Random Acts of Awesome 01 - Valentine's Day Balloon Scavenger Hunt

With our chapter’s relaunch in April comes a new direction as well. We’ve always helped to enable Awesome in the city, through our micro-grant program as well as helping people make connections through the AF network to help make their projects and ideas a reality.

However, starting in 2014, we’re going to work harder to do more Awesome in the city as well. Our Awesome Calgary Relaxation Station in the community of Mission last year during the aftermath of the flood as part of our contribution to Awesome Day in Canada was a huge success, and we’ve been trying to figure out how to do more of it given the constraints on our resources (all of our grants are entirely self-funded out of our Trustee’s pockets, which doesn’t leave much left over for extras).

So in the lead up to our chapter’s re-launch in April, we’ll be hosting our own Awesome Events and Activities in partnership with some fantastic groups and individuals in the community, many of which are inspired by projects that have received grants by AF chapters in other cities, and we’ll continue to do these sorts of things throughout the year.

The first of which is happening today, and it was inspired by the Valentine’s Day Balloon Scavenger Hunt! project funded by AF-San Francisco, as well as the Poetry+QR Codes project funded by AF-Chicago.

We’re calling it our very first Awesome Calgary Random Act of Awesome.

Today, we’re partnering up with Downtown Calgary to seed a large number of pink balloons across Stephen Avenue Walk (from Olympic Plaza to 3rd Street SW) and Barclay Mall (i.e. 3rd Street SW from 9th Avenue to 2nd Avenue SW) with a special Valentine’s Day message attached. We’re encouraging you to find (or rescue, if the weather is too cold; they should re-inflate once they’re back somewhere warm) these balloons over the lunch hour and to either keep them for yourself or to give them to someone Awesome in your life.

• What:  Awesome Calgary Presents:  Random Acts of Awesome #01 - Valentine’s Day Balloon Scavenger Hunt in partnership with Downtown Calgary
• Where:  Stephen Avenue Walk (from Olympic Plaza to 3 St SW) and Barclay Mall (3 St SW from 9 Ave to 2 Ave SW)
• When:  Friday, February 14, 2014 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

We’re also hoping that Calgarians will help us kickstart a Global Wave of Awesome this Valentine’s Day. We’re encouraging people to post a selfie of themselves on Facebook and Twitter along with a Valentine’s Day message of love & justice and to tag the whole thing with #LoveAwesome. Other AF chapters in other cities have promised to monitor the feed and re-tweet or share the more interesting messages in order to inspire people in their city to do the same. We’re hoping to get this thing trending worldwide, and it’d be great if Calgary helped instigate that.

In fact, you don’t even have to participate in our balloon campaign to take part. Just post a positive message to Facebook and Twitter using #LoveAwesome and you’ll have done your part to try to start a rolling wave of Awesomeness around the world!

If you’re in the downtown core during the lunch hour, we hope you’ll help us ensure that each and every one of these balloons finds a good home. Leave no balloon behind!

(PS: There’s free chocolate too)

And for anyone out there who has no one spend this Valentine’s Day with, The Awesome Foundation recently awarded a grant to author Tamara Levitt to fund the creation of a picture book and video that celebrates singledom. “You Are Enough” is a special gift to those who have no one to celebrate this year’s Valentine’s Day with, courtesy of your friends at The Awesome Foundation:


Happy Valentine’s Day from all of us here at Awesome Calgary!

Brace Yourselves...Awesome IS Coming!

After an extended hiatus, Awesome Calgary will be relaunching in April 2014, just in time for our Third Anniversary. In the meantime, throughout the year we’ll be hosting various events ourselves, many of which are inspired by Awesome Foundation projects that were funded by other AF chapters around the world!

Here’s a taste of some of the Awesomeness that you can look forward to in the next couple of months (and as always, all of our events are free to attend and open to the public):

• Fri, Feb 14: Random Acts of Awesome #01: Valentine’s Day Balloon Scavenger Hunt (or ‘Rescue Mission’ if it gets too cold) in partnership with Downtown Calgary (inspired by projects funded by AF-San Francisco and AF-Chicago)
• Sun, Mar 9: Awesome Calgary Presents - A ‘Strings-Attached’ themed Awesome Hours at Speed Gaming 2.0 (inspired by a project funded by AF-Ottawa)
• Sun, Mar 30: Awesome Calgary Presents - A ‘Meat-Filled’ Zebra Piñata Party in partnership with ThePinataProject.com (inspired by a project funded by AF-Boston)
• Sun, Apr 20: Awesome Calgary Presents - Cardboard Fort Day! in partnership with Calgary Mini Maker Faire (inspired by a project funded by AF-Toronto)
• Thurs, Apr 24: Awesome Calgary’s Third Anniversary Thousand Dollar Thursday Pitch Night Event

More details to be released closer to the events, but in the meantime, make sure to save the dates and we hope to see you out at some of these!

