA – Sonic Kung Fu Battle

2012-08-28T00:00:00Z

I am applying for the Awesome Foundation Grant to create my project, “Sonic Kung Fu Battle.” For this project, I want to choreograph and orchestrate a street battle with vocal and sound performers. Instead of staging physical fights with bodies and prop weapons, the performers will use their voices and noisemakers to mimic the sound effects produced in a cinematic battle scene. So, rather then throwing a punch, the performers will vocalize “swoosh” of their sleeves and slap their thigh to signify their punch landed. The concept behind this project begins from a basic fact that most sound we hear in a film is not the actual noise recorded from where the scene takes action. They are usually created, added and manipulated after a film shoot. Most of the time, they are noise created by objects that are unrelated to the visual cue in the film or created through digital technology. By having performers “fighting” without contacts and only using voices and instruments, I intent to emphasize the importance of sound effects in filmic experiences, while at the same time, noting how the experience is also fabricated. I have recently created and directed this idea in my performance on a smaller scale, “Sonic Kung Fu,” for Southern Exposure Gallery. Please check out this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nt7t4Se8UnU I have already secured a venue for this project to take place. I was invited to perform at ZERO1 Biennial as part of their Emerging Artist Network Outdoor Exhibition. The festival will take place between September 14th-16th. While I will receive a micro grant from them, the funding will only allow me to recreate a piece similar to the scale of “Sonic Kung Fu” from Southern Exposure Gallery, which incorporated 7 performers. For “Sonic Kung Fu Battle,” I want to create a larger-scale performance, but more importantly, an epic-physical-sound-performance outdoors.

San Francisco, CA – The Golden Hour

2012-08-28T00:00:00Z

WHAT: I want to produce a San Francisco version (The Golden Hour) of my established Oakland show (Oakland Nights...Live!). It will have all the fun elements of a talk show including a house band, an announcer, and regular guest spots. WHO: Collaborators include Julie Crossman, Christi Ginger, Marcus Philips, Patrick Ewing, Karina van Schaardenburg, and Lloyd Rivera. WHY: The aim is to highlight the artists, academics, activists, and communities of SF in a fun and entertaining way. The Oakland show has created a lot of interest / demand for a San Francisco version. WHEN: The show will be held every third Saturday of the month. WHERE / HOW: This is where we need help. We're currently booking guests and creating sets. But before we can start we need a venue. Depending on the venue we may need sound and projection equipment. An Awesome Grant would enable us to rent a space for our first show. BACKGROUND: The show I do in Oakland is performed live. That means no internet viewing, no podcast, no TV, no radio - it's all live! It's called Oakland Nights...Live! and has a monthly audience of about 100 - 150 people. It's a little bit Johnny Carson, a little bit Pee Wee Herman, and a lot Oakland. http://www.facebook.com/Oakland-Nights-Live OR www.oaklandnightslive.com

Melbourne (Inactive) – Do it on the Roof

2012-08-27T00:00:00Z

In my vision for the future the rooftops of Melbournes’s CBD are transformed from the current grey, concrete landscape into a quilt of fully vegetated, natural parks & gardens that are some of our city’s best-loved, most used features. I am working right now to implement this vision. In February 2012, with Olivia Laskowski, I founded Do it on the Roof, a campaign which aimed to persuade building owners and facility managers in Melbourne’s CBD to create public, natural green roofs. Green roof technology is proven. Most of Melbourne’s rooftops are unutilized spaces. But the research demonstrating the financial benefits of green roofs in Australia has not been translated into commercial terms. Nor is anyone in Melbourne designing vegetated roofs which are natural in style, even though only natural green roofs realize the full benefits. Do it on the Roof translates research into green roof benefits into business cases tailored to the owners and facility managers of the buildings we identify as placed best to benefit from housing public green roofs. Secondly, Do it on the Roof provides conceptual designs for natural green roofs. Thirdly, we increase the financial benefits in creating natural green roofs by promoting green roofs to the public & running publicity campaigns. In February, we ran a workshop at the Sustainable Living Festival. In March, I posed a question about how to catalyse the creation of green roofs on the online forum, Our Say. My question received the most votes, which meant I discussed it with Cnr Cathy Oke. In May, City of Melbourne invited Do it on the Roof to the Growing Green Guide launch & introduced us as the sector's leading community organization. In June CoM asked my question of leaders at Rio+20. Today, Do it on the Roof has a team of 15. We are becoming a consultancy partnership. The Victorian Government dept of Sustainability is writing a study of Do it on the Roof as an exemplar of economic opportunities in climate change adaptation.

