rePurposes + The Brickyard

You may have read about our UpCycling mission here, on the UpCycling Central page.  A big part of that effort is exactly what one of our friends and partners, rePurposes does, and, they’ve been working hard on launching: collecting and sorting materials, getting the word out and putting their site together.  They were with us at the Rock the Block Festival, and now, they’ve officially launched their new site!  Check it out here: rePurposes, Creative ReUse Art Studio

Here’s some of the cool stuff they had at Rock the Block and currently have in stock:

(YES!  You saw what you thought you saw!  RUBBER DOTS and FUR!)  You can check what they have on hand here: Stock.

The folks at rePurposes have been at this for a long time – decades, in fact, and have a huge list of donors, types of materials and supplies available, and have a good sense of how to get it into artist’s and educator’s hands.  For The Brickyard it’s a match made in heaven – we’ve been working on putting this partnership together for, well, basically since we learned about what they’ve been doing, and can’t wait to see what the future brings!  For now, though, the site is a work in progress…  don’t worry if there are some loose ends, they’re working hard at tying them all up.

They’re starting off by offering an open-studio type sale on one Sunday a month, and you can find all the details on the site.  “Seek and ye shall find!”

Stop by, stock up and MAKE STUFF!

 

Keep making stuff. Take care of people, play nice and clean up after yourselves.

 

 

 

 

The Brickyard at Rock the Block and the Mural Festival!

This year the Mural Festival is HUGE!  After a week and a half of work, the city is wrapping it up with a Rock the Block party that starts around 1pm on Saturday, the 18th, and goes until the early evening – the official end is 9pm, but there are after-parties galore!

And WE’LL BE THERE!  (Where?  25 Exchange Street is the central location, but all up and down Mt Vernon, too! – we’ll be packing up around 5-6pm, so don’t be late…)

Here’s what we’re planning:

  • A Maker’s Market – meet the makers, see their stuff, maybe take some home!
  • A Maker’s Flea – supplies, hackables, re-usables and extras, at flea market prices.
  • Learn to Knit!  Hands-on knitting workshop will get you knitting in a minute!  …or two.
  • A FREE Bike Clinic – bring your ride down and get a tune-up and learn the basics of bike maintenance – keep it safe, keep it reliable.  If you’re planning on coming for the Bike Clinic, please register here: EventBrite
  • A SUMO Robot battle!  Pick up the controls and test your driving skills against your buddies!  Pick a robot, maybe add some character, and go into battle…  Pikachu robots anybody?

In the meantime, got something to sell, teach, or share?  Send us a note!  We’re not charging fees to participate, but you must bring your own tables, chairs and tent.  Please let us know at least a week in advance (that’s, like, NOW!), so we can be sure we have space for you and get the word out!

Looking Up

For the most part, we trudge through days, and tasks, and projects focusing our attention on the minutiae we need to, in order to get the work done. It’s kind of like hiking a rocky trail.  You have to keep your head down, mind the boulders and logs, keep moving in the right direction, and keep from tripping up.  Every once in a while, though, you need to stop, and look up.

This past week we crushed it, putting together a proposal for the MassDevelopment Collaborative Workspace Program.  Early on, we went over the requirements and came really close to passing on it, simply because they require a 1:1 match, and we didn’t have much in the way of financial backing.  Or so we thought.

We were talking, and one thing led to another, and a sponsor stepped up.  He said he’d match any funds we could raise.  We also read a little closer, and donations of equipment counted towards matching, as did donations of services.  Suddenly, we had something to grab on to.

With only a week to go before the deadline, we launched a crowdfunding campaign and started spamming, er, emailing all our contacts. Remarkably, we got no complaints, no spam flags, and no unsubscribes either.  Everyone seemed to be tolerating us. Word got out, well, we pushed it out on Facebook and it got shared all across the North Shore creative and business communities.  Donations started coming in.  Words of support and encouragement started hitting the inbox, the comments on Facebook, and we made new friends and followers.  By the time we hit the deadline, we had over $56,000 of matching funds, equipment and services we could claim.

Once you hit that “Send” button on a grant application, you have to just sit back, wait, cross whatever fingers or toes you like to cross, and believe you gave it your best shot.  We gave it a hell of a good shot, and it came from the community.  You guys.

