Supporting local projects, ideas and people

This month, Awesome Calgary's Thousand Dollar Thursday returned to Melrose Cafe and Bar in the Heart of the Red Mile on Calgary's uptown 17th Avenue.  In fact, we were here exactly one year ago in June 2011 when the Calgary Circus Studio won the prize for their Street Arials project.

The emcee for the night was yours truly, Trustee of Awesome Reg Tiangha. Faced with a packed house and many new faces and first-timers to our Thousand Dollar Thursday event in the audience, the stage was set for all of our Top4 Finalists for June 2012 to take to the stage for 90 seconds each to try and wow the AF-Calgary Trustees and the audience and convince them why they felt they were worthy of winning the $1,000 no-strings-attached prize.

Pitch 1:  Eureka Lost and Found 

First up was Vanessa MacTavish and Elizabeth Buchanan with Eureka Lost and Found.
Eureka Lost and Found is an online community that inspires finders to help seekers in their community retrieve their lost possessions.

It uses a matchmaking process unlike any conventional lost-and-found that connects finders with seekers.  People can join online communities and receive alerts when items go missing in their area.  People are inspired to become finders and to show neighbourly kindness through the Eureka Lost and Found and such positive behaviour is rewarded through a system involving "Karma Points" that can be redeemed for cool things.  Community venues are also encouraged to sign up so that they can participate in creating helpful and trustworthy communities.

According Elizabeth and Vanessa, there is no such system on the Internet that they've found that leverages the concept of online matchmaking with a Lost-and-Found.

The $1,000 would be used towards the first prototype of their website and kickstart the momentum required to see the project to its conclusion.

Pitch 2:  Urban Stationary 

Second was Natsumi Yokura and Brendan McCabe with Urban Stationary.

The Calgary Creative City Collaboration (C4 for short) plan to take over C-Train platforms with art, pop-up galleries and other interesting installations.  In fact, Calgary Transit has already agreed to donate the spaces needed to execute the project.

Urban Stationary gives local artists exposure to thousands of Calgarians who commute throughout the city every day using transit, will bring life and vibrancy to public spaces all over town, making arts and culture more accessible to ordinary Calgarians.

The first event will be a pop-up gallery on Friday, June 29 at Brentwood LRT station, plus another event will occur the first week after Stampede, as well as events roughly every three weeks over the summer and hopefully from September onward.

While a good chunk of the project has been funded through smaller arts grants or self-funded by the collective up to now, the $1,000 would be used towards art supplies and honorariums to participating artists.

Pitch 3:  Old Homes. Great Stories.

Up third was Lindae Stokes with Old Homes. Great Stories.

Celebrating Calgary's Century Homes, Lindae wore her presentation on her body as she explained her Old Homes. Great Stories. idea.

A grassroots movement of 250 homeowners in 30 communities who love build heritage and their homes and wanted to celebrate century homes built in 1912 in the Victorian, Edwardian and Craftsmen styles came together and were inspired to research the history behind their homes and to tell their stories by creating visual displays outside their homes to share with all Calgarians.  Homeowners were trained on how to research and communicate the stories of their homes through training courses held in advance.

During Historic Calgary Week from July 27 to August 6, the public can visit their website at CenturyHomes.org and create their own self-guided walking tours of Century Homes in various neighbourhoods around the city.

According to Lindae, this is the first time such a project has been attempted in Canada.

The $1,000 would help the group pay for higher-quality and longer-lasting coroplast signs and banners to honour the buildings and the people who participated in the project, as well as to promote the homes to the public by having them on display when they go on their self-guided walking tours.

Pitch 4:  Buying Local Project

Last was Ashleigh Ahern with her Buying Local Project.

The $1,000 would be used to create a video blog series spotlighting local businesses and the things that they're doing as well as the services that they provide that are green, sustainable and sets them apart from others, giving them exposure and encouraging the public to support all local businesses and vendors who strive to be green or sustainable.

The goal is to produce at least one video per month, and Ashleigh has already started filming the project (the morning of this month's Thousand Dollar Thursday in fact), doing interviews at the Kingsland Farmers Market with Hoven Farms.  She hopes to profile more local businesses in the future, but the $1,000 micro-grant would allow her to do even more as expenses thus far including various membership and administrative fees have been all paid out of pocket.

And the winner is... 

 Congratulations, Ashleigh!

AF-Calgary's June 2012 no-strings-attached $1,000 micro-grant went to Ashleigh Ahern with her Buying Local Project.

Ashleigh plans to start work right away, and the first videos from her project should be up shortly.  Stay tuned to SunOnTheRock.com or right here at awesomecalgary.org for more details as they become available.

BIG Thanks to our venue sponsor Melrose Cafe and Bar for hosting us again this month.

