Yesterday, my Indiegogo campaign to make art with the clients of the Restigouche Hospital Centre reached it’s fundraising goal of $800! A sincere thank you to all who contributed to make this possible.
I spent yesterday at the local art store, Endeavours, purchasing some products and getting ready to make this project a success.
Once again, a huge thank you to all of those who contributed and/or spread the word via social media; I couldn’t have done it without you.
Started picking up supplies the other day to make art with the clients of the Restigouche Hospital Centre! Only $70 left to raise in my crowdfunding campaign!
Thanks to everyone for the support and contributions to make this possible. If you haven’t contributed, and like the idea, please consider: http://www.indiegogo.com/artempowers.
I was in Campbellton yesterday for a meeting with the Restigouche Hospital Centre regarding my 21Leaders art empowers project, that we will be collaborating to deliver on Monday, February 10th. 6 days left in the campaign; please consider contributing! http://www.indiegogo.com/artempowers
It was a great meeting, and I feel like we sorted out a lot of the details. I also had the chance to briefly drive around Campbellton, and I have to say: it is such a lovely place! I will definitely be back for some vacationing soon.
I had a long drive home, and while being in the car isn’t my favourite place to be, it gives me time to think. It’s hard to find the time to clear out the noise, and reflect on what matters, so I really valued that time yesterday. I’ve been thinking a lot about what I want to achieve long-term in my career, and while I don’t yet have the answer fully defined, I feel like I’m getting closer every day.
….who empowers people to make meaningful change’.
Last weekend, 21Leaders did some leadership coaching, and we were challenged to come up with a legacy statement. A statement that embodies who we are, and what we want to achieve. The above statement is my current iteration of my own legacy statement. I love the image of an artist. I’ve been playing around with the wording of the second part of the statement.
I was thinking about it yesterday after the chairman of our board of directors here at The Gaia Project asked me where I hoped to be at the end of my career. It’s something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. I haven’t quite figured out exactly where I want to be, but I’ve been working on concretely identifying my values and strengths, so that I can clearly articulate the change and impact I want to realize throughout my career.
My mission over the next couple of months is to talk to people in various stages of their careers to determine how they’ve defined themselves in their careers and what they want to achieve in their lives.
11 days left in my crowdfunding campaign to raise money to make art with the clients of the Restigouche Hospital Centre in Campbellton!
I’ve been so happy with the response so far; so many people have been very supportive with their words, as well as contributions. I’m over halfway to my goal of raising $800; I’ve raised $475 as I type these words.
I’m heading up to the centre on Monday to meet with the staff and get a plan ready, for the project which will be happening on February 10th. More details to come as I confirm them!
You can check out my Indiegogo campaign here: http://www.indiegogo.com/artempowers. Please share with anyone you think you would be interested. Believe that everyone is an artist.
I spent the entirety of yesterday afternoon and most of the evening in bed yesterday, watching Netflix. Laying around isn’t something that I particularly enjoy, but I had spent the previous 48 hours walking around feeling nauseous because of a lurking stomach flu, so I decided that rather than being a walking disease vector, I should just suck it up and mend for a day.
Laying in bed watching TV while the sun shone outside reminded me that I often take my health for granted. It reminded me of a quote that a friend shared at our 21inc accelerator this past weekend: ‘Happiness lies, first of all, in health’ by George William Curtis.
Health looks different for everyone. For me, this means the ability to do the things that I enjoy, which involves getting outside every day and moving around. Days like yesterday, spent in bed watching The Walking Dead (wow, intense show) reminded me that GW Curtis was on to something. It renewed my dedication to working on my fitness, and tonight I’m off to get some time in on the ultimate frisbee courts! Thankful to be feeling better today.
That was a great message that I heard repeatedly this past weekend at our latest 21inc 21Leaders accelerator: you already have everything you need to succeed as a leader.
Other key messages for me were:
Once again, I’m feeling completely revitalized after a few days spent with some great people. I look forward to implementing some of these new ideas over the next few months, both in my professional and personal life.
I had a really fun interview on Tuesday night with Startup Kitchen about the project I’m crowdfunding for through 21inc: Client-generated, creative hallways spaces. They do really neat work profiling people engaging in entrepreneurial activities in the region, and I honoured to have been interviewed. You can check out their work here.
We had a chat about the motivation behind the prohect – that art is empowering – and the crowdfunding approach. While preparing for the interview, I decided to look up the etymology of entrepreneurship. Wikipedia tells me that the root is from the French word ‘entreprendre’ – to undertake. Makes sense, though I never made the connection.
I’m excited to undertake this creative project – it’s definitely a new undertaking for me. I’m hoping the crowdfunding will help me a buy a kit of supplies so that I can do a project of this nature with other organizations around the province. Please check out my project, http://www.indiegogo.com/artempowers, and consider donating!
This past weekend, I once again had the opportunity to co-facilitate a peer group for teachers; this group is a pilot between the Wallace McCain Institute and The Gaia Project. Our focus is on supporting teachers in offering experiential learning for students. It was invigorating, and I’m so honoured to be part of this group.
We came up with our purpose/mission at the session: to ‘pioneer a movement in public education where experiential learning develops empowered citizens’.
My 21Leaders group has taken on the 5-year strategic planning for this peer group, and started some on it yesterday. I can’t wait to pass it by my colleagues, and I cannot wait to see where this group goes in the future!
I just got off of a call with leaders of a few other non-profits. I connected with these people at a session held by Seth Godin in October. One of the women who attended has graciously offered to plan a phone meeting for all of us who are available once a month.
We’ve been chatting about our audacious goals, setting concrete ones and then reporting back to each other at the next call.
It’s been such a valuable experience. Connecting with like-minded people, and knowing that they’ll hold you accountable (and root for you at the same time) has been such a motivating experience.
I also get to re-connect with my 21Leaders group this coming Thursday, and I absolutely cannot wait.
Vanessa's Blog 