Calgary, AB (Inactive) – CLOUD

2012-08-24T00:00:00Z

A large-scale interactive sculpture created from 5,000 re-appropriated domestic light bulbs, CLOUD invites the viewer to wander through a rain of pull strings, switching on and off lights to create the illusion of lightning on the cloud’s surface. (Nuit Blanche Calgary, September 15, 2012). On September 15th, Calgary will be hosting its first Nuit Blanche – an all-night public showcase of contemporary art on the streets of downtown Calgary. As part of Nuit Blanche, local multidisciplinary artist Caitlind r.c. Brown is building an 18-foot interactive electrical CLOUD – out of 5000+ light bulbs. Viewers will be invited to wander beneath the structure through a rain of pull strings, switching on and off lights to create the illusion of lightning on the cloud’s surface. Visiting CLOUD will be free, open to the public, and kid-friendly. Here’s the thing – only one in every ten light bulbs actually needs to glow. The rest are purely ornamental. Why waste fresh light bulbs when there are tons and tons of burnt out bulbs being discarded every day? In pursuit of inexpensive and waste-free materials, CLOUD is experimenting with community collaboration, asking the public to contribute materials by donating their burnt out incandescent light bulbs. Intended to create an awareness of usage and a reminder of the potential of items post-function, this experiment explores the ability of art to re-imagine the possibilities of functionless domestic objects (in this case, burnt out light bulbs). As you can imagine, while there are indeed thousands of burnt out incandescent light bulbs waiting in store for this project somewhere, it’s incredibly hard to get the word out to the broader public – especially to the restaurants, lighting stores, schools, etc. who go through handfuls of incandescent bulbs weekly. This is how the Awesome Foundation can help: with $1000, we can lend legitimacy to our experiment, and spread the Call for Burnt Out Light Bulbs all over the city.

Washington, DC – Connecting Communities Through Wireless Networks

2012-08-20T00:00:00Z

The community wireless networks in Mt. Pleasant and Columbia Heights are organized by neighborhood residents. These networks can help people communicate with neighbors, use local services like community TV and radio stations, and share the cost of an Internet connection. The infrastructure consists of Wi-Fi routers on rooftops that form a network supported by social relationships in the neighborhood. The network’s infrastructure is owned and shared by residents as a resource for the community. Residents participate in these networks as Neighborlinks through a variety of roles, such as hosting a router on their rooftop, sharing Internet bandwidth, creating local content for the network. The vision for the network is to use existing resources, including skills in the neighborhood, to leverage our social relationships into improving everyone’s access to modern communications. The networks are organized according to the principles of digital justice - access, participation, common ownership, and healthy communities.The rooftop wireless devices are routers with a “mesh” feature that allows every device to send and receive its own messages while also passing along data for others. If you attach one to a chimney or other structure on the roof, it can connect with other routers blocks away, as long as they’re mounted high enough. Then, any Wi-Fi enabled device, like a laptop or cell phone, can access the network just like in a public building or coffee shop. Websites coming soon!

Newmarket – Food for Thought

2012-08-20T00:00:00Z

At my school, my friend Kalina and I have been attending a group called "Food for Thought" which occurs once a week after school. Each week the members of the group get together and make lunches for roughly 30 students around the area who do not have lunches. This year, the leaders of the group graduated and needed someone to run the group or next year, so my friend Kalina and I stepped up and eventually were chosen to be the new group leaders.