As always, putting on a Thousand Dollar Thursday every month is always a challenge, and it can't be done without the help and support of our Awesome Support/Production Team. So a BIG Thank You to the following people for volunteering some of their time to help us out this month with running the event:

Photo Credit:

• Brett Gilmour

Production Duties:

• Alex Kelly
• Phil Stiles

Livestream Production:

• Tony Grimes

Live-Tweet Team:

• Sarah Pynoo
• Tara Prudhomme
• Crystal Ellis

We're still accepting submissions for our July 2012 prize.  The deadline for submissions is Tuesday, July 10 at 11:59 p.m. and if you'd like to submit an idea or project for consideration, fill out this handy-dandy web form!

Finally, if you missed out on the event, check out our live stream recording on our YouTube channel.

Thanks to everyone who took time out of their busy evening to come down and watch, and we hope to see you again next month!

Lane Shordee's Hello Neighbour exhibit is a re-invention of Alberta history

AF-Calgary's March 2012 Top4 Finalist and local artist Lane Shordee's first solo exhibition Hello Neighbour! is currently on display and open to the public at the Pith Gallery & Studios in Inglewood.

A self-professed scavenger, the inspiration for this particular project came from the fact that the house and garage that he was living in at the time was also used to create horse-drawn carriages 100 years ago.

While Lane did not win the Awesome Calgary March 2012 prize for Hello Neighbour!, he chose to execute on his idea regardless, which is something we always love to see.

His original idea was to create a functioning horse-drawn carriage out of scraps that he scavenged from dumpsters, alleyways and other places, and build it in his own garage to be exhibited elsewhere for the public later on.

While the handmade carriage, which was originally created in his workshop, then was dismantled and re-assembled at the gallery, is the flagship piece in the exhibition, he expanded the exhibition to include a homemade shotgun as well as other interpretations of items and tools found during that time in history plus other paintings and sculptures, all created from scavenged materials or materials left over from creating the carriage.  Videos detailing the construction, deconstruction and reconstruction of the carriage will also be on display during showings.

If you'd like to check out Lane's creations and re-inventions, his Hello Neighbour! exhibit runs until July 17 at the Pith Gallery & Studios (1018 - 9 Avenue SW) in Inglewood.  The gallery is open on Saturdays from noon to 5 p.m. and by special appointment.



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• What:  Hello Neighbour! exhibit by March 2012 AF-Calgary Top4 Finalist Lane Shordee
• Where:  Pith Gallery & Studios (1018 - 9 Avenue SW)
• When:  Runs June 1 - July 17, 2012.  Gallery open Saturdays from noon to 5 p.m. or by special appointment

To learn more about how Lane's project came to fruition, check out these articles by FFWD Weekly and the Calgary Herald.

And a reminder:  We're still accepting submissions for the July 2012 prize.  If you have an Awesome Idea that you'd like to submit to AF-Calgary for consideration, fill out this handy-dandy web form! The deadline for submissions for the July AF-Calgary prize is Tuesday, July 10 at 11:59 p.m. 

YYC Mobile Movie is BACK!

August 2011's AF-Calgary Fellow Matt Hamel and winning project YYC Mobile Movie is back again this year with a FREE outdoor showing of The Goonies on the side of the historic Simmons Building in Calgary's East Village.

Timed to coincide with this year's Cyclepalooza, this month's free viewing of The Goonies will take place on Saturday, June 30 after the East Village Glow & Show, where Calgarians are encouraged to show up at 9 p.m. to ride their bikes along the RiverWalk to the Peace Bridge and back again, armed with glow sticks and more, and then stick around for the free movie.

Like last year's free outdoor viewing of Casablanca, The Goonies will be projected onto the side of the Simmons Building right after the Glow & Show, but will be proceeded first by the premiere of a 15 minute short by our friends over at Hidden Story Productions (and created by AF-Calgary's September 2011 co-winner Chris Hsuing) entitled Powered by the People, which will be entirely powered by bicycle generation.  It's anticipated that everything should begin around 10 p.m.



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• What:  Cyclepalooza:  East Village Glow & Show
• Where:  Simmons Building, 618 Confluence Way S.E.
• When:  Saturday, June 30, 2012.  Meet at 9 p.m.  RiverWalk Glow Ride at 9:30 p.m.  Free outdoor screening of Powered by the People and The Goonies around 10 p.m.
• RSVP:  RiverWalk Glow Ride on Facebook, Screening of The Goonies on Facebook.

So bring your bike, a blanket and a lawn chair and enjoy another FREE movie under the stars courtesy of Matt Hamel's YYC Mobile Movie.

