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!

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.

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.

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.

I’m not sure if balance actually exists because life happens and it seems to become about managing priorities. But what I’ve learned most importantly in the last month is the necessity to maintain even the thinnest line of continuity in order to keep every important aspect of my life going. Give Music is incredibility important to me because it will make music lessons accessible to kids and youth who can’t afford them. But, as soon as I found less time to network, connect, work and focus my heart and attention on Give Music, I started to build some performance anxiety as I began thinking of coming out of this and having the time to achieve what needs to be done.  So I’m making Give Music a part of my everyday life again even in the smallest of conversations so I know where I’m at on a regular basis, even if I don’t have the hours to get everything I’m thinking about completed.

Next week I will be reporting on great advice from wonderful people such as Joel Solomon of Renewal Partners, Lauren Bacon of Raised Eyebrow Web Studio, Faye Wightman of Vancouver Foundation, Marcy Cohen of the Hospital Employees’ Union and Tom Durrie of  St. James Music Academy. I’ll also be posting finessed communications on the What, Why, Who, What, and How’s of Give Music. So #staytuned.

And if you can help me in any way by connecting me to music teachers in your life, please ask them to email me at givemusicvancouver@gmail.com. thx!

Well in the twitter world my favourite charity has been @TripsForKidsVan and this past weekend they put on The (Crazy) Peanut Butter Banana Contest at the @MEC Bikefest. @TripsForKidsVan ‘s energy is great and their mission of making mountain biking accessible for kids is not so far off from Give Music’s efforts to make music lessons accessible.

So I share their tweets and try to spread their cause and guess what happens? I win 48 jars of Nester’s WoodWards Peanut Butter.

So maybe you’re jealous of me right now because you love peanut butter, and I know my Sweetie, Jon would love to have these piled up in our cupboards, but let’s get creative. I want to share the peanut butter love with you when you express your love for Trips For Kids Vancouver. So please do something as simple as giving a kid a new helmet to ride in for $30, or $50 to sponsor a day of biking. I’ll be happy to share a jar of peanut butter with you and Trips for Kids Vancouver will even throw in their recipe for Peanut Butter Energy Bars.

Go HERE for a Happy Peanut Butter Donation.

VCN | webteam is a web design organization in Vancouver that provides non-profits with professional and low-cost web services. These services include Web Design/Development, Print Design, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Photography.

This team is super friendly and helpful, so if you’re looking for great service, you shouldn’t hesitate to ask them.

VCN Webteam’s unique Spread the Web campaign offers free websites to non-profits who need them the most by offsetting the website costs with the sponsorship of a paying non-profit customer, and the campaign also povides a BCIT student with work experience.

Through consultation with the VCN webteam staff Hugues and Melissa we have decided on building the first stage of Give Music‘s website through the Spread the Web campaign, and the second stage will require more expertise for the specific back-end needs for Give Music‘s online networking capabilities. It’s time to start figuring out where the funds for creating the second stage of the website will come from and I believe the first stage Give Music website will provide a stronger on-line presence to gain support. At the same time, a BCIT student has already been found to help, and we’ll be meeting next week so please send us great vibes as we start building.