Ottawa – Citizens Academy Ottawa

2012-08-19T00:00:00Z

August’s Awesome Ottawa award goes to Caroline Andrew, Manjit Basi, Davis Carr, Mitchell Kutney, Judith Maxwell, Maureen Molot, and Ken Victor to support the establishment of a Citizens Academy in Ottawa. The Citizens Academy, they explain, will be a learning program for citizens, designed not only to teach municipal literacy but also to develop skills on how to engage, facilitate, ask questions, and present ideas. The participants will represent Ottawa’s age, gender, geographic, and ethno-cultural mix, and involve community groups, businesses and city officials. “By bridging the gaps between citizens and organizations, and educating both groups, we will catalyze civic vitality,” says Judith. “We live in an amazing city with talented people, a stunning environmental setting, and many economic opportunities,” explains Manjit. “Ottawa is a city with a lot of passionate people doing many amazing things. But we are also a city that is growing, complex, diverse, and changing. Some of the changes are cause for concern: the gap between rich and poor is growing, many people lack a sense of belonging, affordable housing is not plentiful, the divide between rural and urban communities is unsettling, and neighbourhoods are not equal for all our citizens. That future lies in the collaborative economy. To create synergies and intersections between government, non-government organizations, and business, we need to share perspectives, learn from each other, understand challenges, connect across silos, and collaborate on actions. The Citizens Academy will create the space, the tools, and the connections that will re-energize civil society and deepen democracy.” Judith, Manjit, and their fellow volunteers plan to hold a three-session pilot this fall — two sessions in English, one in French — to prove the design concept, get input from citizens on the experiential learning, test the on-line learning component, and evaluate design and resources. The award from Awesome Ottawa will help support that pilot, which will be focused on recreation and healthy active living. Next year, following the pilot, they plan to run series of eight sessions, with sessions focusing on the nitty-gritty of city decision-making such as planning, budgeting, and land use, as well as on strategic issues such as food security and affordable housing. They also envision holding reunions for participants to nurture new skills and enable engagement on issues of participants’ choosing. Caroline Andrew is Director of the Centre on Governance at the University of Ottawa, Manjit Basi is former owner of Ottawa’s The Body Shop, Davis Carr is a recent graduate from Dalhousie and King’s College, Mitchell Kutney is an associate at Knowledge Mobilization Works, Judith Maxwell is former founding president of the Canadian Policy Research Network, Maureen Molot is a retired professor at Carleton University, and Ken Victor is from the Edgework Leadership Group. To learn more, visit the Citizens Academy website at http://www.citizensacademy.ca.

Pittsburgh, PA – The Caldwell Project

2012-08-16T00:00:00Z

I do so many awesome projects. Recently I put out a book called "the Haus of Haunt: Watch Children" about underground Pittsburgh drag queens (one of whom, Sharon Needles, isn't so underground any more, June 12th was official Sharon Needles day in Pittsburgh). I do lots of other really awesome stuff as well. I photograph tons of performers and their performances, and let them use the images for their own publicity for free (most can't afford to pay for photos yet). I photograph queer weddings for free as a political statement. I document protests and marches and let folks use whatever images they want. I take pictures at parties and benefits and let people use whatever they want for future promotion. I take pictures of people with life altering disabilities and surgeries that they then use to inspire others to overcome similar setbacks and disabilities. I take pictures of people who think they are ugly that show them that they aren't and make them feel better about themselves. I photograph the artwork of struggling artists to help them promote their work. I do almost all this for free because I think people deserve good photos, and many of the artists and folks I work with, don't have the success they are striving for just yet, and can't afford a photographer. I do lots of other things as well. Right now most all of this is on hold because my camera broke, and the camera I am using now is very inadequate, and does not produce images of great quality. Sorry I won't have any images to upload, that wasn't on the last application, and I don't have time to prepare something because of work and a zillion other things I have deadlines for today. Refer to last months application and you can see some photos from my book

