Sprout is excited to participate in ISEA 2012. Applications will be open at the end of August.

The Eighteenth International Symposium on Electronic Art, ISEA2012 Albuquerque: Machine Wilderness is a symposium and series of events exploring the discourse of global proportions on the subject of art, technology and nature. The ISEA symposium is held every year in a different location around the world, and has a 30-year history of significant acclaim. Albuquerque is the first host city in the U.S. in six years.

The ISEA2012 symposium will consist of a conference September 19 – 24, 2012 based in Albuquerque with outreach days along the state’s “Cultural Corridor” in Santa Fe and Taos, and an expansive, regional collaboration throughout the fall of 2012, including art exhibitions, public events, performances and educational activities. This project will bring together a wealth of leading creative minds from around the globe, and engage the local community through in-depth partnerships.

Learn more about ISEA 2012

We were ecstatic when Kristine and Will from The Zingaro volunteered to be our chefs and mobile kitchen for Sprout 2. The Zingaro strives to create adventurous food for affordable prices and to provide a local option for inexpensive fun dinning.  They work to incorporate elements of classic dishes from all over the world in to the most american dishes of all…the hamburger and the hot dog.

Will is a showman, both in the kitchen and when you walk up for the first time to his truck. The video above illustrates the personalized service he provides to all of his customers. He cares about his customers, taking special requests and offering samples of new dishes before you have even ordered your meal.

But don’t take my word for it, listen to the recommendations from his customers. I learned that both vegetarians and meat lovers are fans of his food. Trinity, Will’s daughter, also taught me how to properly pronounce Zingaro.

Growing Local Workshop Series | FarmHack

More about the Growing Local Workshop Series:

Through the generosity of seasoned farmers, extension agents, chefs, business experts, and others, we offer free-to-the-public workshops and events geared towards giving small growers and producers the opportunity to start or expand their business. The workshops: provide technical assistance regarding business development, crop planning, marketing, and funding; assist with navigating land and water legal issues; connect landowners and farmers; connect farmers to markets like restaurants and institutions; and help wholesale buyers understand the logistics of buying from small scale farms. Thus far we have hosted eight workshops and one networking mixer event, all of which have successfully lived up to our goals of educating producers, making connections, and providing opportunities for growers and entrepreneurs to expand their operations.

1. Describe the project a SPROUT Grant would help you accomplish:

The grant would be used to facilitate the development of an invention for local farmers via the FarmHack workshop, as well as replicating that invention for other farmers. We intend to request that inventions do not exceed a $100 materials budget, allowing for the invention to be affordably replicated by us or by other individuals. The extra inventions could then be provided to farmers who intend to share the tool/equipment with other farmers and/or gardeners, furthering the community-based focus of the FarmHack project. We might also use a small portion of the funds (approx. $50) to help with planning the workshop (printing costs, providing light snacks, etc.).

2. How will you use the grant toward the realization of your project? $750 is your imaginary budget:

$750 dollars would allow us to create at least six copies of the invention that comes out of the workshop, with money to spare that we can use towards developing the workshop itself. Another option would be to use $750 to host two workshops, resulting in two separate inventions, and allowing for at least two copies of each invention to be made.

3. A little about yourself and what led you to your current creative goals.

The Albuquerque Growers Market Alliance, NMSU Bernalillo County Extension Service, Mid- Region Council of Governments Agriculture Collaborative and the La Montanita Coop have joined forces to provide resources through workshops for existing farmers and potential farmers to increase the amount of local food available in our communities. Each organization has a successful track record of tackling barriers and challenges that make it more difficult for local food and agricultural systems to thrive. By collaborating we can more effectively develop a range of workshop topics that appeal to a wider audience, making a bigger impact on the local food system and economy.

4. Why is this project important? How will it benefit the Albuquerque community?

FarmHack workshops allow for farmer and non-farmer community members to participate in a creative process that seeks to solve farm-based problems. The goal of creating a FarmHack invention is to build tools or equipment through cooperative innovation that: 1) can be shared between local farmers or producers; 2) can be easily replicated with limited money; and 3) can be posted on the open-source FarmHack Tools Wiki so that others can replicate it in their own community. These inventions create opportunities for local farmers to improve and/or expand their farming operations, allowing for more products to circulate in the local food system, in turn bolstering the local economy.

