2017 Social Change Forum: Better Than Good

When:             March 1st, 2017 (Synergy Coworking, 6:00pm – 8:30pm)

                         March 2nd, All day Social Change Forum

Where:            Gordon Commons (770 W. Dayton St. Madison, WI 53716)

Time:               8:30am – 5:00pm

Reception:       5:30pm – 8:00pm, Location TBA

For agents of change, being good is status quo. However, to create the impact required for the true positive social change needed, now more than ever, we must challenge the status quo. This year’s Social Change Forum’s focus is to be better than good because no longer is good, good enough.  The intention this year is that participants create the time needed to have the difficult conversations with themselves and other participants on how we challenge ourselves to be better.  This includes speaking up more when we see injustice happening, challenging those around us to take action, being persistent when we may feel like everything is against us, listening and finding empathy, and so much more.  This year the forum will begin the night before with a special event  and will continue through to the full day forum.  We are exhilarated to work hard and become better with everyone.

We welcome and invite anyone to the Social Change Forum. Whether you are a government official, work at a nonprofit, lead a corporation, are a teacher, or a freshman in college, we encourage you to join us for this annual impactful and soul filling event. If the pricing is not in your budget, please contact us and WE WILL WORK SOMETHING OUT! Email info@projectkinect.com and ask about scholarship options and price codes for students. 


Opening Event: March 1st, 6:00pm – 8:30pm, @Synergy Coworking

On Wednesday, March 1st, 2017, we will kick off the Social Change Forum by having an interactive fundraiser that will benefit Mentoring Positives.  The event will be held at Synergy Coworking beginning at 6pm.  Program to start at 7pm. The event will have beer and non-alcoholic beverages.  We will be serving Off the Block Pizza and salad and sides from Beyond Catering. This event is complimentary to forum participants. It is $25 for people who want to attend this event only. 

Emcee: Rachel Werner from Brava Magazine

 

Program: Sara Alvarado from Step Up Equity Matters and the Alvarado Group

Sara and company will be hosting an interactive workshop looking at how we can better utilize social media. Often, social media is used to share stories, events, celebrations, and news.  We try to use it to express the realities that we are passionate about but often we miss the mark. This activity will challenge us to more intentionally use social media to advocate and directly address the social change needed in our communities and in our world.

Special guest: Will Green, founder of Mentoring Positives.

Mentoring Positives mission is to build strong, trusting relationships, positive attitudes, and life skills in youth through mentoring and social youth entrepreneurship. Mentoring Positives began in the fall of 2004, as strictly a fee-for-service program that Will started by mentoring delinquent youth, one-on-one. Soon, Mentoring Positives’ became a not for profit organization and quickly began offering group mentoring. Will saw the need for positive programming with many of the youth living in the neighborhood. Will continues to engage the youth and families currently without any Mentoring Positives’ programming as well as with those that are attending programs. Today, Mentoring Positives, Inc. has three components; (1.) Specialized Mentoring, (2.) Off the Block Enterprises, and (3.) Training/Professional Development. 

 

Thank you to those involved with the Social Change Forum Eve Event!


Social Change Forum: March 2nd, 8:30am – 5:00pm, Gordon Commons

Meet our hostess and host: Dina Martinez and Cedric Johnson

Dina Nina Martinez is an advocate, public speaker, actor, and stand up comedian. She has been featured in the Huffington Post, Daily Chronicle, and the LA Magazine. She fights for equity and brings trans-rights forward with her humor and matter of fact attitude. Dina Nina Martinez, who was called “…very funny.” by the Late Late Show’s James Corden, is a transgender standup comedian and actor from LA who currently resides in Chicago. Her signature blend of disarming sass and charm has been featured in comedy festivals and multiple world-class comedy venues including LA Pride and The Chicago Women’s Funny Festival. She is a Huff Post blogger and creator and executive producer of Lady Laughs Comedy Festival. She was named one of the “40 Hot Queer Women In Comedy” by AfterEllen.com and won Madison’s favorite Local Comedian as voted by the readers of the Isthmus. Martinez’s long term goals are to settle down and be a soccer mom.