Seattle, WA – Community Paint by Number Mural

2012-08-14T00:00:00Z

I don't really know my neighbors and that's a problem. I don't mean the people that live across the hall or in the building next door, but rather neighbors in the greater Capitol Hill neighborhood. I think that this is a problem for most of the people that live in cities and I want to help fix it. I want to paint a community paint-by-number mural in Capitol Hill to encourage people to get outside, meet strangers, and each contribute to a cool art project. Myself and an artist would paint the white/black outline of a paint by number mural and then later that day we will invite strangers in the community to help paint in the colors. Each volunteer would be handed a brush and a cup of paint that corresponds to a specific number on the wall. At the end of the day, everyone who participates will have met some cool new people and contributed to a mural in their community with their community. I have been working with Urban Artworks (http://www.urbanartworks.org) to help coordinate painting the mural and as well obtaining any permits and finalizing any insurance issues. The Capitol Club at 414 East Pine Street has agreed to allow me to paint the mural on the side of their building. They have also offered to pay the costs to have an artist design and paint the outline of the mural.

New York City, NY – Concrete Safaris: Afterschool in East Harlem

2012-08-13T00:00:00Z

The Concrete Safaris Afterschool program serves forty 7-11-year-old children who will mobilize 1,200 children in East Harlem to exercise outdoors in 2012. Concrete Safaris’ 7-11-year-old Afterschool participants will: 1. Become healthy leaders as neighborhood change makers and outdoor fitness lovers during 5-day/week programming from 2:20 – 6 p.m. between September and June throughout the school year. Children will garden, run, cycle, swim, fish, hike local and regional parks, make nature or recycled art, eat snack, and finish their homework. 2. Design, install, maintain, and harvest organic produce as well as butterfly-attracting shrubs at the largest children’s gardens on public housing property, located in Washington Houses and called Mad Fun Farm, Paradise Garden, and Sunshine Slope. They will learn and teach gardening techniques as well as leadership skills to 1,200 peers from local schools and agencies. Children will beautify these formerly underutilized spaces into safe, healthy, living “classrooms” and exercise outdoors in them, teaching basic fitness techniques and gaining confidence. 3. Embark on weekly, local, outdoor field trips, which they will suggest and help plan. Examples are hiking the Brooklyn Bridge, cycling on the East River Esplanade, or visiting Central Park for bouldering and outdoor education. Concrete Safaris will work with our current participants as they move to the 3rd - 6th grades and add a class of twenty 4th and 5th graders. Concrete Safaris has a 1:10 (or smaller) ratio of staff:child for all activities. In 2011, just 7% of African American and 8% of Latino children in the United States participated in regular outdoor physical activities. It is our goal to arm the children who have created Concrete Safaris with the skills and knowledge to lead healthy lives and break the cycle of obesity in East Harlem.

Melbourne (Inactive) – Handmade Dog Coats & Vests for Pounds and Rescues.

2012-08-12T00:00:00Z

My project is concerned with making some poor dogs waiting in cold pounds warm. I sew and make fleece coats to donate to pounds and rescues all around Australia. The pounds are so cold and the coats help comfort them. And I also make cotton 'adopt me' vests for rescues, which I have screen printed. These vests are great for people who have a dog they want to get adopted as it starts a conversation when they are out walking or at adoption days. I work full time, so all my spare time I use to sit and sew and try an make a difference to a pound dogs everywhere. I make up and design my own patterns too.

Los Angeles, CA – Ageless Art

2012-08-09T00:00:00Z

Greetings! I was lead to start an art therapy program for seniors living in assisted living facilities and having physical or memory challenges. Without having a background in teaching art, I was led to develop a unique program, using acrylics for our senior art students, that gives each of them to complete a wonderful composition in a one hour session. We launched Ageless Art three years ago, with our first student challenged wih neorological challenges affecting some of her motor skills but not her mind. We had great success with our first student Jerri and now have expanded Ageless Art to reach 200 senior artists each month and now serve senior centers and include all interested seniors 50+.

