Jon’s Social Enterprise Starter Kit

For my birthday last year my sweetie, Jon gave me an envelope that said “Social Enterprise Starter Kit” on it. There was a tag sticking out of the envelope and as I pulled on it I unveiled a string of other tags. Each tag had a component of the Social Enterprise Starter Kit that Jon was offering to help me with.

I’ve already used up some of:

“Love & Support”
“R & R Camping Trip”, and
“Proofreading”

And I still get to ask for:

“Logo Creation”
“Web Consultation”
“Sundry Photo Services”, and
“T-shirt Design & Print”

The birthday gift pictured below is proof that Give Music is created with the help and love of others. I definitely recognize how fortunate I am!

New Website Coming Soon

Give Music is recruiting Board Members and a new website is on its way.

Please let me know if you are interested in being a part of Give Music! You can contact me at givemusicvancouver@gmail.com.

I’m also working on a logo that will represent Give Music and the relationships it will support. If you have any ideas, please share.

For now, check out P.S. 22, a public school choir from Staten Island that’ll be performing at the Oscars.

 

A Starr She Is

These young artists are so inspiring!

People believe in what you believe

I’m really feeling Simon Sinek’s message tonight. “People believe in what you believe, not in what you do.” Tonight’s not the first night I’ve seen Simon Sinek’s TEDtalk but it’s a great message I need right now and I thought I’d share it with you too in the spirit of TED.

Willow Smith Blows My Mind

How does a 9 year old record her own album? Well I guess it helps if your daddy is Will Smith and your mommy is Jada Pinkett Smith, which gives you great genes and resources like Jay-Z to sign you. Nonetheness there is raw talent and this girl has it. Ever since I’ve seen this girl’s video for “Whip Your Hair” I keep thinking this is what all kids have inside them. There hasn’t ever been a kid I’ve spent time with who doesn’t sing, dance and try to act like a pop star. My hats off to Willow for representing those kids.

 

Follow Friday VI

A list of power people and their extremely smart advice.

Joel Solomon is President and CEO of Renewal, and Chairman for Renewal2 Investment Fund. Joel essentially funds and invests in large companies that significantly effect change by engaging in long-term societal solutions. Joel is also integral to Hollyhock, a retreat with programs to “inspire, nourish and support people who are making the world better”. He’s given me a great token of advice on advice, “If you want advice, ask for money. If you want money, ask for advice.” This is now on my list of tactful approaches. Joel has also inspired me to think about becoming intimate with what I’m doing by not only understanding music and relationships between teachers, students and parents but also with web-development and building and maintaining a networking website. I have a lot of work ahead of me to get acquainted with website development.

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Lauren Bacon is Co-Founder of Raised Eyebrow Web Studio and blogs at The Boss of You. She is so down to earth and genuine. One of the many statements from Lauren that I have stashed is, “No is our second best answer”. That’s totally my cup of tea. Lauren has a musical background in singing so I’m glad to have something similar to her! Lauren has helped point me in some directions of support such as the Women’s Enterprise Centre as I travel this path in awkwardness and uncertainty. I recommend that you check out Lauren’s Pecha Kucha and WordCamp Vancouver talks here.

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Faye Wightman is President and CEO of Vancouver Foundation, where I work. I’m lucky to have a brilliant mind to access right at my work place. She has really encouraged me to find other organizations from which I can launch and partner Give Music and so I am now trying to make connections with organization such as The Boys and Girls Club of Greater Vancouver and KidSport.

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I feel very fortunate to have had time and advice from these very busy individuals.

My work at Vancouver Foundation

My work at Vancouver Foundation has been very busy and although the last 3 months have been a hiatus from building Give Music, everything I do at work feeds into Give Music and vice versa so here’s bit of an update.

There’s nothing like loving the work you do.

Digital photography mixed with computer generated printings by Diane Fairfield

1. The DTES Small Arts Grants Project: In partnership with Carnegie Community Centre we initiated a pilot project to increase the economic viability of DTES artists and to foster broader community recognition of their creative contributions. We provided 67 artists with grants of up to $1000 to support them in developing and presenting their work. Emily Carr intern, Andrew Chow helped us showcase these artists with his design for the website: www.vancouverfoundation.ca/smallarts. I’m currently working on the evaluation of this pilot project.
2. The 2010 Vital Signs report: We’re assessing how the metro Vancouver region is doing by producing a report on the livability of our region. This report incorporates research data and public opinion and this year we have a new research methodology as well as interactive and engaging ways to share this information with you. I’m leading our social media strategy and excited to showcase our website and content to you on Oct. 5th at www.vancouverfoundation.ca/vitalsigns. We’ve done a lot of translation of the collected data and I guarantee this information will be useful to you and the work you do.
3. The Neighbourhood Small Grants Program is also underway in a pilot initiative with the City of Vancouver to fund “urban food” projects, and the UBC Design Centre for Sustainability is helping us conduct an evaluation of the overall Program.
4. The Arts & Culture funding for 2011 has recently announced some deadlines. We wil be accepting Letters of Intents by January 19th, 2011 and if you are invited to complete a full application those will be due on March 4th, 2011. Please feel free to contact me at merikok@vancouverfoundation.ca with any questions about funding.