 

Cedric Johnson is the Development & Communications Director with Briarpatch Youth Services, Inc. in Madison. He oversees the agency’s fundraising, communications, and is currently leading Briarpatch’s $3.1 million ‘Giving Homeless Youth a Chance’ campaign to fund Dane County’s first and only shelter dedicated to homeless youth ages 12-17 years. A native of Rockford, IL, Cedric was inspired to jump in and enact change at a young age; joining the Rockford Area Arts Council and DIVERSITY of Rockford at the age of sixteen. Cedric relocated to Madison in 2010 to work for The Onion, moving into a position in the development department of Madison Children’s Museum shortly thereafter. Madison’s active and engaged community was a perfect fit, and Cedric picked up his advocacy as a board member and past president of O.P.E.N. (the Out Professional Engagement Network), board member of Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, a mayoral appointee to the Madison Arts Commission, and the Friends of Henry Vilas Zoo board member.

Meet our Keynote Speaker: Jessica Boyd

Jessica Boyd strives to give herself compassionately, lovingly, and gracefully to others in every aspect of her life. She is currently serving as the Executive Director of Community Venture Foundation where she focuses on creating and executing programs that use entrepreneurship as a tool for social and economic empowerment. Prior to working at CVF, Jessica was an inaugural American Dream Fellow for the Cisneros Center for New Americans. She has also worked with The Sustainability Consortium, Nisolo, and Habitat for Humanity, Colombia. Outside of work, Jessica sits on the board of Spectrum Living Solutions, serves as the Volunteer Co-Chair for the Susan G. Komen Ozark Race for the Cure, and is actively involved with Magdalene Serenity House. She is committed to and passionate about serving others in both her professional and personal lives. She is also passionate about reading, learning, hiking, and traveling, and is continually exploring and absorbing other cultures.

Special Guests:

Calandra Davis

Calandra Davis has made it her mission to seek personal growth, actively strive for social justice, and do anything within her means to lighten the burden of others. She strongly believes if you’re not reaching out to help others, then you’re shrinking. Calandra has a B.S. in Biochemistry from Alcorn State University where she also conducted various research projects in Bangalore, India on the health of urban youth. She received a Masters of Public Service degree from the Clinton School of Public Service in 2014 while taking an opportunity with the William H. Bowen School of Law Research Project led to a position as chair of the Communications/ Education subcommittee. This yielded the framework to gain support for policy and practice initiatives to help decrease racial disparities in the Arkansas criminal justice system. She is currently the program director for Women and Children First; a domestic violence shelter, whose mission is to provide safety, strength, and hope for all victims of family violence. She hopes to turn her imagination of a just and equitable world into reality.

Facilitators

Nikki Nigl

Nikki Nigl (rhymes with eagle) has lived coast to coast, drawing inspiration and following her own simple credo, “to enjoy life to the fullest,” and aspires to help others do the same. Possessed by her Midwest sensibility, West Coast calm and East Coast edge, Nikki has dedicated her life to motivating the masses with a no-nonsense but understanding approach. She’s qualified as a College Professor, Public Speaking Instructor, Accountability Coach, Relationship Guru, Women’s EmpowHERment Coach, Life Manager, Weight-loss Coach, and overall cheerleader. Nikki says simply: “I will make your life better and easier.” And probably more fun. Loyal believer, role model, friend, artist, teacher, and always a student, Nikki is also a rarity and a treasure — and wants you to know that you are too. 

Shannel Trudeau-Yancey

Shannel Trudeau-Yancey, MS has worked with individuals with disabilities in the field of vocational rehabilitation since 1997. In 2004, she spearheaded a pilot project with Dane County Human Services, Employment Resources, Inc. and DVR providing this same process to support individuals with developmental disabilities that were interested in customizing employment in order to develop sole proprietorship businesses. Since 2007, she has been the liaison self-employment coordinator in Dane County and surrounding areas.  Shannel is also a 500-hour yoga therapist, Reiki practitioner, a meditation student of Michael Stone and served on the YogAutism board of directors. She is passionate about building opportunities for marginalized populations to be integral members of our community.