We’re also accepting idea submissions for our third anniversary event. If you have an Awesome Idea that you’d like to submit for consideration, fill out this form.

Finally, we’re always on the lookout for new Trustees and volunteers. We’re switching to a quarterly minimal commitment for Trustees, which makes things a little more accessible (of course, we also have a limited number of Guest Trustee slots every month if people would like to try out being an Awesome Trustee with no further commitment). If you’re interested in learning more about what opportunities exist at Awesome Calgary to help out, fill out this form.

Announcing our FINAL set of Top4 Finalists & Honourable Mentions for 2013!

Don’t you hate it when you run the numbers through three times and get three different results?

Regardless, the people have spoken and here are our final Top4 Finalists and Honourable Mentions of 2013, in alphabetical order according to YOU the voters:

Top4 Finalists

1. Girls Gone Wilde by Urban Curvs:  “Girls Gone Wilde Late Night Cabaret is a tongue in cheek evening of performances created by female artists or with a strong female perspective.”
2. Kmitt by Sunrise Community Link Resource Centre:  “To raise awareness about poverty in Calgary through the sale of locally knitted mittens by folks who have experienced poverty firsthand themselves.”
3. The Potluck Pageant by Mark Jeffery:  “An event to disarm then overwhelm around eating healthy while creating community. Local business prepares and shares healthy food - you will eat well and leave inspired!”
4. YYCShows by Cheryl Johnson:  “Comprehensive Calgary concert listings at www.yycshows.com. Links to bands & ticket sales, a show calendar, and information on music venues, blogs and promoters.”

 

Honourable Mentions

• Dinosaur Dance Party by Brendan McGuigan:  “A youth-friendly, all-ages outdoor dance party featuring young electronica artists…and dinosaurs.”

Once again, a BIG THANK YOU to everyone above for volunteering to participate in our first-ever Audience Participation selection process. It’s not something we’ll do every month, but variety is the spice of life, as they say. Did you enjoy it? Should we do more things like it? And if so, what or how? Let us know in the comments or hit us up on Facebook or Twitter. We might just incorporate some of them when we re-launch sometime in 2014.

Our final Pitch Night of 2013 will be on Wednesday, December 18 at 6:30 p.m. at the Endeavor Arts & Events Space.

 

• What:  The FINAL Awesome Calgary Pitch Night of 2013, featuring Top4 Finalists selected by YOU!
• Where:  Endeavor Arts & Events Space (1209 - 1 Street SW)
• When:  Wednesday, December 18, 2013 at 6:30 p.m.
• RSVP:  Facebook

So please join us in supporting our four great ideas this month (especially if you voted for one of them!) before we break until the new year.

Awesome Calgary's 'YOU be The Trustee' 2013 is now LIVE!

The pool of submissions that have agreed to be part of this month’s special Top4 selection procedure have all been posted!

To sum up, a BIG THANK YOU to the five people and organizations below who agreed to take part in this special format to end our calendar year here at Awesome Calgary, a first for our chapter:

• Submission 01:  Dinosaur Dance Party by Brendan McGuigan
• Submission 02:  YYCShows by Cheryl Johnson
• Submission 03:  Kmitt by Sunrise Community Link Resource Centre
• Submission 04:  The Potluck Pageant by Mark Jeffery
• Submission 05:  Girls Gone Wilde by Urban Curvz

To reiterate, we need YOUR help to figure out which four submissions to invite to our final Pitch Night of 2013, so this month, we’re crowdsourcing the Top4 Finalist selection process, which means that YOU get to try being an Awesome Calgary Trustee for a month, and without the financial commitment!

So to sum up:

1. We’ll post this round’s submission pool here at awesomecalgary.org on the morning of Monday, November 18 for your perusal.
2. You’ll read through all of the submissions and pick (and most importantly, rank) your Top4 favourites, or in other words, the four submissions you’d like to see be invited to pitch at our final Pitch Night of 2013.
3. You’ll submit your ranked Top4 picks to us no later than midnight on Saturday, November 30 through an online ballot form to be released alongside the idea submissions on Nov 18.
4. We’ll tally up the results and announce the final set of Top4 Finalists for 2013 here on the blog along with our Pitch Night date and venue on the morning of Monday, December 2.

For more information on how this all works (including FAQs), check out our blog announcement.

All eligible submissions can be found here. Make sure to read through them all!

