Acting as a sort of reverse Kickstarter for do-gooders and action-oriented creatives worldwide, Awesome Without Borders (AWB) is non-profit funding mechanism like none other: there are few barriers to being eligible for the groups grants, whether…
Continue Reading…
by Katharine Erwin Randy Mamola is undoubtedly one of the greatest racers to never actually win a world championship. A crowd-pleasing racer with a heart of gold, Mamola’s best known moment was in 1985 with Moto…
Continue Reading…
by Blair Milbourne In December of 2011, designer Junichi Nakane headed to Mali on what some might call a cross-cultural expedition of friendship. Journeying through the country, he noticed the lack of clean water sources in the village of Tireli in the central plateau region, and his friend cited the…
Continue Reading…
Charity merchandise gets a design boost
Fed up with their positions in finance and real estate, friends Omri Bojko and Jason Sochol embarked on a quest to find something more meaningful to do, and thus created the The Vanity Project (TVP) in 2011. The two Northwestern grads had begun volunteering for non-profit organizations around Chicago after being inspired by Sochol’s mother’s fight against breast cancer, and in the process discovered a pattern among the merchandise created for various fundraising events. “We noticed that the charities’ funds were always being drained into creating the merchandise for their events, especially those T-shirts that are always too boxy and that no one ever wants to wear afterward,” says Bojko. “We thought, wouldn’t it be great if someone could create T-shirts that measured up to these awesome causes?”
“We saw the place for something mutually beneficial where charities could raise money and simultaneously people could support their favorite causes with T-shirts they’d want anyway,” says Bojko. “The Vanity Project is a platform that non-profits can use to do that. We are a non-profit merchandise solution.” Working on a case-by-case basis, TVP has grown by collaborating with charities such as Twist Out Cancer and The Story Pirates.
Each collaboration is tailored to the charities’ individual needs. However, the basic model is that TVP helps charities tweak or redesign their logos and then takes on the cost of buying and printing the shirts, which most non-profits struggle to afford. After the tees have been printed, TVP crew also works with the organization to spread the word, including selling the merchandise through TVP’s store and other retail locations. At the end of every quarter, TVP gives the charity 51% of the profits from their merchandise.
Jenna Benn, founder of Twist Out Cancer, a non-profit that uses social media to bring cancer survivors together, was one of TVP’s first clients. “I had just started Twist Out Cancer and we partnered with The Vanity Project as a way to get our name out at some of the big events we had been planning,” says Benn. “Now that we are more established, we are thinking of designing yoga mats and yoga pants.”
To purchase a T-shirt or to learn more about The Vanity Project, you can go to their website.
Music recorded from EEG waves helps to heal tsunami victims
In the wake of last year’s devastating tsunami, artist Masaki Batoh sought to address the emotional wreckage caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake. The multi-talented Batoh has combined two decades of acupuncture work with his career as head of the musical group Ghost to create an album dedicated to those affected by the event. Dropping tomorrow, Brain Pulse Music (BPM) sets traditional spiritual tracks alongside music recorded from the brain waves of patients.
“Music and acupuncture treatment are really one and the same to me, an extension of my spiritual expression,” explains Batoh. “It’s a very natural thing.” The musician wanted to produce an album that would help the healing process in the same way that acupuncture relieves stress. “The Japanese were hurt and beaten down by the great quake, very frequent aftershocks, no fuel at gas stations, no safe food and the explosions of nuclear reactors hit by the quake and tsunami,” he recounts. “This is the requiem for dead and alive victims.”
Two of the tracks on the album were created by recording signals from a modified EEG machine. The songs are purely improvisational, created by non-musicians in therapy-session settings. This method comes from Ghost’s history of using improvisation, during which band members would be kept in separate compartments to minimize communication. Batoh specializes in treating developmentally disabled patients, and the machine is designed to help them normalize brain levels. By providing an audible response to cognitive changes, they are able to learn to gain some control over their mental activity.
The machine itself involves a headgear sensor that communicates with a motherboard. EEG waves are sent via radio to the motherboard, which outputs the signal as a sound image. Eventually, the “performer” learns to control the signal and can actually create music from their mind. The goal is to quiet the mind to a meditative state and allow the sensors to interpret the slight pulsations from the brain. Created by an electric pedalboard company, the custom-built machine is modeled off of medical EEG recording equipment.
The other tracks on the album come from the Kumano manuscript, Batoh’s name for his replications of religious melodies heard in his youth near the sacred Kumano Kodo pilgrimage route. Hoping to effect positive change in the recovery of his countrymen, Batoh is donating profits from BPM towards a fund for orphaned children. Additionally, the Brain Pulse Machine has been reproduced and is available for purchase.
Check out the video of Batoh’s BPM Machine at work, along with the two brain wave tracks from the album.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
