Crowdfunding The Digital Graffiti Project

[katpattison]

Hi everyone...

As some of you know, I run a company called Sonodrome. As well as our work with technology, we also spend time volunteering with young people from a variety of backgrounds.

I've been a volunteer since I was a young a shiny 16 year old - it's been very important to me for a long time, and now I'm self-employed I'm privileged enough to have the flexibility to dedicate more time to volunteering, and all the deserving people that are out there.

The team at Sonodrome wanted to bring our technology together with our voluntary work, to provide free digital graffiti workshops for people who will benefit the most. So we started The Digital Graffiti Project...

Our digital graffiti wall is a screen and infrared spray can that people can create artwork with. Instead of spraying paint on a wall, users spray light from the spray can onto the screen to create artwork in real time. This also means that they can keep their artwork or have it printed out, maybe onto canvass or a t-shirt... It's a creative, expressive and fun experience with technology.

We’ve spent a lot of time working with young people, and those who have had the opportunity to use the digital graffiti wall have had a really positive experience. They’ve been able to express themselves in a way that they feel comfortable.

We want to give more people this experience, so The Digital Graffiti Project will visit community centers, youth clubs, and children’s hospitals across the UK, to offer free workshops and the opportunity to use this fun technology.

But we need your help to get there!

We need to raise £3500 so that the project can go ahead, so if you can help us by spreading the word or by making a donation, we’d be really grateful - and you'll be doing an amazing thing for a lot of deserving young people.

We are using crowdfunding website WeFund to host The Digital Graffiti Project, so you can watch the video and learn more here.

Thanks so much for taking the time to read about the project, and if you've any questions please don't hesitate to get in touch - info@sonodrome.co.uk

We really appreciate your support!

[robnightingale]

The video doesn't seem to be loading for me

Was this, or something similar on dragon's den, or am I imagining things?!

It's an amazing project though. There's a few places here in Southport that I think would love to have you visit

[katpattison]

Oh no, I'm sorry the video isn't loading for you - there's an alternative link here, hopefully you'll be able to watch it there.

There was a company on Dragon's Den with a digital graffiti wall, but that wasn't us Their wall is a slightly different system which is a lot more expensive, it starts at £2500 whereas we hire our system out from £500.

But The Digital Graffiti Project is about hosting digital graffiti workshops for free. We've been volunteers for a long time, and the kids who have had the opportunity to use the digital graffiti wall with us have had such positive experiences - we wanted to help more kids get expressive too, the kids who wouldn't normally get the chance to spend time being creative, or with such cool technology.

I'm really pleased you think it's an amazing project! We do too, and we appreciate all the help we get whether it's funding or spreading the word - it's all brilliant and really, really makes a difference.

We'd love to visit Southport - it's our mission to visit as many towns as possible... One of the pledges is for people donating £250 or more - they get to choose a group to receive a free visit from The Digital Graffiti Project, so if you know anyone feeling generous in the Southport area, we could definitely secure you guys a session for a local group of your choice!

We also need a team of awesome people to help us spread the word for the next 15 weeks so we reach the funding goal - we're able to host a session near people who have helped us with this, so if you want to get on board we'd love to have you!

We've just set up a facebook page where we're also trying to raise awareness, so even just hitting 'like' and sharing with friends makes a real difference, you can do that here!

A massive thank you, because your support really does help

[robnightingale]

I travel around a lot, so it could be difficult to try to arrange things, but my brother works for a charity that looks after autistic children, which might be interested. I'll give him your details so he can pass them on to his manager!

[katpattison]

That sounds great, thanks for your help!

[gear7.co.uk]

Hi Kat,

Are you selling the graffiti wall commercially? Can the system work with standard projectors and rear pj screens i.e. seperate sensing system?

There could well be some demand for this around our area and I'd be interested in getting involved.

Regards,
Chris

[katpattison]

Hi Chris,

We don't sell the wall commercially, but the system does work with a normal projector and rear projection screen, yes

We're always really grateful for anyone able to get involved! Obviously our main concern is to raise the funding required to get the project around the UK, so that's what we'll be focusing a lot of time on over the next few weeks...

We hoped that by offering incentives for pledges then we could give something back to the people who have helped. One of the incentives is the chance to pick a group of your choice to receive a free workshop from The Digital Graffiti Project, and because normal hire of the system starts at £500 we hoped this, in exchange for a £250 pledge, could be appealing...

I mentioned it to Rob before, but if you're up for some localized funding we can definitely secure a session in the area! Our mission is to visit as many groups as possible - but if we've a team of supporters who have helped raise the funds to ensure we can get the project around the UK, then their areas will be at the top of the list, so we make sure we repay the help we've been given.

But if you've got any ideas as to ways you could help, and what you might like in return, we're always up for discussion and collaboration... you can drop me an email on kat@sonodrome.co.uk if you'd prefer to chat privately about it.

Excellent, hopefully we'll be able to work together so The Digital Graffiti Project can go ahead, and so your area can have fun with it too That'd be great!

Kat

[LiveWIRE_Mark]

Kat & Jim had a great feature in Newcastle based paper The Journal this morning - read more at http://www.shell-livewire.org/news/sonodrome-journal/

[katpattison]

Originally Posted by LiveWIRE_Mark

Kat & Jim had a great feature in Newcastle based paper The Journal this morning - read more at http://www.shell-livewire.org/news/sonodrome-journal/

Thanks Mark, that's great!