The deadline for voting is midnight on Saturday, November 30 and the online ballot form can be found here.

Which four ideas would you like to see pitch for a $1,000 no-strings-attached micro-grant? Now’s your chance to make your voice heard!

Submission 05: Girls Gone Wilde

 

Idea:

Girls Gone Wilde by Urban Curvz

Summary:

Girls Gone Wilde Late Night Cabaret is a tongue in cheek evening of performances created by female artists or with a strong female perspective.

The Project:

Girls Gone Wilde is awesome because:

• We will involve over 30 artists, a huge cross section of the emerging talent in Calgary, in a supportive environment to create, develop, and perform new work. 
• The process includes dramaturgical support, production support, and mentorship by professional artists.
• It’s a fun night of theatre to see- it’s like going to a tapas restaurant where the dishes tantalize your palate, leaving you wanting more!
• Urban Curvz is Calgary’s professional feminist theatre company whose work reflects the wit and intelligence of women to counteract the underrepresentation of females in popular culture, and we’re extending this year’s Cabaret to two weekends because last year’s sold out!

 

How the $1,000 will be spent:

• Lunchbox Theatre and rehearsal space.

 

Ready to vote?

Again, to sum up:

1. We’ll post this round’s submission pool here at awesomecalgary.org on the morning of Monday, November 18 for your perusal.
2. You’ll read through all of the submissions and pick (and most importantly, rank) your Top4 favourites, or in other words, the four submissions you’d like to see be invited to pitch at our final Pitch Night of 2013.
3. You’ll submit your ranked Top4 picks to us no later than midnight on Saturday, November 30 through an online ballot form to be released alongside the idea submissions on Nov 18.
4. We’ll tally up the results and announce the final set of Top4 Finalists for 2013 here on the blog along with our Pitch Night date and venue on the morning of Monday, December 2.

For more information on how this will all work (including FAQs), check out our blog announcement.

All eligible submissions can be found here. Make sure to read through them all!

The deadline for voting is midnight on Saturday, November 30 and the online ballot form can be found here.

Which four ideas would you like to see pitch for a $1,000 no-strings-attached micro-grant? Now’s your chance to make your voice heard!

Submission 04: The Potluck Pageant

 

Idea:

The Potluck Pageant by Mark Jeffery

Summary:

An event to disarm the overwhelm around eating healthy while creating community. Local business prepares and shares healthy food - you will eat well and leave inspired!

The Project:

• We're an event which empowers people in their diet! The event gives you the confidence to prepare simple recipes that you've tried and know you enjoy!
• We're creating community between local business with the audience who seeks their advice and expertise in eating well. 
• We want to have a fun night out without the bars! People try every dish and vote for their favourite recipe which will be crowned, Best in Show! A fun drag queen performance entertains after crowning a winner! Why not?
• You leave with a cook book containing the recipes you tried with the contact information of the business which prepared it so you may find them at a later date!

 

How the $1,000 will be spent:

We will use the $1000 to book a venue and cover some signage costs (the rest being sponsored by participants).

About:

I am passionate about creating fabulous juice bars/gathering places and to help cut the confusion around food. I want to enliven Calgary and to support individuals in their well being!

Ready to vote?

Again, to sum up:

1. We’ll post this round’s submission pool here at awesomecalgary.org on the morning of Monday, November 18 for your perusal.
2. You’ll read through all of the submissions and pick (and most importantly, rank) your Top4 favourites, or in other words, the four submissions you’d like to see be invited to pitch at our final Pitch Night of 2013.
3. You’ll submit your ranked Top4 picks to us no later than midnight on Saturday, November 30 through an online ballot form to be released alongside the idea submissions on Nov 18.
4. We’ll tally up the results and announce the final set of Top4 Finalists for 2013 here on the blog along with our Pitch Night date and venue on the morning of Monday, December 2.

For more information on how this will all work (including FAQs), check out our blog announcement.

All eligible submissions can be found here.

The deadline for voting is midnight on Saturday, November 30 and the online ballot form can be found here. Make sure to read through them all!

Which four ideas would you like to see pitch for a $1,000 no-strings-attached micro-grant? Now’s your chance to make your voice heard!

Submission 03: Kmitt

Idea:

Kmitt by Sunrise Community Link Resource Centre

Summary:

To raise awareness about poverty in Calgary through the sale of locally knitted mittens by folks who have experienced poverty firsthand themselves.

The Project:

Our mission is simple; to raise awareness about poverty in Calgary. For every pair of mittens we sell, we give a pair to a person in need, right here in our city. We use locally sourced wool, and every pair is hand-knit by amazing volunteers through our organization.

