We noticed you’re pretty awesome; we’re pretty awesome ourselves. Do you have a passion for encouraging creativity and inciting revolutions? Are you excited about awesome projects, whatever your definition of that might be? If so, you might have what it takes to be the 2nd David Nunez Chair for Higher Awesome Studies. The Awesome Foundation for the Arts and Sciences is an ever-growing, worldwide network of people devoted to forwarding the interest of awesomeness in the universe, and we, the Boston chapter, are looking for a new trustee to join our ranks. We are particularly interested in someone who is well-connected in communities outside of the tech/startup world to help diversify our group: artists, musicians, makers, chefs, nonprofit organizers, educators, mad scientists, etc. are all encouraged to apply. Your responsibilities would include: * Reviewing and selecting an Awesome Project each month. This means reviewing the month’s submissions, identifying your favorites, and championing them during a monthly 2 hour long deliberation session (low conflict, beer and pizza to help the process along). * Contributing $100 towards each monthly award * Attending the events held in honor of the winners * In the event of your resignation, helping to find a successor… read more →
We’re positively thrilled to announce today that the trustees of Awesome Foundation San Francisco have chosen Meredith Scheff to be this month’s Fellow for her project Scarf-a-Day, wherein she will make one silly, strange, whimsical, nerdy, electronic, fuzzy, warm, or otherwise totally awesome scarf a day for a whole month — and post how-tos online. Meredith’s a graduate of the California College of the Art’s Illustration program, though she’s been all over textiles, electronics, soft circuits, and a whole range of geekery in recent years. Specifically, she’s been sewing a ton recently, and it’s already led to a fair quantity of sheer epicness that we figured would be great to have manifested in a showcase of 30 awesome scarves. These will culminate in a mighty reception show sometime in January/February. So, stay tuned. You can find more about Meredith on her site and her Twitter. She’s also the creator of the Northskirt — a skirt that always helpfully indicates where due north is — which, if you haven’t seen yet, you really, really should. If you’d like to help support the Scarf-A-Day, check out Meredith’s Etsy, and you can donate to hear using the handy dandy PayPal button below: Congratulations… read more →
Today, the Berlin chapter of the Awesome Foundation was proud to announce the first grand winner. Many applicants were present this morning at Betahaus when we had the honor to hand over a brown paper bag filled with 1000 EUR to Konrad who convinced with his awesome idea: a “Wilde Schlittenfahrt”, a wild downhill sledge ride. Konrad (seen above with a hat and one hand on the money bag) will build a sleigh track with different lanes to enjoy winter and the snow. It will be maintained, so it lasts a while. He already has some locations in mind and is eager to realize his snowride soon. In this video, Konrad explains his idea with his own words: Wilde Schlittenfahrt aka Wild sled ride – Awesome Foundation Berlin grantee Konrad explains his idea from Henrik Moltke on Vimeo. We liked the idea because it spreads love and fun during a very hard, dark and cold time in Berlin: winter. It will bring people together and create a friendly environment. It is realizable soon and within the budget. Plus: We all look forward to riding that hill ourselves, awesome! Thanks to everybody who submitted their ideas, we were amazed by the… read more →
It gives us great pleasure to announce the first award for the Awesome Foundation DC grant is (drum roll please): Fab Lab DC. After reviewing over 70 applications and with much passionate discussion, our board came to a completely unanimous agreement for the winner of the first Awesome Foundation DC grant. So what is this Fab Lab and why is it AWESOME? Phyllis Klein, the powerhouse behind the application, is currently operating a mobile Fab Lab over on 14th St. The Awesome Foundation grant is going to help her activate their new bricks and mortar space on North Capitol Street, NW. Here’s her proposal for an awesome grant: In the spirit of MIT’s Fab Lab community outreach project, Fab Lab DC will create a high-tech, fabrication laboratory/community workshop in the heart of the Nation’s Capital to advance creativity, innovation, and collaborative projects. Fab Lab DC will serve and foster the creative community by providing access to digital fabrication technology, rapid prototyping, and the global Fab Lab network. Fab Labs enable people to use technology to create, experiment and produce, shifting the paradigm away from people merely “consuming” technology toward using technology to create solutions. With a focus on life-long learning… read more →