And a reminder:  This month's Awesome Calgary Thousand Dollar Thursday takes place this Thursday, June 28 at Melrose Bar & Grill.  Doors open at 6 p.m. and we hope to see you there!

Announcing AF-Calgary's June Top4 Finalists and Honourable Mentions

The June Solstice has come and gone and as we head into the warm summer months, things are definitely heating up here on the home front as we're ready to announce our Top4 Finalists and Honourable Mentions for this month!

So without further ado, here is Awesome Calgary's Top4 Finalists and Honourable Mentions for June 2012, in no particular order:

Top4 Finalists:

1. Urban Stationary by Natusmi Yokura and Brendan McCabe:  "C-Train stations transformed by art - flash galleries, murals, installations and more."
2. Old Homes. Great Stories. by Lindae Stokes:  "Celebrating Calgary's Century Homes."
3. Eureka Lost and Found by Elizabeth Buchanan and Vanessa MacTavish:  "An online community that inspires finders to help seekers in their community retrieve their lost possessions."
4. Buying Local Project by Ashleigh Ahern:  "A series of 'community awareness' videos featuring a variety of local sustainable businesses."

Honourable Mentions:

• Literacy Publishing Project by Rehana Bharwani:  "Involving children with disabilities in a book project by allowing them to illustrate the pictures to show that disabilities are not a hinderance to achieving success."
• The First Tee Calgary by Damon Johnson:  "To start a calgary chapter of The First Tee program - who's mission is to impact the lives of young children by building character, instill life enhancing values, and promote healthy choices through the game of golf."
• Remember Your First Book by Tom Best:  "Books for those in need."

A reminder that this month's Thousand Dollar Thursday will take place at Melrose Cafe & Bar (730 - 17 Avenue SW) on Thursday, June 28.  Doors open at 6 p.m. and we hope to see you there!

• What:  June 2012 AF-Calgary Thousand Dollar Thursday
• Where:  Melrose Cafe & Bar (730 - 17 Avenue SW)
• When:  Thursday, June 28.  Doors open at 6 p.m.
• RSVP:  Facebook and Yelp

And last but not least, we're still accepting submissions for the July 2012 prize.

If you have an Awesome Idea that you'd like to submit to AF-Calgary for consideration, fill out this handy-dandy web form! The deadline for submissions for the July AF-Calgary prize is Tuesday, July 10 at 11:59 p.m.

The new and improved awesomefoundation.org plus our June venue

First, the new awesomefoundation.org website launched at the beginning of this month, and it's totally awesome!  Re-designed to feature more of the Awesome Ideas that have been awarded grants around the world, it's now easier to take a peek at what some of the other chapters have been up to over the last few years.  Currently, there are 46 chapters in nine countries around the world (and growing!), and collectively, we've given away around $190,000 to fund 190 projects ($12,000 for 12 of them coming from Calgary over the last year) since the whole movement started in 2009.

Check out our chapter's page on the new site to see the submissions from our AF-Calgary Fellows, plus pictures and video from some of the projects that have already executed.  If you're a previous AF-Calgary winner and you have some pictures and videos from your projects that you'd like to share, let us know and we'll make sure we post it!  We'll also start highlighting our winning projects on the main Awesome Foundation blog going forward (as well as other notable news from past and future AF-Calgary winners), so keep an eye out for that over there as well.

Next, we're pleased to announce our June Thousand Dollar Thursday venue.  We'll be taking it back to where we were last June, Melrose Cafe & Bar in the Heart of the Red Mile.  They've recently released an awesome new menu, so it's an excellent opportunity to check that out as well.

View Larger Map

• What:  June 2012 AF-Calgary Thousand Dollar Thursday
• Where:  Melrose Cafe & Bar (730 - 17 Avenue SW)
• When:  Thursday, June 28.  Doors open at 6 p.m.
• RSVP:  Facebook and Yelp

Finally, we're accepting submissions for the July 2012 prize.   If you have an Awesome Idea that you'd like to submit to AF-Calgary for consideration, fill out this handy-dandy web form! The deadline for submissions for the July AF-Calgary prize is Tuesday, July 10 at 11:59 p.m.

Hope to see you out later this month!

Building a better future

Following up on April's One-Year Anniversary event was going to be a tough job, but thankfully, the diversity of submissions we received for May 2012 ensured another wide variety of pitches would be on display as we kick off Year Two here at Awesome Foundation - Calgary.

This month, we returned to Commonwealth Bar & Stage for the 13th instalment of Awesome Calgary's Thousand Dollar Thursday, where four ideas would vie for the no-strings-attached $1,000 micro-grant.

The emcee for the night was our very own Trustee of Awesome Chris Salmon, and it was with this backdrop that the four AF-Calgary finalists for this month took to the stage for 90 seconds each to wow the Trustees and convince them and the audience why they felt they were worthy of winning the $1,000 prize.