Don Brown | @donbrown

1. Describe the project a SPROUT Grant would help you accomplish:

A grant would support the creation of Elements: The Urban Micro-Market, a green, scalable retail concept that will bring a small scale grocery store to downtown ABQ. It will stock small quantities of fresh produce grown both on-site (including on the roof) and by local organic farmers. The business will use social media to build visibility, allowing fans to vote on potential specialty items to be stocked and to see store inventory in real-time online. Elements eventually will grow produce for local restaurants as well as fish used as part of the store’s aquaponics system.

3. How will you use the grant toward the realization of your project? $750 is your imaginary budget:

$375 would go toward building an aquaponics system reaching up to the building’s fourth-floor roof and $375 would go toward apps needed to build and launch the store’s social media campaign.

4. A little about yourself and what led you to your current creative goals.

I currently work at PNM managing the company’s social media efforts and some of its media relations. Previously, I owned an innovative retail start-up in Nob Hill and know the fundamentals of running a customer-centric business. The micro-market would combine my love of gardening, social media, small-scale retail and environmental sustainability. I previously worked for U.S. Senator Bingaman and have an undergraduate degree in American Studies and a graduate degree in public policy.

Victor Lopez | www.learnerschess.com

1.Describe the project a SPROUT Grant would help you accomplish:

I want to develop an impact-focused model for running chess clubs at low-income schools. The model will offer full scholarships while implementing a new recruiting strategy for chess club participation by having teachers identify and recruit students who would most benefit from learning chess. I run an after-school chess program at elementary schools around Albuquerque. We implement fun and engaging curricula for learning chess. While we do offer and grant need-based scholarships, our fee for participation model prevents us from establishing clubs at low-income schools where the availability of this type of extra-curricular activity could be most impactful.

2. How will you use the grant toward the realization of your project?
$750 is your imaginary budget

With $750, I can pilot test this new model at a low-income elementary school. I will pay an instructor for a semester at $30 per class for 16 classes. This will leave $270 to cover the costs of chess sets, educational materials, and part of the training. To cover the remaining costs of the training, club tee- shirts, and the administrative expenses, I will ask for donations from parents who can afford at least a portion of what would be the normal tuition. I will also leverage this $750 to raise another $750 by getting local funders to sponsor the club.

3. A little about yourself and what led you to your current creative goals:

I fell in love with chess when there was a club at my middle school. With the help of my my mom and my previous principal, I started a club at Bandelier Elementary School. I coached that club as a community service through high school. After college, I tried starting up a “green micro-loan fund.” Ultimately that project did not take off. I learned tons about social entrepreneurship. Meanwhile I started a chess club at Monte Vista and fell back in love with teaching chess. With my social entrepreneurial experience from the failed NPO, I started Learners Chess Academy.

Jennifer Simpson | DimeStories.org

Full House at Alamosa Books

1. Describe the project a SPROUT Grant would help you accomplish:

DimeStories are 3-minute stories (prose) read by the author and read at open mic events and/or produced for webcast, podcast, and radio. A SPROUT grant would allow us to enhance our web presence and create an online audio showcase and virtual open mic to provide a place for local authors to “perform” online alongside authors from around the globe.

Local Writers: Von Jones, Andy and Susan Paquet, Rob Colby

2. How will you use the grant toward the realization of your project?

The grant would allow DimeStories to pay for technical improvements to the website and actively solicit DimeStories through direct email and mail contact and follow up. In addition, monies would be used to professionally produce and market radio modules for public radio.

DimeStories Co-hosts Jennifer Simpson and Merimee Moffitt

3. A little about yourself and what led you to your current creative goals.

In San Diego I was a regular at a DimeStories open mic. I loved reading in public but when I moved to Albuquerque I had to sneak into poetry events with my prose. I was welcomed, but I felt awkward so when DimeStories founder Amy Wallen asked me to start a chapter here, I said yes. I’ve just taken over as the Director for DimeStories International, an opportunity I’ll be able to embrace with my freshly minted MFA in creative writing. I plan to create opportunities for more authors to participate in DimeStories, leveraging the power of the internet.

