Kiva- Micro-lending for the Developing World

I don't know alot about Kiva but it is billed as micro-lending for entrepreneurs in the developing world. Think Muhammad Yunus [Creating a World Without Poverty] for starters.

Check out this project opportunity:
http://tinyurl.com/4ejc4s

Fast Company magazine- Social Responsibility

The new issue of Fast Company magazine arrived in my mailbox today. It is the annual Masters of Design issue. The whol thing looks great. In connecting the dot for my students, I looked up some articles on FC's website and passed them along. Under the Social Responsibility page I saw an article about Clorox going green which Anna or Sherri brought up in class this week. Here is another resource. Check it out. If you don't know FC, it is a great magazine about tour world today- all aspects. Just as you see a Design Page on the website, design is talked about in almost every issue of this magazine that is generally classified as a business magazine. FC is about innovation in our world today. Career professionals, when asked about the best careers to go into today, name entrepreneurship as the top field. The competition in the world is tight. Those who are entrepreneurial and innovative will fare the best. And speaking of entrepreneurial and art/design/craft/DIY....do you know Squidfire? If not check them out. I had dinner at Golden West tonight and guess who opened a bricks and mortar store where Atomic Books used to be? Squidfire also organizes a series of DIY shows, here in Baltimore. They did it with their vision, you can do it with yours. It isn't rocket science it just takes motivation. If you aren't motivated to do what you love.....good luck!

NeoCon East

See my post on Project Object from earlier today about NeoCon East design trade show October 29 + 30, 2008.

On Thursday, October 30 at 9am: Emily Pilloton, founder of Project H Design, will present a summary of her call-to-action (anti)manifesto for humanitarian deign, asking students to stop talking big and start doing good with their design skills. Through examples of Project H initiatives and new models for design business and academics, she will champion the idea of design as a vehicle for social change.

Scraper Bikes

Great story on NPR today about Scraper Bikes. Check it out.

Art on Purpose- Baltimore, Maryland

Art on Purpose is an innovative entity here in Baltimore that "uses art to bring people together around issues and ideas." Check them out.

Social Design

This is a link to the image of the website [above] www.socialdesignsite.com. Check it out.

Project M- John Bielenberg

Project M is a terrific art project created by John Bielenberg who was inspired by the amazing Samuel Mockabee of the Rural Studio program at Auburn University in Alabama. GOOD magazine did a feature on Project M in 2007. And the Project M website a lot of great leads on it although I find it a little hard to read- above is a screen capture of one section of the website. Check it out. Samuel Mockabee inspired so many people. Here is a link to a video....there is lots of good info out there on him. Be in the know.

Thoma Mann's Storm Cycle

Thomas Mann is a metalsmith based in New Orleans. When Hurricane Katrina hit he happened to be on vacation in Michigan. The metals community was emailing Tom like crazy so he used his email list to send out updates. [Network and stay connected to people and communities; nothing happens in a vaccuum.] For those of us receiving those updates, it was a personal inside view into what was happening there.
Tom returned to New Orlean as soon as he could [he is well connected]. He is a visual artist. He toured by boat, taking it all in. He then hired a helicopter to fly him around, photographing the entire time. He created a body of work titled, Storm Cycle. It is one response to a crisis situation.