How the $1,000 will be spent:

We will use the funds to purchase more supplies in order to keep our knitters occupied with our weekly knitting circles as well as to expand our project into items that may include toques and scarves. The same idea will apply to these new items - that for every item sold to raise funds to maintain this project and raise awareness about poverty, one item will be given to a person in need through our organization.

About:

We're all about awesome and Kmitt is a project that was founded by two young people who have recently joined our Board of Directors - Joanna Gee and Nick Meehan - two very awesome individuals.

Ready to vote?

Again, to sum up:

1. We’ll post this round’s submission pool here at awesomecalgary.org on the morning of Monday, November 18 for your perusal.
2. You’ll read through all of the submissions and pick (and most importantly, rank) your Top4 favourites, or in other words, the four submissions you’d like to see be invited to pitch at our final Pitch Night of 2013.
3. You’ll submit your ranked Top4 picks to us no later than midnight on Saturday, November 30 through an online ballot form to be released alongside the idea submissions on Nov 18.
4. We’ll tally up the results and announce the final set of Top4 Finalists for 2013 here on the blog along with our Pitch Night date and venue on the morning of Monday, December 2.

For more information on how this will all work (including FAQs), check out our blog announcement.

All eligible submissions can be found here.

The deadline for voting is midnight on Saturday, November 30 and the online ballot form can be found here. Make sure to read through them all!

Which four ideas would you like to see pitch for a $1,000 no-strings-attached micro-grant? Now’s your chance to make your voice heard!

Submission 02: YYCShows

Idea:

YYCShows by Cheryl Johnson

Summary:

Comprehensive Calgary concert listings at www.yycshows.com. Links to bands & ticket sales, a show calendar, and information on music venues, blogs and promoters.

The Project:

YYCShows is awesome because it makes it easy for Calgary music fans to find out about and attend concerts. The aim of the site is straightforward: to provide a one-stop-shop of Calgary concert listings. For each show, we identify the bands, ticket prices and where they’re available, music genre, all ages/18+ and doors/set times if available.

How the $1,000 will be spent:

With $1,000 we could make YYCShows a more accessible, faster and user-friendly concert information source. The money would contribute to improving the usability of the site by filtering by each characteristic of the concerts. We would hire a programmer to allow each show to be “tagged” by band, venue, genre, and whether it is all ages or 18+. Then, visitors would be able to search by each characteristic to find specific types of shows they are interested in, without losing the value of an overall comprehensive list of upcoming concerts.

About:

I love attending concerts, and believe it’s a great way to be involved in your community – especially seeing local acts. When I returned to Calgary last year, I found that while there are impressive music resources, the information is widely spread. I started keeping track of upcoming shows and sending my friends bimonthly mass texts on concerts. Eventually I realized that the real value was in the sources for finding out about shows and the listings that I was tracking – if I had all this information in a document, I might as well share it with other Calgary music fans.

Ready to vote?

Again, to sum up:

1. We’ll post this round’s submission pool here at awesomecalgary.org on the morning of Monday, November 18 for your perusal.
2. You’ll read through all of the submissions and pick (and most importantly, rank) your Top4 favourites, or in other words, the four submissions you’d like to see be invited to pitch at our final Pitch Night of 2013.
3. You’ll submit your ranked Top4 picks to us no later than midnight on Saturday, November 30 through an online ballot form to be released alongside the idea submissions on Nov 18.
4. We’ll tally up the results and announce the final set of Top4 Finalists for 2013 here on the blog along with our Pitch Night date and venue on the morning of Monday, December 2.

For more information on how this will all work (including FAQs), check out our blog announcement.

All eligible submissions can be found here. Make sure to read through them all!

The deadline for voting is midnight on Saturday, November 30 and the online ballot form can be found here.

Which four ideas would you like to see pitch for a $1,000 no-strings-attached micro-grant? Now’s your chance to make your voice heard!

Submission 01: Dinosaur Dance Party

Idea:

Dinosaur Dance Party by Brendan McGuigan

Summary:

A youth-friendly, all-ages outdoor dance party featuring young electronica artists…and dinosaurs.

The Project:

The intention of Dinosaur Dance Party (DDP) is to provide an opportunity for young electronic dance music (EDM) artists to showcase their work in a safe, friendly, drug/alcohol-free environment.

An alternative to the 'club scene' that EDM is typically restricted to, DDP will take place in Tomkins Park and will be free & open to the public.

Artists/attendees will be encouraged to dress as dinosaurs - because it's a lot easier for people to dance when everyone already looks silly.

Youth EDM artists will be invited to submit original songs to local dinosaur-musician Synthosaurus, who produce/perform a DJ set featuring winning entries to be selected by a panel of Calgary musicians.