MFA Students from UNM: Suzanne Richardson, Casandra Lopez, David Andrew Rubalcava-Talamantes

Joaquin Roibal | www.JoaquinRoibal.com

My name is Joaquin Roibal and I am a student at New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology in Socorro, New Mexico. I will be graduating in 1 week on May 12th, 2012 with a degree in Mineral Engineering. I am 24 years old and I was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Depending on space and sizing availability of the participating school, I would spend $750 to set up, build, and provide 1 year’s supplies including nutrients and growing media. The yield from the indoor garden will vary depending on varieties of fruits/vegetables chosen, and the design of structure and selection of plants will be based upon the design features of the specific class room chosen for the garden.

Although the estimate is higher than the $750 budget, the hydroponic garden can be modified to increase or decrease to any micro grant amount.

The hydroponic garden will have two major benefits for the community: 1st benefit includes local, natural and free produce year round with minimal maintenance and energy expense. The 2nd benefit is the intentional creation of a direct connection between the community and their food source. The design of the garden will be simple, easy to understand, and will directly engage the students and allow them to perform ALL aspects of planting, growing, and harvesting their own food.

Dinosaur Kale and Flowering Squash

The crop selection will vary, but in order to create a large amount of food as quickly as possible, Kale, Lettuce, and other leafy greens will be the main crops for the first few months.

A few of the vegetables that grow very well hydroponically:

• Tomatoes, cherry in particular
• Squash
• Peppers
• Lettuce and other Leafy Greens
• Corn, wheat grass

Fruit trees will also be a feature of the indoor garden, and these will be grown hydroponically as well.

The produce can be integrated in the school cafeteria or—once at full production—food can be donated to local food banks or used as fund-raising for extracurricular activities. The entire system will be designed in an easy and simple configuration that can be modified or added at a later date. Simple hand tools are required for installation, maintenance, and upgrading.

Dinosaur Kale

It is important for students to be an active participant in the creation of their own food because we are currently experiencing severe economic and ecological devastation due to high input, centralized mono-cropping. By localizing a (very effective) food source, students are learning biological processes and contributing to their local community in a meaningful way.

My proposal to create an indoor hydroponics garden for a middle school will benefit Albuquerque and New Mexico for years to come through increased education and access to local, healthy food.

If I am chosen for the sprout 2.0 micro-grant and the indoor hydroponic garden is built, I will be sharing what I learned and provide a how-to guide to setting up an indoor hydroponic garden on instructables.com in their “Make It Real” contest. I hope to set up thousands of indoor hydroponics gardens across the world and share with people the knowledge and benefits of self-sufficiency.

Linda López McAlister | www.caminorealabq.com

1. Describe the project a SPROUT Grant would help you accomplish:

This July and August, Camino Real Productions and the National Hispanic Cultural Center are presenting the world premiere of PALOMA by Anne Garcia-Romero, a romance set against post-9/11 ethnic and religious conflicts, that prompts us to try to understand our biases and those of others and to start a conversation about a world in which peaceful coexistence is possible. PALOMA was inspired by an 11th C Spanish Muslim treatise on love from the “convivencia” – a time when Muslims, Christians, and Jews lived together in peace, and it asks if such a time could come again. We will have pre-show lectures about “la convivencia” and after-show talkbacks to start the conversation about tolerance of ethnic, religious, and cultural differences.

2. How will you use the grant toward the realization of your project? $750 is your imaginary budget:

We are striving to reach a broad cr0ss section of people as possible, from diverse religious and ethnic groups and encourage them to see this play and discuss the issues it raises, we need extra funding to expand these outreach efforts with, e.g, radio spots and ads informing people of the play and its significance.