Jeff Burkhart 

Jeff Burkhart is the Executive Director of Literacy Network of Dane County, a not-for-profit organization serving adults and families. He holds an M.S. Continuing and Vocational Education from University of Wisconsin- Madison and a BA Journalism from Indiana University.

Jeff brings 20 years of program development in the field of adult literacy. In his time at Literacy Network, the organization has created nationally recognized programs, expanded programming to 28 locations throughout Dane County, developed numerous partnerships to support adults and families, and moved into a new custom-designed learning center in South Madison in September 2016.


 


Thank you to our sponsors! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you would like to sponsor, email info@projectkinect.com. Check out sponsorship levels here

New Year’s Newsletter

Hello Brilliant Change Agents!

What a zany year 2016 was!  Yes, zany. Some gleaming things did happen this year despite tremendous defeats. We must continue to mourn the loss of some monumental change agents including Mattie Colin, Jack Greenberg, David Bowie, Prince, Ruth Guber, Zaha Hadid, Vera Rubin, and most recently George Michaels, Carrie Fisher, and Debbie Renolds, and Piers Sellers. These humans contributed so much to the betterment of humankind and acknowledging them with gratitude is the least we can do.

Some amazing social change did occur in 2016. Senator Elizabeth Warren smacked down Wells Fargo. The tiger population rose. India planted 10,000 trees in one day. We made it to Jupiter. Over 2000 veterans mobilized to support Standing Rock. Some incredible women of color were elected into high political seats. And, the Cubs winning the world series produced the 7^th largest peaceful gathering in the world. That’s a ton to celebrate and create a huge platform for people to find common ground!

For me personally, this new year brings a lot of anxiety. I am  practicing techniques to manifest my anxiety into fuel for the cause. I am invigorated to have my boots on the ground, fighting for what I believe in. I want to scream social justice and find ways, even though the obstacles are greater than ever, to make life more equitable for everyone. My dream is that as a society, we find courage and strength on an individual level and hold ourselves accountable for the future of everyone.

For the Project Kinect team, 2017 will be a huge year. We are working on a couple large endeavors in the realm of community engagement and visioning. These actions will assist in adding positions to our team and better become a sustainable social business our community can rely on. Additionally, we have been hired by some really great new organizations and events to assist in further delivering inspiring social change. We can’t wait!

Our two large annual events, the Social Change Forum and the Fall Food Cart Fest are growing in 2017. The Social Change Forum on March 2^nd will have more seats available so more change agents can participate.  The Fall Food Cart Fest will be moved downtown to mesh within the amazing vibrations of everything happening on the east side/downtown.

I am personally so thankful that Project Kinect is in its third year here in Madison. My enormous gratitude goes out to all of you in assisting to make Madison Project Kinect’s home.

With all my love in the new year,

Gregg & the PK Team

Check out the entire Newsletter here! 

 

Eventbrite - Social Change Forum 2017

Project Kinect at Work: Carts for Community

Screen Shot 2015-08-05 at 11.31.24 AMWe are in our second year of the Carts for Community Internship Program. This program is a workforce incubator created to teach teenagers from economically challenged communities in Madison food safety, food management, small business, and entrepreneurial skills. In it’s second year, the internship will go from four students to ten students, add on community partners including REAP Food Group and University of Wisconsin food services department. We will also be working with Second Harvest Foodbank, Sysco Foods, and Let’s Eat Out. 

The project could not be done without the help of our other partner, Briarpatch Youth Services. Together, we are so excited to launch our second year of this five year development and sustainability goal. 

However, THIS CANNOT BE SUCCESSFUL WITHOUT YOU!

Carts for Community has launched their crowdfunding campaign to raise the money still needed to accomplish these summer endeavors.  Please give today to help bridge Madison communities for a better future. Carts for Community is using the Generosity platform which focuses on helping nonprofits with their community engagement work. 

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A little more about Carts for Community:

Carts for Community, INC is a new non-profit organization created by Christine Ameigh, founder of Let’s Eat Out! and owner of Slide food cart and her partner Jessica Wartenweiler, owner of Curd Girl food cart. Their vision is to use local food as a vehicle for community building, place making and economic development.

MISSION

Carts for Community seeks to affect social change through food.  We are currently seeking funding for two of our programs: our community dinner program and our youth workforce development program.  

