*culture is not optional has applied for a $50,000 grant through the Pepsi Refresh Project. We’ll be using the money to renovate one room in Huss School, the 27,000 square foot building we purchased for our Imagining Space project. To receive the grant, though, we need to solicit votes from our supporters; the 10 projects with the most votes in each grant amount will win!
Voting for our project starts Wednesday and you can vote on the Refresh Everything site, via text message or through a Facebook application. You can vote once a day and we’ll need you to vote every day in December if we stand a chance of winning. We will post the links and numbers to vote as soon as possible.
If you’d like to receive a daily e-mail reminder, sign up for our daily asterisk e-mail list. We send out a provocative quote every day and, during the month of December, we’ll be including a reason to vote for *cino’s project.
Thanks! And more soon …
You can help *cino win $50,000!
Video update: Huss Future Festival
The first annual Huss Future Festival was a great success! Check out the video below, then read Kirstin’s overview of the event on the Imagining Space blog (with links to photos and news stories).
Huss Future Festival – July 24!
Huss Future Festival 2010 will take place on Saturday, July 24 from 8:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. Stop by 1008 8th St. in Three Rivers to browse the rummage sale, to enjoy free coffee and live music at the bake sale and to purchase handmade art. Visitors can also learn more about *culture is not optional’s future plans for the Huss School property through tours and art exhibits, including the Tripple Ripple Community Gardens. All proceeds from the Future Festival will benefit the renovation of the historic Huss School for an off-campus program for college students and a community center. Bake sale donations, volunteers and art vendors are still being accepted; please contact us for more information about donating.
Video update: Englewood visitors
About two weeks ago, we had a group visit from Englewood Christian Church in Indianapolis, Indiana, to help work at the church. Here’s a little glimpse of our day together:
Spring Break 2010
Five Calvin College students are currently spending the week in Three Rivers to work on the Imagining Space project at Huss School. Additionally, they’re meeting several local folks and exploring the meaning of place.
For more, read the daily entries at the Imagining Space blog and check out photos on Flickr.
A building for *cino?
Yep, that’s right. We’re looking to purchase a building in Three Rivers, Michigan, where we could do a number of things–including local community development (in partnership with existing organizations and groups already working in Three Rivers), an off-campus program for college students, seminars and workshops for church groups, and kinds of other things we’re just beginning to dream about.
In fact, we already have an accepted offer in on Huss School, an historic school building on four acres of land that would be an ideal location for all kinds of unique and service-oriented programming. The (initial) tricky part of the offer is that we have until May 27 to raise the $20,000 down payment. Should we be able to manage that, we’ll move forward with other challenges posed by the Huss building.
Regardless of whether the current offer is completed, we’re looking to move forward on finding a physical space for *cino to do its work. For more, take a look at our Imagining Space web site, where we offer a vision for what we hope to do with a building like Huss, introduce the property itself, tell the story of how we’ve gotten to this point in *cino’s development, and intend to keep folks updated on our efforts.
We’re hoping we’ll be able to complete the purchase of Huss and move forward, but we’ll need your support to do so. If you’ve enjoyed *cino’s work and are interested in this new opportunity for its incarnation, please consider donating for our campaign. We would very much appreciate your contribution!