3. A little about yourself and what led you to your current creative goals:

I’m Linda López McAlister, both an actor and a philosopher by training. I retired to New Mexico in 2000 and here I have devoted myself to my lifelong passion for live theatre. I founded Camino Real Productions in 2006 in order to produce high quality, Hispanic-oriented, intimate, character-driven, stage productions as a theater company in residence at the National Hispanic Cultural Center. We also produce radio theatre works, most recently an official NM Centennial Project “Night Over Taos: A Theatrical and Historical Journey from the Taos Revolt to Statehood” broadcast on KUNM. I believe in the theatre’s ability to inspire, educate and enlighten.

Rainbow Studio Theater
The New Mexico Black History Month Organizing Committee
www.rainbowstudiotheater.com
505-407-6784 | rbd.director@gmail.com

New Mexico Black History Month website address: www.nmblackhistorymonth.com

1. Describe the project a Sprout Grant would help you accomplish.

The Sprout Grant would help New Mexico’s only professional African American theater company, Rainbow Studio Theater, accomplish an encore presentation of “Roots Revival” an original cabaret production chronicling the history of African Americans from West Africa to the present in song, spoken word and dance. The production was sold out each night and added a show (that also sold out) due to popular demand. If we are able to mount this entertaining as well as educational musical production in a larger venue, then a larger percentage of youths and community members can experience Broadway in Albuquerque.

2. How will you use the grant toward the realization of your project?

We will use the grant towards the realization of our project by improving the quality of our costumes and props. The grant will also help towards the rental fee of a larger theater. Due to a larger stage, we will need to increase our cast of singers and dancers.

3. Tell a little about your self and what led you to this current creative goals.

I, Regina Bell-Dawley, am a professional actress, dancer, director/choreographer. I have worked on Broadway, film and television as a performing artist. Upon moving to Albuquerque, I was excited about the film industry in New Mexico, however theater is my first love. Therefore, I decided to start a theater company with Cathryn McGill. We both felt it was important to create more opportunities for minority youth and young adults who have had limited exposure and experience in the Albuquerque theater arts scene. Our first production, For Colored Girls…” was a success. “Roots Revival” was also sold out by popular demand.

Rainbow Over Green Bean Patch - Taken in 2010. Shows some of our volunteers picking green beans, one of our early crops. Produced 3097 pounds of green beans in 2010 and 2100 pounds in 2011.

1. Describe the project a SPROUT Grant would help you accomplish.

The Corrales Food Pantry Project is a collaborative effort between Corrales property owners and the Sandoval County Master Gardeners (SCMG). Our mission is to address hunger in New Mexico by growing fresh produce for local food pantries. Participating property owners provide the land, electricity and irrigation water. Master gardeners and other volunteer groups supply the manpower to plant, maintain and harvest the gardens. We rely on grants and donations (like the Sprout Grant) to purchase and maintain the irrigation system, seeds, fertilizers and gardening supplies. In 2011, Seed2Need generated 45,400 pounds of produce that was donated to ten food pantries in Bernalillo and Sandoval Counties. Our goal for 2012 is 60,000 pounds.

Tomato Plants by Early July - Taken in 2011. Shows our "tomato maze" once the row cover is removed in early July. We plant approximately 1200 tomato plants and harvested almost 22,000 pounds in 2011.

2. How will you use the grant toward the realization of your project?

Assuming a budget of $750, the grant would be used to purchase 90 steel fence posts and 2 rolls of livestock wire that would be used to grow 10 eighty foot rows of cucumbers. Based on last year’s production, 10 eighty foot rows will generate 9500 pounds of cucumbers every year.

Seed2Need Gardens - Taken in 2010. Shows produce awaiting pick-up at one of the gardens. Since this picture was taken, the gardens have doubled in size.

3. A little about yourself and what led you to your current creative goals.

The Seed2Need project was started in 2008 in response to the downturn in the economy and the number of people needing emergency food assistance. The garden started small – a 40’ x 40’ garden in 2008and has grown to1 1/2 acres in 2011. In 2011, Seed2Need generated 45,400 pounds of fruits and vegetables and our goal for 2012 is 60,000 pounds. That is easily a half a million mouthfuls of fresh food for New Mexico’s children!

Tiny Volunteer with Harvest - Taken in 2011. Shows one of our yougest volunteers in front of the night's harvest. She's a champion tomato picker.

The video on the Seed2Need project was published by New Mexico State University in 2011.