How the $1,000 will be spent:

• Rental of Tomkins Park space: $47.24 park rental fee + $26.25 special event admin fee = $73.49
• Rental of PA and lighting equipment: approx. $200
• Honorariums for selection panel: 5 x $50 - $250
• "Song of the Year" + runners-up awards (small trophies/medals): 3 x $15 = $45
• Approximate cost: $568.49

 

Ready to vote?

Again, to sum up:

1. We’ll post this round’s submission pool here at awesomecalgary.org on the morning of Monday, November 18 for your perusal.
2. You’ll read through all of the submissions and pick (and most importantly, rank) your Top4 favourites, or in other words, the four submissions you’d like to see be invited to pitch at our final Pitch Night of 2013.
3. You’ll submit your ranked Top4 picks to us no later than midnight on Saturday, November 30 through an online ballot form to be released alongside the idea submissions on Nov 18.
4. We’ll tally up the results and announce the final set of Top4 Finalists for 2013 here on the blog along with our Pitch Night date and venue on the morning of Monday, December 2.

For more information on how this will all work (including FAQs), check out our blog announcement.

All eligible submissions can be found here. Make sure to read through them all!

The deadline for voting is midnight on Saturday, November 30 and the online ballot form can be found here.

Which four ideas would you like to see pitch for a $1,000 no-strings-attached micro-grant? Now’s your chance to make your voice heard!

Our final $1,000 micro-grant of 2013: YOU be the Trustee!

We’re nearing the end of our year here at Awesome Calgary, but before we break for the holidays, we still have one final $1,000 micro-grant to give away before it’s all said and done.

This time around, we’re doing something different. We’re giving YOU the opportunity to be a Trustee, and we’re letting YOU pick which four ideas from our submission pool will be invited to pitch their ideas in front of our Trustees of Awesome and the general public at our Pitch Night in December.

On Monday, November 18, we’ll start posting the submissions from our pool of submissions who have agreed to participate in this, each in separate blog posts, all at once. You’ll be able to read through all of the submissions the same way we do and get a taste of what we as Trustees have to do every month when we have to decide upon our Top4 Finalist and Honourable Mention short lists.

You’ll then have to decide on which are YOUR Top4 ideas out of that submission pool, or in other words, the four submissions you’d like to see at our final Pitch Night of 2013. You’ll be ranking them from 1 to 4, with 1 being your most favourite, and 4 being your “still my favourite, but I’ve got three others that I favour more” selection. Once done, you’ll submit your selections to us through an online ballot form that will be posted at the end of each submission for your convenience (Note: One vote per person participating, please).

The deadline to get your votes in will be midnight on Saturday, November 30 (which is just under two weeks for you to review the submissions). We’ll tabulate the results the next day, and then we’ll announce our final set of Top4 Finalists on the morning of Monday, December 2, along with our final Pitch Night and venue for the year.

So to sum up:

1. We’ll post this round’s submission pool here at awesomecalgary.org on the morning of Monday, November 18 for your perusal.
2. You’ll read through all of the submissions and pick (and most importantly, rank) your Top4 favourites, or in other words, the four submissions you’d like to see be invited to pitch at our final Pitch Night of 2013.
3. You’ll submit your ranked Top4 picks to us no later than midnight on Saturday, November 30 through an online ballot form to be released alongside the idea submissions on Nov 18.
4. We’ll tally up the results and announce the final set of Top4 Finalists for 2013 here on the blog along with our Pitch Night date and venue on the morning of Monday, December 2.

Simple, right? Everything’s now live, so get cracking!

If you have any questions about any of this, feel free to reach us at contact@awesomecalgary.org. We’d love to hear from you.

F.A.Q. (Will be updated frequently)

Q: What happens if I have more than four favourites?

A: Congratulations! You’re experiencing just one of the many dilemmas we go through as Awesome Foundation Trustees each and every month! You’re just going to have to whittle your short list down to four of them, using whatever method you feel it’ll take. Some AF-Calgary Trustee favourites:

• Subjective points system (ex. Points for creativity, Awesome Impact, community involvement, bang-for-the-buck, uniqueness, probability of successful execution, broad appeal, is it a realistic idea, etc; basically, rank ideas based on whatever criteria is important to you).
• Strenuous discussion and debate on the merits of each and every idea amongst your friends and peers (usually over food and beverages).
• Reach out to the various submitters for more information on their projects.
• Random number generator (method most favoured by AF nerds and geeks alike).
• Weighing the probability of bribes and the effect of one’s biases on your personal selection process.
• The ‘Dart Board’ method.

