in Awe of so many!

The people in this city never cease to amaze me ... and inspire me.  I am humbled by the people who both choose to help support Awesomeness in Calgary (the amazing Awesome Trustees) and those who bring forth their ideas to help make this place the best city on earth (the Awesome idea submitters).  Together we're all going to achieve higher awesomeness!

Our most awesome trustee, Reg Tiangha just returned from the first ever Awesome Foundation Summit in Boston and he chose to emcee for us and share some of the insights and ideas that came out of this rapidly growing, global movement of micro-funding. 

The 3rd anniversary of the global Awesome movement is happening. right. now.  And in honour of the 3rd anniversary of The Awesome Foundation as well as the first-ever chapter, Awesome Foundation - Boston, we decided that living in the heart of dinosaur country that we'd better pay tribute to them tonight!   And they were in abundance ... but thankfully they took care not to damage the amazing host venue of DaDe Art & Design Gallery! 

disclaimer:  no dinosaurs were harmed in the making of this event. And all dinosaurs have now made their home in the hearts of a child (courtesy of new AF Calgary Trustee Jonathan Glover) 


Now on to the Awesomeness ... 

Every month we say it was such a tough choice, and we wish we had 4 $1000 prizes to give out.  This month was certainly no exception to that and it really breaks my heart that we have so many great ideas being shared at these events and not enough money to reward them all.  

Our Top4 finalists this month were a wide and varied group of people and ideas.

First up:  Urban Stationary by Kai Sinclair & Alastair Pollock of C4:  "Local semi-permanent art installations in Calgary Transit stations."

They wished to use the $1,000 to pay for the art supplies and materials required to create and install the art work at various LRT stations around town, as well as on marketing and promotional materials to advertise the initiative.  Currently, many of the up-front costs come from out-of-pocket.

Followed by: Culinary Treasure Hunt by Anneke Scholten:  "Find Calgary's hidden culinary treasures during this one day event!"

Anneke wishes to use the $1,000 to help with marketing and promotional work.

Next up: People's Poetry Festival by Shannon McClennan:  "A free, 3-day street festival in Kensington, August 17-19, 2012."

Shannon wishes to use the $1,000 to supplement the meager budget that the People's Poetry Festival draws from, as many shortfalls are covered out-of-pocket by their various volunteers.  The money could be used to provide artist and poet honorariums and possibly help fund their second collection of Calgary street poetry.


And the Avengers were next ... with Call for Help! by Derek Wilken:  "A comic book for young adults to promote the ConnecTeen line at the Distress Centre."

Derek wishes to use the $1,000 to provide Mac & Cheese to the various ACAD volunteer artists to fuel creativity and to help cover various production costs.

Dinosaurs, Avengers, Comic books, Poetry, Artmobs in transit stations, Amazing Race for food .... how much more awesome can an evening get?? ... and how on earth can we decide?? 

And the winner is ... 

Kai & Alistair of C4 - Stationary Art - "Art for public transit stations"! 

Stationary Art!!   Congratulations for amazing vision and drive to get things done.  You are truly inspiring. 

July Thousand Dollar Thursday - July 26!

This month's Awesome Calgary Thousand Dollar Thursday will take place at DaDe ART & DESIGN LAB in Inglewood on Thursday, July 26.  Doors open at 6 p.m. and we hope to see you there!

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• What:  July 2012 Awesome Calgary Thousand Dollar Thursday
• Where:  DaDe ART & DESIGN LAB (1327 9 Ave SE)
• When:  Thursday, July 26.  Doors open at 6 p.m.

Announcing AF-Calgary's July 2012 Top4 Finalists and Honourable Mentions

The days are getting shorter but the heat is still on here at Awesome Foundation - Calgary as we're set to announce another round of Top4 Finalists and Honourable Mentions!

So without further ado, here are AF-Calgary's July 2012 Top 4 Finalists and Honourable Mentions, in no particular order:

Top4 Finalists:

1. Urban Stationary by Kai Sinclair & Alastair Pollock of C4:  "Local semi-permanent art installations in Calgary Transit stations."
2. People's Poetry Festival by Shannon McClennan:  "A free, 3-day street festival in Kensington, August 17-19, 2012."
3. Culinary Treasure Hunt by Anneke Scholten:  "Find Calgary's hidden culinary treasures during this one day event!"
4. Call for Help! by Derek Wilken:  "A comic book for young adults to promote the ConnecTeen line at the Distress Centre."

Honourable Mentions:

• The Harvest Moon by Kenneth Fung:  "Let's celebrate the Harvest Moon."
• Four+ by Jacqueline Steeves:  "Urban Arts Festival incorporating musicians, dancers and visual artists."
• Calgary is FUxING Awesome by Scott Roy:  "A documentary web-series covering those that make this city amazing."

This month's Awesome Calgary Thousand Dollar Thursday will take place at DaDe ART & DESIGN LAB in Inglewood on Thursday, July 26.  Doors open at 6 p.m. and we hope to see you there!

View Larger Map

• What:  July 2012 Awesome Calgary Thousand Dollar Thursday
• Where:  DaDe ART & DESIGN LAB (1327 9 Ave SE)
• When:  Thursday, July 26.  Doors open at 6 p.m.

And last but not least, we're still accepting submissions for the August 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 August AF-Calgary prize is Friday, August 10 at 11:59 p.m.

Hope to see you out this Thursday!

October 2011 AF-Calgary Top4 Finalist idea SoJo has officially launched!

Video:  Why SoJo from SoJo on Vimeo.

AF-Calgary Top4 Finalist idea The SoJo, pitched on the behalf of the organization by Trevor Gair at Awesome Calgary's Thousand Dollar Thursday back in October 2011, has officially launched, complete with an endorsement by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Originally named Social Journal, the SoJo's has evolved over the last year as it moved from beta to release.  In their own words:

SoJo was originally named Social Journal. The initial vision was to become a platform that would better facilitate connections and share information to inspire the next generation of young changemakers to take action and convert the ideas written in their journals into tangible, functioning social projects.

...

SoJo has since expanded its mandate to support all social innovators in developing and implementing their ideas to solve some of our world’s most pressing challenges. 

 SoJo's vision:

To be the leading online resource that social innovators reference to turn their ideas for social change into action.

Aiming to "connect socially conscious, engaged social innovators to the resources and tools needed to bring their social innovations to life," the SoJo exists as a platform for anyone with a social venture or community project idea to help turn those ideas into action with high-quality information, tools and other resources.

While SoJo didn't ultimately win October 2011's AF-Calgary no-strings-attached $1,000 micro-grant, we're always thrilled to see our Top4 Finalists or Honourable Mentions execute on their ideas or projects regardless if they win the $1,000 or not, and we're happy to shine the spotlight on the awesome ideas and the awesome people behind them that make our short lists every month, as that's what it's really all about here at the Awesome Foundation.

So a BIG congratulations to Trevor and the team around the world behind SoJo from all your friends here at Awesome Foundation - Calgary!