It’s with great pleasure that we can now announce the new members of Awesome Foundation Sydney!!! We would like to welcome these people into the AF-Fold. Our new Dean Of Awesome: Renae Mason. Our 2nd Alan Rogers Chair for Higher Awesome Studies: Alan Jones. Right before we decided on the two positions we had open one of our other trustees, James Martin, received the good news that he was set to work in the UK for the next 6-12 months. So, we decided to select a 3rd new member, to take over as the 2nd James Martin Chair for Higher Awesome Studies. Our 2nd James Martin Chair for Higher Awesome Studies: Tom Kelshaw Thank you to everyone that applied for the positions. We expect some further turnover over the coming little while, and will be in touch with you all should we have another space open up.

It’s with great pleasure that we here at AF Sydney can announce that we’re looking to fill two positions on our board with super awesome people such as yourself!!! What are the positions, you ask? 1. The 2nd Alan Rogers Chair for Higher Awesome Studies Alan has recently decided to move himself down to the wonderful city of Melbourne. Whilst Sydney’s loss is Melbourne’s gain, it also means we get to recruit a new member to the Awesome Foundation Sydney board! Taking Alan’s chair means attending our monthly dinners and pitching in $100 towards the $1000 grants we award. 2. Dean of Awesome We’ve muddled through the process of setting up our little chapter of awesomeness here in Sydney, but now we’re looking to recruit someone to help us organise and manage the chapter each month. This role includes small but crucial tasks; such as organising the monthly dinners, posting occasionally to the AF Blog you are reading now and generally being the ‘go-to’ person for our board members. You’ll be a fully fledged member of AF Sydney, with full voting rights and an equal say in who each months grant recipient will be. You don’t have to pay the monthly $100,… read more →

We’ve had an Awesome Foundation here in Sydney for a few months now and over that time, we’ve seen approximately 50 applications for our monthly grant. We get quite a few questions from friends and colleagues about how the Awesome Foundation works, namely: 1) “What happens if you’re funding terrorism?” 2) “What exactly makes something awesome?” The answer to question 1 is that we have an application process where we use common logic, and sometimes checking out the project in question, to ensure we don’t fund terrorism. But at the end of the day, it’s a no strings attached grant to do something awesome, and terrorism isn’t really that awesome. The second question is a bit harder to answer. We all know ‘awesome’ when we see it right? But how exactly do you go about encouraging people to apply for our awesome grant if they’re unaware they might be eligible!?! 9 awesome indicators Rich Cooper, from AF Toronto, has put together a phenomenal list that we think helps define what is awesome. If you’ve got a little side project on the go and you think it’s totally awesome, you should apply here. 1. Newness – Is this idea totally new?… read more →

It’s with great pleasure that AF Sydney can announce our May recipient, Scott Brown and his awesome project – Experiential Media & Autistic Spectrum Disorders. This is a video of some of Scott’s work. Here’s what appears to be a design of the device Scott will be building. I am an Honours student at COFA in Sydney, studying Digital Media and focusing on interactive and experiential design. Currently, I am working on a year-long project which will look at how children with autistic spectrum disorders (ASDs) respond to physical interaction with digital devices. The format of the project will be that of a case study, working with the generous assistance of Aspect (Autism Spectrum Australia). Occupational Therapists from Aspect will shortly source three families with an autistic child who are willing to participate in the study. Once confirmed, unique physically interactive devices (based on each child’s individual sensory issue) will be introduced to the family home, where the parents will observe its impact and pass feedback on to myself. Based on this feedback, further developments will be made over the next six months (for a total of 3×3 devices, ie one device for each child, re-developed three times). A grant such… read more →

It’s with great pleasure that the micro-trustees of AF Sydney can announce our April Recipient! After a very long and intense discussion, we’ve decided to award this months grant to ‘Communion’ – a project by Julia Burns. You can see some of Julia’s work in her video showreel below. From Julia’s submission: The work will be titled ‘Communion’ and is being made for submission to the 2011 Blake Religious Prize. It will feature a short video of two male Aboriginal dancers performing an intimate ballet sequence at the altar of a Catholic church. Filmed at the site of the first Catholic Church in Wollombi and one of the earliest sites of Christian worship in Eastern Australia, this work presents an unconventional scene featuring Aboriginal spirituality and male intimacy within a traditional Christian context. It refers to the adaptability of believers to find spirituality in religions that may not have originally been their own and asks the viewer to question their own ability to adapt to a scene foreign to their expectations. There are obviously some very subjective and sensitive issues around the work that Julia is going to create – in fact, the submission stimulated quite the discussion around our board… read more →