You’ve heard of Christmas in July? This is the reverse: Gardeners in February. The Boston Chapter of the Awesome Foundation is psyched to be celebrating two grants made in 2010 that support different facets of the community gardening movement on Friday, February 11, 2011. Pick-a-Pocket Gardeners – Nov ’10 Fellow: They are a stealthy bunch of civic-oriented gardeners who have mind melded with the Cambridge/Somerville Departments of Public Works to make neglected urban spaces purdy. We gave them the big green thumbs-up for uniforms, decoder rings, garden tools: whatever they need to make the magic happen. We’re hoping for capes too, but that’s up to them. Ripley’s Garden for Others – July ’10 Fellow: Thomas & Dawn Ripley started off with a 1,300 sq/ft garden. It didn’t take long for the produce to overwhelm their freezer’s capacity. They canned a bunch, ran out of storage space, and started donating the overflow to their local food pantry in Caldwell, ID. It was the only fresh produce the families and pensioners who rely on that organization got. Inspired by the warm fuzzy feeling that comes from giving, Thomas wrote to us with a proposition. “If I can feed a few, I can feed… read more →

There’s a lot of awesome brewing here in Beantown. We can barely keep track. Upcoming Event: Ignite Craft – Friday, 1/14/11 We are really excited to be partnering with the Common Cod Fiber Guild to announce our December ’11 Fellow (Will Macfarlane of ‘Parts & Crafts’) at the ‘Ignite: Craft’ event. The Big Giant Check is getting giddy just thinking about it. The main event is currently at capacity (it’s that awesome), but we encourage you to get on the waitlist (just in case) and plan to meet us out afterward at The Friendly Toast around 9pm. 2nd David Nunez Chair of Awesome Studies If you want to be considered for the open seat at the round table, the deadline is Saturday, 1/15/11 @ 11:59pm. Calling all >>AWESOME>> in Boston (…and beyond) We will be deliberating next week for our January ’11 Fellowship. Submit your application by Saturday, 1/15/11 @ 11:59pm. There is a lot more in the works too: Radio Boston, Stealthy Gardeners, Invisible Instruments. (OH MAI!) In the meantime, we’ve uploaded oodles of goodies in the way of pics and videos on Facebook Page. That ought to keep you busy.

Turns out there’s a lot of awesome in LA. And after wading through dozens of applications, the Awesome Foundation Los Angeles is awarding it’s first 1K Awesome Grant to Dave Green, creator of Mystery Trip LA!! What’s Mystery Trip LA? Let Dave (he’s the third from the right) tell you! Mystery Trip started out as a summer camp tradition.  Whereas we usually knew where we were going before getting on a bus for a trip, one day a summer, we headed out and had no idea the destination until we got there.  Sometimes it was to a dinner theater, a disco or even roller skating.  It was always fun, even if a bit corny, because we were with friends.  Years later, it has morphed into a unique event that takes Mysterions all over Los Angeles to experience the fun, unique and quirky people, places and events in our city. Mystery Trip is meant to bring you and your guests back to a more innocent time where you could put their faith into someone else’s hands and trust you were going to have a good time. Dave’s LA Mystery Trips started out as a goof for his friends, bussing them around… read more →

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 →