The Metropolis

You have only three days to apply for a £1000 Awesome Grant from the Awesome Foundation. Yes, the Awesome Foundation.

Darren Atwater | Friday 25 February, 2011 12:03

The London branch of the Awesome Foundation is looking to give £1000 to an awesome idea. But you have only until 28 February to apply.

The Awesome Foundation for the Arts and Sciences was created two years ago by Tim Hwang in Massachusetts, where he enlisted ten trustees to put US $100 per month in a paper bag.

The London chapter opened last year, founded by a bunch of Internet luminaries such as Jane ni Dhulchaointigh of Sugru and Richard Moross of Moo.com who, as financially solvent people, can afford £100 every second month.

London micro-trustee and spokesperson ni Dhulchaointigh says the shortlist is drawn-up in two rounds. First, all applications are reviewed 1 March at an open meeting at a Shoreditch pub and shortened to three. The three applicants are then invited to pitch their awesome idea at a second open meeting on 3 March. The trustees hand over £1000 to the best proposal.

Since May, three Awesome Grants have been awarded.

The first grant was awarded to artist Oscar Lhermitte, who proposed the Big Dipper project. (That’s him with his giant cheque, at the top of the page.) As it has been decades since the stars were clearly visible over London, Lhermitte proposed an installation using LEDs and, I think, balloons, to recreate the constellations.

The Big Dipper project from Oscar Lhermitte on Vimeo.

The second grant was awarded to the Hoxton Street Monster Supply Store. Selling such staples as ‘different types of fear, a complete range of edible human preserves and everyday household essentials like Fang Floss and Zombie Mints,’ the Monster Shop has a side business in writing workshops for kids, kids who may be reluctant to go to a writing workshop but stoked to go to a Monster Supply Shop.

The third, and last awarded grant, was to the People’s Kitchen at Passing Clouds in Haggerston. Every Sunday, a free dinner is provided to 60 – 70 people followed by an evening of music. The first 20 people who show up are the cooks.

So, who should apply? Ni Dhulchaointigh says that the foundation is wants to ‘look at anything that is awesome.’ But there are two rules to the Awesomeness.

First, it must be new. The Foundation is there to create awesomeness, not be a regular funding agency for something already existing.

Second, the project must be capable of being implemented with the £1,000 awarded. The micro-trustees won’t award the grant to anyone that must fundraise further.

If you want to apply, the deadline is drawing near, 28 February.

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