Q: But what happens if I have less than four favourites?

A: That’s not a problem! You don’t need to feel obligated to have to submit four choices. Just list your top 1 or 2 (or 3) choices, and for whatever is left over, choose ‘No Selection’ on the ballot form. Our super-secret scoring algorithm is smart enough to weigh your choices appropriately (which is why it’s important for you to also rank your choices when you submit them to us), knowing that if push came to shove and there was only one slot left to fill, you would prefer that your Number 1 choice made it in over your Number 2 choice, etc.

Q: Wait, you guys have a super-secret scoring algorithm?! How does that work??

A: Duh, it’s a secret! But if you really want to know, track down our Dean of Awesome at one of our events, and he’ll be happy to tell you in explicit detail about how it all works. Because he’s a nerd.

Q: Alright, sounds like fun. Where can I read the submissions?

A: All eligible submissions for this initiative can be found here and here. Read carefully through all of them before choosing your Top4 picks!

Q: OK, I’ve chosen my Top4. Where do I go to submit them to you guys?

A: Fill out our handy-dandy web ballot. The deadline to get your submissions in is midnight on Saturday, November 30, 2013. (Note: One vote per person, please; any suspicious looking entries will be discarded).

The final results will be announced on our website on the morning of Monday, December 2 as well as our end-of-year venue announcement.

Q: Wow, that was fun! I like what you guys do. What more can I do to help?

A: Glad you asked! We’re always on the look out for new Volunteers to help us at our events or with the day-to-day operations of keeping our chapter running in between micro-grants, and of course, we’re ALWAYS on the look out for new Trustees who wish to help fund more Awesomeness in the city. The more Trustees we have, the more grants we can give away and the more often that we can do it!

If you’d like to learn more about some of the wonderful opportunities that our Awesome Foundation chapter has to offer, there’s a checkbox at the end of the ballot form where you can indicate your interest. Otherwise, send us a message through our volunteer contact form at any time, and one of our Ninjas of Awesome will get back to you.

We’re looking at trying some different things in 2014 operationally and in the public just to keep things fresh, and we could definitely use some more help to try and pull it off. So if you feel that you have a skill or something else to contribute, we’d love to hear from you, whatever it is!

Q: How can I stay updated with what you guys are up to?

A: You can find us on Twitter at @awesome_calgary, on Facebook at facebook.com/awesomecalgary, on Google+ at gplus.to/awesomecalgary, on Storify at storify.com/awesomecalgary and right here on our blog at awesomecalgary.org. You can also sign up for our newsletter, which we’ll be using to announce our public-facing events and activities, news on what’s happening in the International AF world as well as follow up stories with previous Awesome Calgary micro-grant fellows, Top4 Finalists and Honourable Mentions on all of their awesome journeys.

Our chapter will be relaunching sometime in early 2014 with a new granting schedule, so make sure to follow us on our various social media channels above or subscribe to our newsletter to be the first to know!

Is this thing on? Announcing our November granting process - Warning: It's different!

Hi. You may have noticed the lack of updates here recently. Well, the truth of the matter is, our chapter is on hiatus until next year, but in the meantime, we do have ONE FINAL $1,000 micro-grant left in the war chest to give away.

AND we want YOU to help us decide who gets it.

That’s right, for this go-round, our final one of 2013, YOU GET TO BE THE TRUSTEE. We want YOU to help US choose our final set of Top4 Finalists for the year. Yep, this month, we’re crowd-sourcing the selection process.

On Monday, November 18, we’ll be posting the various submissions that are vying for our final $1,000 micro-grant of 2013 right here at awesomecalgary.org, where you can take a look at them and then vote for your Top4 selections through an online ballot we’ll release closer to the day. You’ll have until midnight on Saturday, November 30 to get your submissions in.

We’ll then take that weekend to tabulate the results and announce our final set of Top4 Finalists for 2013 on the morning of Monday, December 2, the four of which will then be invited to pitch their ideas to the AF-Calgary Trustees and the public at our final Pitch Night for 2013.

So, if you’ve ever wanted to try your hand at being an Awesome Calgary Trustee, now’s your chance. Stay tuned!

EDIT: And it’s on!

Announcing our Top4 Finalists and Honourable Mentions for August 2013

Summer's winding down (already?!) but things are heating up here over at Awesome Calgary, as we prepare to award yet another $1,000 micro-grant to someone to help make their Awesome Idea become a reality.

