August’s Awesome Ottawa award goes to Caroline Andrew, Manjit Basi, Davis Carr, Mitchell Kutney, Judith Maxwell, Maureen Molot, and Ken Victor to support the establishment of a Citizens Academy in Ottawa. The Citizens Academy, they explain, will be a learning program for citizens, designed not only to teach municipal literacy but also to develop skills on how to engage, facilitate, ask questions, and present ideas. The participants will represent Ottawa’s age, gender, geographic, and ethno-cultural mix, and involve community groups, businesses and city officials. “By bridging the gaps between citizens and organizations, and educating both groups, we will catalyze civic vitality,” says Judith. “We live in an amazing city with talented people, a stunning environmental setting, and many economic opportunities,” explains Manjit. “Ottawa is a city with a lot of passionate people doing many amazing things. But we are also a city that is growing, complex, diverse, and changing. Some of the changes are cause for concern: the gap between rich and poor is growing, many people lack a sense of belonging, affordable housing is not plentiful, the divide between rural and urban communities is unsettling, and neighbourhoods are not equal for all our citizens. That future lies in the… read more →

Almost 40% of Angelinos are immigrants – and we’re betting they’ve got some great stories to tell. So we’re giving our August Awesome grant to help build La Burbuja – “the bubble” – a portable sound booth to record the stories of Latin American immigrants in Los Angeles as part of Sonic Trace, a KCRW radio project from indie producers Anayansi Diaz-Cortes and Eric Pearse Chavez. According to them: It begins in the heart of Los Angeles and crosses into Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. Part radio, part video, part mapping project, Sonic Trace asks ¿Por qué te vas? ¿Por qué te quedas? ¿Por qué regresas? Why do you go? Why do you stay? And, what makes you return?… By recording and broadcasting their stories, Sonic Trace hopes to broaden and amplify the voices involved in the immigration debate and expand knowledge and understanding about immigration in our community. Holla that. Plus, La Burbuja will look like exactly that – a bubble! Our 1K is just the start – Anayansi and her team need 5K more to build this big round shiny orb of storytelling goodness. Give a few bucks over at their Kickstarter project to help them reach their goal. And come celebrate… read more →

By Ted Alcorn (Awesome NYC Trustee) On an island of concrete between four lanes of traffic, shaded by the Brooklyn Queens Expressway above and washed by the sound of traffic all around it, three designers see an opportunity for light and beauty. Their vision, Silent Lights, is a series of six gates that light up sequentially based on the intensity of sound and vibrations from oncoming traffic: “the transfer of aural sound into visual light.” The designers—Valeria Bianco, Michelle Brick and Shagun Singh—are the July grantees of Awesome Foundation-NYC. The Awesome Foundation-NYC grant will provide funding for LEDs and arduinos for the gates, bringing light and movement to the installation.  “Once connected, the LEDs will translate the patterns of the surrounding traffic noise into an interactive wave of light and make Silent Lights a living and breathing piece of art,” wrote the designers. Awesome Foundation-NYC admired their perseverance, their originality of vision, and their efforts to bring something beautiful to the community. Silent Lights has received funding from the New York City Department of Transportation, the Design Lighting Foundation, and the Brooklyn Arts Council, and while the designers continue to raise funds, they hope to complete the project by the end… read more →

Second time’s the charm for the Calgary Creative City Collaboration (C4) as their Urban Stationary project has won Awesome Foundation – Calgary’s July 2012 $1,000 micro-grant.

July’s Awesome Ottawa award goes to Meaghan Kenny for the Karen Community Farm Project. “The Karen are one of the largest ethnic minority groups of Burma, and have been persecuted for decades,” explains Meaghan. In 2006, the Canadian government announced that it would accept 3000 Karen refugees, over a two-year period, for re-settlement in Canada. In September that year, the first group of Karen refugees arrived in Ottawa from a refugee camp in Thailand. About 200 refugees settled in Ottawa.” “Many of the Karen are highly skilled farmers,” Meaghan continues. “Farming has been their subsistence and their livelihood from their villages to the refugee camps. However, for the most part, these cultural assets and aspects of their identity lie dormant in Ottawa as the Karen now have no outlet for their extensive knowledge, skills, and culture.” Community volunteers have worked since the arrival of the first group of Karen in 2006 to establish a place for them to farm. In 2007, the Karen were given the use of a three-acre field in rural Kanata by a couple who heard the story and offered their idle land for no charge. They welcomed the Karen to their farm, bought tools, cleared fields,… read more →