Los Angeles, CA – Sonic Trace and Stories about Immigration in L.A.

2012-08-09T00:00:00Z

KCRW is a public radio station and media organization whose mission is to create and disseminate news and cultural programming that informs, inspires, and stimulates. A community service of Santa Monica College, KCRW provides NPR broadcasts as well as a weekly schedule of more than 100 hours of original, locally-produced audio content through our broadcast signal, as well as online. KCRW is committed to embracing new forms of digital media that help build community and interactive connectivity with audiences. One of KCRW’s newest projects is Sonic Trace, a hybrid public radio, digital documentary, and social media project that will engage Latin American immigrants in Los Angeles to share and record their stories about immigration and community. Stories will be gathered in three spots/puntos de encuentro in L.A.: a church in South Central, Koreatown/Korexico, and a mobile recording booth installed in a local food truck. The project will develop a social media platform where participants can share stories, photographs, and experiences. Selected stories will also be featured in a public radio series on KCRW. What will ultimately be created will be a multi-platform oral history mosaic about immigrants and their lives in Los Angeles today. Sonic Trace will partner with community associations, local schools, parks, and restaurants to conduct outreach and gather stories. The Sonic Trace project team consists of seasoned radio producers, led by Anayansi Diaz-Cortes and Eric Pearse Chavez, along with KCRW staff, consultants/producers from NPR, Radio Diaries, and Radio Ambulante. Technical partners include Zeega, Voces Mobiles, and AudioBoo. Los Angeles has deep roots in America’s immigration debate. While migration from Latin America to the U.S. is not new, the cultural make-up of recent immigrants and their relationship with their home countries is changing in this age of mobile communications. Sonic Trace seeks to uncover the unheard voices of immigrants in L.A. and record their stories of arrival, survival, and struggle. This project will provide a platform for immigrants’ experiences and perspectives, and engage and empower them to document their own lives in their own words. By recording and broadcasting their stories, Sonic Trace hopes to broaden and amplify the voices involved in the immigration debate and expand knowledge and understanding about immigration in our community.

Sydney – Guerilla Dinner - know your food, know your farmer

2012-08-09T00:00:00Z

We’ve had some really great success with our past events such as pulping 300kg of tomatoes for Passatta Day (http://www.youthfoodmovement.org.au/events/passata-day/) and nailing the sold out inaugural Reel Food Nights (http://www.youthfoodmovement.org.au/reel-food-nights-highlights-reel-released/). But perhaps our most enduring and proudest project to date is the sell-out annual Ride On Lunch (http://www.youthfoodmovement.org.au/events/ride-on-lunch/). The project: On August the 26th the Youth Food Movement will host its inaugural Guerilla Dinner. The dinner will bring food issues to table by gathering friends and strangers with curious minds together in a secret space. With the National Food Plan just released by the Australian Government, we hope to get a range of views and opinions on what this means for Australia’s and Sydney’s food system – while being in a space where the only spin going around the table is that of the lazy susan! Guests will be treated to an artfully crafted degustation menu AND a specially-designed conversation menu, as well as a musical-chair-esque seating plan that will let them dip in and out of stimulating conversation and delightful sensory experiences. One thing you can be sure of: this is no exclusive ‘foodie’ event and there will no Masterchef-style ‘plating up’. This is a down and dirty, all-consuming food experience, cooked by people not chefs, the kind mama used to make. Rest assured it will be REAL FOOD at it’s best. True to YFM’s style and values, at the Guerilla Dinner you will get to know your food, know your farmer and we’ll put on an amazing spread of both food and food for thought. By documenting the night on paper and on film we will be able to give a collective voice to this influential group, while feeding this knowledge back to our local community to make them more aware active citizens. And we see the Awesome Foundation as a crucial part of this – creating a more socially aware society, empowered to act to create tangible and enduring change.

