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Awesome Foundation seeks proposals through Sept. 8
By Kalea Hall
YOUNGSTOWN
When RJ Thompson realized the need for funds to support the arts in the Mahoning Valley, he struck up an idea.
The assistant professor of graphic and interactive design at Youngstown State University recruited other faculty members, local entrepreneurs and community leaders to form Youngstown’s Awesome Foundation.
The foundation is a part of a global community with 85 chapters that has the goal of funding “awesome” projects that benefit the community with $1,000 microgrants.
Now through 5 p.m. Sept. 8, Awesome Foundation Youngstown will accept project proposals.
Collectively, the chapters of the Awesome Foundation in 18 countries have awarded almost $3 million to more than 2,800 projects. Each chapter operates independently.
“Art can have an amazing impact in the community,” Thompson said. “We accept any proposal but give priority to creative arts and or technology.”
The projects must be focused in the city limits.
The goal is to get 100 proposals, and the local foundation is already halfway there.
After YSU received $100,000 from the National Endowment of the Arts last year, Thompson knew he had to keep the funding for arts rolling, which led him to the Awesome Foundation.
This year, Awesome Foundation Youngstown will award one $1,000 microgrant, but the goal is to reach four grants a year by the third year.
“We are really measuring our success based on enthusiasm of this grant availability,” Thompson said.
The funding for this year’s microgrant came from Awesome Foundation trustees and through “Youngstown is Awesome” T-shirt sales.
Lillian Lewis, assistant professor of art education at YSU with a doctorate in art education, is one of the foundation’s founding trustees.
She got involved because she has personally seen the importance of microfunding. While an art teacher, she would have ideas for projects, but there wasn’t funding available for them. When Lewis went to receive her master’s degree at the University of North Texas, she was accepted into an arts leadership fellowship to help pay for her schooling.
“It also taught me about the importance of providing opportunities,” Lewis said.
The awarded project will not just receive a $1,000 check.
“They will have to put a budget together,” Thompson said. “We will walk them through [the process] and hopefully they will benefit from that experience.”
Submit proposals or support Awesome Foundation Youngstown at: www.awesomefoundation.org/en/chapters/youngstown.
Donations are accepted through the Economic Action Group of Youngstown, the foundation’s fiscal agent.