Yes, there’s a sense of satisfaction that we put this together in a week.  Yes, the money that came in is sweet, and will go a long way to get us into a space.  Yes, we’ll do even better next year, and, yes, of course, if we get the grant it will be awesome.  But what really came out of this was the understanding that we have a lot of people supporting us.  We have a lot of people who want us to succeed.  We have a lot of people who are counting on us.  We have people who are, in fact, depending on us making this work.

It’s inspiring and gives us a push – a big push that we didn’t even really know we needed.  We’re picking our way through the tasks and obstacles over the last year, through the rocks and tree stumps and branches, with our head down and our attention focused on what we have to do that step, that day, that week.

You told us, with everything you’ve done, all your help, to stop for a second and look up.  Look up at where we’re going.

Thank you.

 

 

 

Ted

Keep making stuff. Take care of people, play nice and clean up after yourselves.

The MassDevelopment Collaborative Workspace Program

From the MassDevelopment site:

Communities across the Commonwealth both want and need to fully participate in Massachusetts’ innovation economy. The goal of the Collaborative Workspace Program is to accelerate the pace of new business formation, job creation, and entrepreneurial activity in communities by supporting infrastructure that fuels community-based innovation.

Collaborative workspaces are work environments that catalyze serendipity and community, inspiring collaboration, exploration, and experimentation among and between local entrepreneurs, artists, designers, scientists, inventors, and small business owners.

Collaborative workspaces provide users with access to resources, ideas, and networks. These spaces are critical to the growth of the Massachusetts innovation economy, and the proliferation of entrepreneurial activity that they support fosters economic health in communities.

As we said elsewhere, this grant is aimed squarely at what we’re doing at The Brickyard Collaborative.  Here’s what we’re putting together.

  • The grant deadline is July 20.  That’s in 5 days.
  • The two main types of grants they offer are the Seed Grant, which is aimed at “pre-development and feasibility work”, and Fit-out grants, which is aimed at build-outs and equipment purchases.
  • They have a 1:1 match requirement.  That is, you need to match the funds your asking for with “non-state grants, loans, free/discounted rent, donated building improvement materials, equipment, or other quantifiable (and certifiable) contributions to the project.”
  • The maximum grant is $250,000 for the Fit-out grant.

Our Strategy

  • We’ll be applying for the Fit-out grant.
  • We have $20,000 of equipment that’s been donated that qualifies for the matching funds.
  • We have been told there’s money available through another source for matching funds.  We don’t have the specifics on that.
  • We have been awarded $5000 by the HUD CDBG program, and we’re waiting for the award letter.  We’re not entirely sure we can use those funds for this purpose, but we’re going to list them, and see if it’s accepted.  (Granting is not all-or-nothing, the amount will simply be reduced if that doesn’t qualify.)
  • Finally, we have a pretty unique opportunity to raise funds by crowdfunding and donations.  Here’s what that looks like:

Only a few days ago, we had a conversation with a private donor who’s supported The Brickyard in the past, and was asking about this grant.  He made an offer.  He’d match donations up to a $5000 cap.

That means, any donation is matched, then, matched again by MassDevelopment if we’re approved for the grant.  With a $5000 cap, that means there’s a potential of $10,000 of funds available.  We got the word out, started a Patronicity crowdfunding campaign, and we’re off to the races with a $5000 goal and only 7 days to do it.


All told, here are the totals.

  • Equipment: $20,000
  • HUD CDBG: $5000
  • Patronicity: $10,000
  • Mystery Bucket: $???
  • Total Matching: $35,000
  • Goal/dream Matching: $50,000

Our tentative request, to be adjusted on Friday when we submit the application, will be for $50,000, assuming an available match of $50,000.

Want to help out?

Today July 15, from 2-5pm we’re having a Patronicity Party at Bent Water Brewing, (180 Commercial St #18 ) Come on down!  Bent Water has offered some sweet rewards for donors:

Donation levels:
$25 – snack bag and a sticker
$50 – free tour
$100 – free tour with tasting
$500 – private tour and tasting for a group of up to 2 people
$1000 – private tour, tasting for up to 6 people

Besides that, it’s just going to be a good time, what with World Cup action, the Whoo (pie) Wagon, Grill211, a DJ, and, oh, yeah…  BEER.

(The SWAG for the donors is only available today, and to donors who come down.)

If you can’t make it, you can still chip in.  Go to our Patronicity page and make a donation.  It’s not often you can give $100 by spending $25, now, is it?  You can find that here: www.patronicity.com/brickyard

Stay tuned!  Fingers crossed!