Pitch 1:  Sharing Souls

First up was Daniel Rodriguez with Sharing Souls, a collaborative project heavily inspired by the "Before I Die" wall by Candy Chang, which has already been executed in many cities around North America.

After arriving in Calgary two years ago and observing the city, Daniel felt that Calgary was a city that never wakes up.  That said, he felt that Calgary and Calgarians had big dreams and big potential, and he wanted to know exactly what it was that Calgarians were dreaming about.  So Daniel wishes to bring the "Before I Die" project here to Calgary to help realize that.

Plywood sheets painted with chalkboard paint would be placed on the City Hall, 1st Street SW and Centre Street C-Train platforms for two weeks where Calgarians would be able to share their thoughts and dreams by writing them down for all to see.  After that, those boards would be placed in a permanent installation somewhere where it could stand as a monument to the dreams of the people and could help motivate people to start executing them now that they've managed to define them.

Ideal project launch would be towards the end of June, and the majority of the $1,000 would go towards the purchase of materials to execute the project, mainly plywood, chalkboard paint, and various writing implements.

Pitch 2:  Tool Library

Second was Courtney Hare and Kristen Holm with Tool Library, where they wished to use the $1,000 micro-grant to launch Calgary's very first tool lending library.

The Tool Library would give all Calgarians access to Do-It-Yourself (DIY) and gardening tools that they can use on various projects.  Rather than renting or buying tools that you may only use for eight minutes or pestering friends and family for tools to borrow, you can simply borrow them for free from the Tool Library instead.

They felt that Calgarians as well as various organizations and programs in the community would benefit from having a Tool Library in the city in three ways:

1. Economically:  By reducing the costs associated with renting or purchasing tools.
2. Socially:  By creating opportunities for people to build things together.
3. Environmentally:  By reducing waste consumption and environmental footprint.

The $1,000 would go solely towards the purchase of tools to kickstart the collection.  New tools, refurbished tools and donations would go towards the collection and to start, three main kits would be created.

Courtney and Kristen will house the tool library at the Central branch of the Calgary Public Library downtown and they hope to have the project launched within the next six months.  The long-term vision would be that the collection could be expanded and housed in a trailer that could move from branch to branch.

Pitch 3:  Project Grandma

Up third was Ava Jane Markus, a local theatre writer and actor, with Project Grandma.

Ava, along with two other artists, will write a 45 minute play in conjunction with the residents of Canyon Meadows Retirement Home.  Interviews with residents would be performed, poetry written and other stories would be told.

The play will happen on June 1 and the $1,000 would go towards audio equipment to perform the play, as well as to help pay for craft materials, performer's fees and promotional materials.  Ideally, this would serve as a pilot project and could be used as a template for other productions and collaborations with other nursing and retirement homes in the future.

Pitch 4:  Puppet Gratitude Journal 

Last was Michelle Warkentin with Puppet Gratitude Journal.

The Puppet Gratitude Journal is a new play written by Michelle launched last month.  The play would use puppets to teach children between Kindergarten and Grade Six about what gratitude is and the wonderful virtues that people have inside, mainly kindness, compassion and empathy because in Michelle's experience, the earlier children can get that message, it makes them better people later on in life.

The $1,000 would allow four schools by the end of June or September with 100 children at each school to be able to view the play for free.

And the winner is...

 

 

AF-Calgary's May 2012 no-strings-attached $1,000 micro-grant went to Courtney Hare and Kristin Holm and their Tool Library.

Courtney and Kristin hope to have the project implemented within the next six months, so keep an eye out for that!

BIG Thanks to our venue sponsor Commonwealth Bar & Stage for hosting us again this month.

As always, putting on a Thousand Dollar Thursday every month is always a challenge, and it can't be done without the help and support of our Awesome Support/Production Team. So a BIG Thank You to the following people for volunteering some of their time to help us out this month with running the event:

Photography Duties:

• Eleni Tsaprailis
• Arin Podolski

Production Duties:

• Alex Kelly
• Phil Stiles

Livestream Production:

• Tony Grimes
• Karl Leung

Live-Tweet Team:

• Sarah Pynoo
• Kelsey Kashluba

We're still accepting submissions for our June 2012 prize.  The deadline for submissions is Sunday, June 10 at 11:59 p.m. and if you'd like to submit an idea or project for consideration, fill out this handy-dandy web form!

Thanks to everyone who took time out of their busy evening to come down and watch.

Finally, if you missed out on the event, check out our "live-to-tape" version of it on our YouTube channel here (apologies in advance for some of the tech issues within the video):

And check out some photos from the event on Flickr.

Hope to see you out next month!