So, without further ado, here are our Top4 Finalists and Honourable Mentions for August 2013, in no particular order:

Top4 Finalists

1. Crowdsourced Sculpture by Tom Bielecki:  "Engineering+Art: World's first crowdsourced 3D printed sculpture."
2. Buck E. Deeds by Cory Chapdelaine:  "Random good deeds all over Calgary for the entire month of September."
3. Waterways - A Commemorative Flood Sculpture by Alia Shahab:  "A kinetic water sculpture constructed using salvaged flood materials, through a community collaboration, to explore the power and mystery of water and highlight the resilience and spirit of Calgary's community."
4. Bridgeland Community Kids Basketball Camp by Paul Lau:  "Free fun Basketball Camp for Kids."

Honourable Mentions

• Crazy EL-Wire Guerrilla Art by Kyle Cappis:  "Public lit-up EL-Wire art installations."
• Pterodactyl HD by Jason Bedard:  "The idea is to make a model pterodactyl with embedded HD video camera fly continuously back and forth overhead of a busy public event, wirelessly broadcasting all that it sees with its fearsome dino-birdie eyes."
• Meaningful Meals by Anneke Scholten:  "Bringing people back together around the dining table!"
• Funding the Vanguard by Daniel Rodriguez:  "Bringing forward the newspaper that Calgary deserves."
• Vital Signs Machines!!! by Shauna Brady:  "We (the nurses) want to buy fancy vital signs machines to better serve our patients on U43!"

This month, our Awesome Calgary Pitch Night will take place on a special day of Tuesday, August 27 at 6 p.m. at our usual haunt, the Endeavor Arts and Design Space. That's this TUESDAY!

• What:  Awesome Calgary's July Pitch Night and Awesome Hours
• Where:  Endeavor Arts & Event Space (1209 - 1 Street SW)
• When:  Tuesday, July 23, 2013 at 6 p.m.
• RSVP:  Facebook

 Hope you can make it out!

Back on Schedule: This month's Top4 Finalists and Honourable Mentions!

Flood Madness threw us off our usual schedule for a few weeks, but we're back just in time to celebrate the fourth anniversary of The Awesome Foundation, complete with our very first dinosaur-themed submission to crack Top4!

So without further ado, here are our Top4 Finalists and Honourable Mentions for this month, in no particular order:

Top4 Finalists

1. Pterodactyl HD by Jason Bedard:  "The idea is to make a model pterodactyl with embedded HD video camera fly continuously back and forth overhead of a busy public event, wirelessly broadcasting all that it sees with its fearsome dino-birdie eyes."
2. Zine Machine by Jeffery Wood:  "Zine Machine is a vending machine that dispenses 'zines' (small magazines)."
3. Song of Life by Daniel Okpala:  "Music for a cause. Write a song that would be used to raise awareness and money for a cause or issue affecting Calgarians."
4. Bikes for Needy Kids by Richard Link:  "I have the opportunity to supply quality mountain bikes to needy kids during 2013 Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day."

Honourable Mentions

• Starting the Telegraph by Daniel Leon Rodriguez:  "Funding help starting The Calgarian Telegraph, a new publication that will work as an open publication for all members of the community where anyone can contribute."
• The Party Bike by Bob (Nowak) Michalewich:  "A mobile audio/visual experience, putting smiles on faces at events and group rides."
• Meaningful Meals by Anneke Scholten:  "Create awareness about the importance of eating together by organizing events such as the Week of Eating Together."
• Silk Road of Peace by Jorg Ostrowski:  "Using Calgary experience of the last 36 years, we plan to ecological retrofit a few caravanserai along the old Silk Road to resurrect and regenerate, revitalize and repopulate this model of peaceful coexistence and international exchange."

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This month's Awesome Calgary Pitch Night takes place on the special date of Tuesday, July 23. So for all of those out there who were concerned about scheduling conflicts with Calgary Folk Fest in the past, we've accommodated! It'll take place at our usual haunt: The Endeavor Arts & Events Space.

• What:  Awesome Calgary's July Pitch Night and Awesome Hours
• Where:  Endeavor Arts & Event Space (1209 - 1 Street SW)
• When:  Tuesday, July 23, 2013 at 6 p.m.
• RSVP:  Facebook

Hope you can make it out!

Join us on Awesome Day in Canada as we support the community of Mission!

Friends of Awesome, due to the recent flooding in the Calgary area, Awesome Foundation - Calgary will be postponing our June Pitch Night on 06/27 to focus our efforts on helping Calgarians to rebuild. 

For Awesome Day in Canada, we'll be based in the SW community of Mission and will be supporting residents there in two ways:

First, we'll be complementing the Volunteer Recruitment tent set up in the parking lot of the Mission Safeway location with our very own Relaxation Tent. It's going to be a hot day tomorrow, so we'll be providing a shaded place where people can rest up after cleaning up various buildings and where people can sit and enjoy the free food that a variety of vendors around Mission are providing to volunteers, first responders and flood victims, rather than having to sit on the sidewalk. We'll also have a cell phone charging station set up where people who need a little more juice for their phones can plug in, which is important as much of the neighbourhood is still without power. We may have other amenities as well. Stay tuned!

