Our recent recipients for February are working on the first episode of a gothic play/audio tour that will explore the Chinese heritage of Surry Hills, an inner-city suburb in Sydney now pretty well gentrified, with a great selection of restaurants, cafes, bars, pubs and designer retail. But it wasn’t always this way. As Mei Tsering, one of the writers/developers from the project explains, “The setting of the sound walk will be in contemporary Surry Hills but will go back in time to the early 1900s of plague quarantines, (when) rat catching was a lucrative job and the war was seen as a ‘restricted holiday’ out of the Surry Hills slums. The streets were run by fashionable young gang members and the Chinese living in the area were a dying community following restrictive immigration policies and problems with gambling and opium dens.” “The walk will follow two cousins of Chinese descent as they try and find the home of their ancestors. They hope to make an offering to be rid of a hungry ghost troubling their families. Hungry ghosts are spirits that return to take what they can if sufficient offerings haven’t been made by their living relatives.” We can’t wait… read more →

We had our first grant and dinner on Thursday night. It was well, awesome. Erika convinced everyone to trek Northside to drink wine and eat a lot, at Hell of the North, in Fitzroy. Despite raised eyebrows from the guys at the tapas menu, the food was insanely delicious, and the company, a whole lot more. Cheryl brought along her friend Steve, the man responsible for launching a Lego shuttle into space (awesome). He gave us a quick run down on an up and coming plan/invention he has going on. If you’re into cool start ups, you should check out Steve’s new project, or at least the hype for it. Tom and Jo from Big Scary were off doing their thing overseas so sent in their votes the night before – kudos for organisation skills. The winner of our our first grant was the cool dudes at Son Valise. They turn old school suitcases and the likes into functioning jukeboxes. If you haven’t heard of them already, have a look at their shop on Etsy. Then go on the best picnic you’ll ever go on. They are planning a ridiculously cool project involving new jukes, new music, and some of Melbourne’s – if not Australia’s best talent. We can’t tell you… read more →

Three awesome things happened last Wednesday in Melbourne. The Melbourne Awesome Foundation turned one. We threw a party. We gave away $4,317 in our first mega grant.   We got together at Inspire 9‘s co-working space and were greeted at the door by probably the only Tram Inspector we ever will be happy to see. We’d come together on this night on the common ground of a few things: we like to eat, we like to drink, and we like to spread awesomeness. Miss Tresna Lee, you are an epic party planner and many thanks go your way. Here’s what the night entailed:   – Rooftop Honey: One of our previous grant winners gave everyone a sample of their honey tasting spectrum; honeypots from each suburb of Melbourne. We have to say, Northside takes the cake.  – We listened to the sweet sounds of previous grant winner, Tram Sessions, all night. Including the likes of Courtney Barnett and Johnny Rock and The Limits. –The West Winds Gin boys got everyone talking: Sabre gin, matured lemon juice, crumbled Rooftop Honeycomb – need we say more. –Miss Chu, the Rice Paper Queen gave us some incredible chow.- Little Creatures provided us some nice brews. – Monk Bohdi… read more →

The Awesome Foundation begins their second chapter in Melbourne, Awesome Squared, with five positions available for the taking. There are undeniably a lot of awesome things happening in Melbourne. We are after all, the most livable city in the world. That’s why the Awesome Foundation exists. So what if there was 2x as much Awesome? Enter Awesome Squared. A whole new crew, a whole new vibe. Why? Why not? Awesome Squared currently has five members locked in, they include one that likes to draw, one that writes, one that blogs, one that tweets and one that funds other mega grants. They’re looking for five more board members. Anyone can apply for the position or a grant by contacting contact@awesomefoundation.org and providing a short and sweet bio.  

We’re throwing a party February 22nd and we want you there! Melbourne is pretty awesome so when it throws a party you know it’s going to be one of epic proportions and unlike any you’ve attended before. Since our founding nearly one year ago, we’ve funded $12,000 worth of awesome projects in Melbourne and beyond and have recently started another chapter to bring you twice the awesome each month. None of which would be possible without the support we receive each month from the community — you rock Melbourne! And now it’s time for us to really share the awesomeness with you at The Awesome Mega Grant Party! We hope you will join us and become a Melbourne Awesome Foundation micro-trustee for a night to help us chose an awesome project to receive a grant of $3,000 plus. The more that is pledged, the bigger the party and grant can be. Funds raised through Pozible will go towards throwing the party and awarding the grant. Every support pledge of over $50 will be given a vote, with bigger and better rewards available for larger pledges! For support pledges over $100 you will be given a ticket to attend one of… read more →