Wednesday, November 16, 2011:
It was a dark and stormy night, but that didn’t keep our legion of loyal supporters from representing.

Every month we are floored by the fun/inspiring/hilarious/surprising/moving applications that arrive via the complex set of tubes known as the interwebs.  At our last meeting we got to talking about how the text based format of the review process doesn’t do justice to some of the submissions we receive. Sometimes a tweak in how an idea is explained or the addition of a quirky twist to the project plan can take a really cool application and dial it up to completely freakin’ AWESOME. To add that missing Interactive/3D/IRL component to the funding process, we held the first ‘Office Hours’ session in December. A bunch of Boston trustees hung out with awesome, super creative, dynamic peeps interested in applying for a grant. We discussed ideas and gave tips on strengthening proposals. It went so well that we decided to make it a regular thing. HOW IT’LL WORK: About once a month (most likely on a Thursday), we’ll hold court in an embarrassingly nerdy/trendy establishment after work. Ideas will be exchanged. Brains will be stormed. Noms and beverages will be consumed. WHO’S INVITED? You!  Trustees, past grantees, applicants, and friends/community members. We’re keeping it broad ’cause wouldn’t it be cool if some of these crazy/brilliant ideas met, fell in love, and… read more →

Lots has been going on behind the scenes in Awesometonia, and we’re ready to let the proverbial cats out of the imaginary bag. Boston has a lot of awesome. So much so that the response to our recent trustee search was insane – in a good way. We’re now a legion of 23 with a few area university and high school chapters in the works. So, what does this mean for @awesomebos? Dunno. It could end up in any number of iterations: one big pile of awesome, topical chapters, or Sharks vs. Jets split. (If it’s the latter, look out for fab dance numbers and moving original ballads.) Here’s what we do know: we’re giving out 2X as much $ and that’s something to CELEBRATE! Meet the new members & hear four recent fellows talk about their projects. Join us at MassChallenge on Wednesday, November 16th – 7PM Here’s the line-up: ‘Tobin School Mural’ Internationally renowned Boston artist, Caleb Neelon took what was once a bleak, blank wall and turned it into a colorful beacon of creativity for elementary school students in Mission Hill. ‘Cronicas de Heroes’ During periods of civil unrest and social disorder, the focus on chaos in media coverage is often… read more →

The summer has been mighty busy in Awesometonia. In Boston alone, we: >> Had our TED stage debut with Christina Xu’s “The Importance of Being Awesome” at TEDxBoston. >> Held our first (of hopefully many) Nerdy/Awesome collaborations co-hosting Nerd Nite Boston on Monday, July 25th. >> Set our next submission deadline for the August @awesomebos grant. Apply by Sunday, August 7th. As if that weren’t enough, there have been some changes in the micro-trustee line-up. The 2nd Evan Burchard Chair of Higher Awesome Studies Founding Micro-trustee, Evan Burchard began his relocation to San Francisco in grand fashion with a fully-funded Kickstarter project to WALK across the country and chart a walking trail that will be made available online to fellow pedestrian adventurers. Before heading out, Evan left his chair in good hands with Jacob Barss-Bailey. Jacob’s day job is software design at Nokia. On the side, he’s known for his love of animated gifs and quasi-legal urban planting projects. Now that he’s a micro-trustee, he’ll be using his green thumb to grow some serious Awesome for Boston to enjoy. The 2nd Mac Cowell Chair of Higher Awesome Studies Provided his flight isn’t severely delayed, founding Micro-trustee Mac Cowell will be in… read more →

Urban renewal is a hot topic and the Awesome Foundation is big into supporting into creative minded people who focus on harnessing a community’s energy to complement larger scale bricks and mortar development.  The Boston Chapter awarded it’s February grant to artist and basketball enthusiast Maria Molteni in support of her mission to restore use of local abandoned b-ball courts by crafting DIY nets. This project harnesses the power of shared activity and public space in fostering a bond of trust between artists, athletes, and neighbors. The nets are designed to be colorful, vibrant additions to public spaces that go beyond being strictly functional. Installing unique hand-crafted products sets the stage for individual expression. The MOLTENi NET WORKS project is well underway with a recent exhibit at Cambridge’s MEME Gallery in Central Square that also included workshops where participants were able to hand-crochet basketball nets to be installed on bare hoops. Efforts have begun locally in Allston, MA and there are several local organizations (Boston include Artists for Humanity, Villa Victoria Center for the Arts, Design Studio for Social Intervention, and Massart’s Fibers Department) interested in putting on more workshops. If you’d like to get pitch in, there are a… read more →