Toronto – Toronto Bicycle Music Festival

2012-08-08T00:00:00Z

This is the third year I've run the Bicycle Music Festival, a pedal-powered, mobile music festival. It's a free community event involving a series of outdoor concerts and performances on Sept. 15, all powered by bicycles! The P.A. for the event runs off of bike generators pedaled by the audience and all gear and instruments are moved between our park venues on cargo bikes and bike trailers by an awesome team of volunteer roadies. We ride as a group from one venue to the next and even have live performances along the way! The festival features independent musicians from a variety of genres performing in beautiful park settings to diverse audiences. Families make up a big part of the crowd and you can usually find at least half a dozen kids dancing in front of the stage. One of the best parts of the event is that it brings together people who you wouldn't normally find at a music festival. Our accessible and innovative format draws in almost as many passers-by as folks who had planned to attend. What could be more quintessentially Toronto than a taxi driver parking his cab to listen to electro-pop in a park? The festival has grown each year and we're determined to make it even bigger and better this year. I recently attended the San Francisco Bicycle Music Festival, which is powered by 20 bikes and features a 4' by 8' mobile stage, and I've returned with the inspiration to take our festival to the next level. There's a huge buzz in this city about all things bike-related and ever-growing interest in powering events by bike. Our festival has captured many imaginations and is poised to be the catalyst for a bike-powered revolution in Toronto. Here are some other things we're dreaming of: Imagine a group of bankers stumbling upon a bike-powered square dance on Bay Street, or politicians leaving Queens' Park and encountering a pedal-powered burlesque show! Bike-powered events allow access to unconventional venues and hold the promise of shaking things up all over the city!

Toronto – The Complete Street Band

2012-08-08T00:00:00Z

As this is the third, hopefully charmed time that I am applying to the Awesome Foundation, you may be tired of hearing about The Complete Street Band, the community street band open to musicians of all ages and musical abilities, dedicated to making Toronto’s public spaces more exciting and inviting places to be. So let me rather tell you what we’ve been up to and why I’ve been so busy that I haven’t had time to even resubmit an application to you for the last couple of months. 1. Playing for the Bells on Bloor mass ride to Queen’s park for the safer streets rally in June. The Complete Street Band gathered outside of Honest Ed’s at Bloor and Bathurst and played for the stream of cyclists riding by as well as those on the street, much to everyone's delight. 2. "A street band in search of a street piano". On the second Saturday in July, The Complete Street Band marched through Trinity-Bellwoods park, playing contemplative, park-like music, before setting up at the piano that was placed in the park as part of the fantastic “Play me, I’m yours” exhibit. At least that was the plan except there was no piano to be found when we arrived! We found out too late that the piano had been moved but that didn’t stop us from playing a set for a very appreciative crowd right there in the park. 3. Playing in the courtyard outside of St. Stephen in the Fields church in the north end of Kensington market many Saturday afternoons. The band rehearses every Saturday at the church but we often find ourselves lured outside to play for the folks on College St. The band is currently composed of 8-12 musicians though we continue to actively seek out more. Recently, I have been focusing on reaching out to younger musicians who may be looking for new opportunities to play.

Ann Arbor, MI – Ypsi-Arbor Unsung Musical Hereos

2012-08-05T00:00:00Z

I would love to evocatvely photograph as many musical artists and personalities, both young and old, as I can that have a local connection to the Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor (MI) area (minimum of 40) . I would interview them and tell the story of their musical lives combined with the image(s) I have captured to create a commemorative photographic biography. With the shrinking educational budgets and the reduction in funding to the creative arts, I see this as a way preserve a peice of our current events that will someday become our history. Please find a sample image of a local artist as a precusur to the type of images that will embody this project.