Second, as Mission is still in desperate need of volunteers, we'll be supporting their recruitment efforts by helping to promote the need throughout the day and by recruiting people for Task Force Awesome who will be a crack team of Awesome Volunteers who'll help people in need to clean up and rebuild their homes. Grab a limited edition Awesome Calgary button and get out there and show your civic pride.

Everyone's invited, so please, if you're a supporter of our normal Awesome Calgary events, please come join us any time on 06/27 as we help support the residents of Mission during this difficult time. Bring your friends!

• What: Join Task Force Awesome as Awesome Calgary supports the community of Mission
• Where: Parking lot of the Mission Safeway (524 Elbow Drive SW)
• When: Thursday, June 27, 2013 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
• RSVP: Facebook
• Hashtag: #AWEyyc

Keep Calm & Stay Awesome! Or: How you can help with the #yycflood efforts

Looks like the folks over at Awful Calgary have declared war on Mother Nature due to the recent flood.

While it PAINS us to agree with them on anything, no one can deny the fact that recent events in our area aren't just Awful, they're absolutely Horrible.

Many people from within Calgary and outside of town are wondering how they can help. It's a good question, and in fact, there are many ways!

For those of you out of town or wishing to donate monetary funds, you can do so through the Canadian Red Cross' special Alberta Floods Fund here:

http://www.redcross.ca/donate/donate-online/donate-to-the-alberta-floods

They accept PayPal too, so you can donate online through credit cards, PayPal balance or even through your bank account if you have that set up. You can also use prepaid credit cards or gift cards that you can purchase from many stores. They work fantastic, although some prepaid gift cards require you to register a valid address first before they can be used for online purchases.

If you'd like a bit more control and granularity over where your dollars go, our friend Gena Rotstein over at Place2Give.com has set up a special page where you can choose what organizations receive your donation. It's especially handy because some of those organizations aren't equipped to accept online donations through their websites at this time.

http://www.place2give.com/CalgaryFlood.html

Note that Place2Give applies a credit card processing fee of 3.9% to all transactions, which will be added to your donation total.

Keep an eye on Volunteer Calgary's blog for organizations looking for items to be donated:

http://volunteercalgary.wordpress.com/2013/06/22/calgary-flood-donation-drop-off-points-and-wish-lists/

It's being constantly updated as new requests for items from various organizations come in.

If you're interested in helping defy the odds to pull off The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth in time and on schedule for the citizens of Calgary and the rest of the world, keep an eye on the Calgary Stampede's special web page here for updates and for when a general request for assistance from the community goes out:

http://calgarystampede.com/waterissue

If you've got specialized equipment or skills that you'd like to donate to help with the recovery efforts, you can contact the City directly by sending an email to cema.logistics@calgary.ca. They're starting to reach out to people for that particular need, but only through that email address.

If you're looking for opportunities to help clean up or restore our city, keep an eye on the Calgary Clean Up Facebook page organized by one of our friends (as well as former and Founding Awesome Calgary Trustee) Brian Singh, or register yourselves as a volunteer at YYC Helps and you'll be the first to know when opportunities arise or when the general call for help goes out. They'll be coordinating with the City to ensure that the grassroots community recovery initiatives complement the official overall City efforts as well.

http://yychelps.ca

You can also register as a volunteer with Samaritan's Purse, which is useful if you'd like to help with cleanup efforts outside of the city of Calgary:

https://secure.samaritan.ca/donation/volunteer/

Or you can now register yourselves directly with the City as a volunteer!

The City of Calgary has set up a Volunteer Centre to bring able hands and recovery needs together.

Simply register your availability. Currently, they are not looking for specific skill sets (i.e. plumbers, electricians, etc). They are in need of generalists.

Volunteers can register as individuals or groups. To register, send an email with the following information to volunteer@calgary.ca:

• Name
• Phone Number
• Availability (For example, if you're available only between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. on any day but Tuesday, include that information in your email. But please, keep it simple!)

Volunteers can also register by calling any of the following numbers:

• 587-998-7817
• 587-998-7835
• 587-998-7837
• 587-998-7832

That's it for now. Keep an eye on The City of Calgary Twitter account at @cityofcalgary and the Calgary City News Blog for all the latest updates.

In the meantime, Stay Safe, Keep Calm and Stay Awesome! We'll get through this together.