COMMUNITY DINNERS

Food is a unifying force that brings people together across age, income and culture.  Our organization hosts community food cart dinners as a way to bring people together across cultural and economic divides and create a sense of place and gathering spot in Madison communities where few such places exist.  The Wisconsin Council on ChildrenScreen Shot 2016-06-02 at 10.36.37 AM and Families recently released a study that says “Many African-Americans live in geographically isolated neighborhoods in and around Madison that lack basic infrastructure, including a major employer, church or social gathering spots.”  In addition to providing a social gathering spot for people to connect throughfood, we also offer free children’s programming, live music, free local produce, and meal subsidies to neighbors in need, so that cost isn’t a limiting factor for participation.  The ultimate goal is to decrease food insecurity while increasing community cohesion.  

The 2016 food cart community dinners will take place in three Madison food deserts (South Park Street, Allied Drive, and the Meadowood neighborhood) which the USDA defines as low-income communities that lack ready access to healthy food.  The dinners will take place from June 13th-August 4th for a total of 24 events, eight in each of the above neighborhoods. The projected number of people that will be impacted by our events is at least 2400. We also employ two people from within the community as community ambassadors who work on the ground at each of the events engaging children and families in activities.

Partnerships with community groups, the City of Madison, neighborhoods resource teams and faith communities are  key to our success.  We’ve consulted extensively with other organizations to position our program for the best chance of success. Our goal is to establish partnerships with 8 different organizations and have each organization provide a different activity or service at all 3 locations for one of the 8 weeks our program is operating.  By working together we can avoid duplicitous efforts and increase the number of people we are serving. Last year’s collaborators included: REAP Food Group, MSCR, Madison Public Library, Mothers In The Neighborhood, Budget Bicycle Center, Madison Fire Department, and the Madison Police Department.

Please take 5 minutes now and give to this amazing project! 

Even more information…. 

More about our work with Carts for Community and Let’s Eat Out.

Cap Times article about this year’s internship program. 

MADISON mini MAKER FAIRE: May 14th

We are so happy to announce that we are partnering with Madison Traffic Garden to sponsor a booth at the Madison Mini Makers Faire on May 15th at the Monona Terrace Convention Center. Our booth will be a makers corner for adults and children who want to make their own mini vertical garden out of recycled materials.

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About a Maker Faire

Maker Faire is the Greatest Show (and Tell) on Earth—a family-friendly showcase of invention, creativity and resourcefulness, and a celebration of the Maker Movement. Part science fair, part county fair, and part something entirely new, Maker Faire is an all-ages gathering of tech enthusiasts, crafters, educators, tinkerers, hobbyists, engineers, science clubs, authors, artists, students, and commercial exhibitors. All of these “makers” come to Maker Faire to show what they have made and to share what they have learned.  Come and be inspired to make!

For all the information, check the Eventbrite page.

About Vertical Gardens

Own Grown

Living Walls

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2016 Social Change Forum

Project Kinect’s Social Change Forum was created for three specific reasons. The first was to utilize everyone’s definition of Social Change, put them together, and reveal how everyone of us is an agent of change. The second reason was to dedicate time with an eclectic group of change agents and focus on one building block of social change.  We choose a building block that is abstract and subjective, yet when we focus on it together, we find tangible ways to be better agents of change. 

The final reason for creating the Social Change Forum was to utilize one focus to bridge communities.  Something magical happens when we use our skills, talents, and experience to work together on common themes; we become connected and our network expands making real change possible.  The Social Change Forum isn’t promising world peace; it’s just encouraging greater community by strengthening ourselves while we create a better understanding of who we can lean on.

We welcome and invite anyone to the Social Change Forum. Whether you are a government official, work at a nonprofit, lead a corporation, are a teacher, or a freshman in college, we encourage you to join us for this annual impactful and soul filling event. If the pricing is not in your budget, please contact us and WE WILL WORK SOMETHING OUT! Email info@projectkinect.com and ask about scholarship options.


Here is information about the second annual Social Change Forum: Finding Courage

When:           March 3rd, 2016.  

Where:         Threshold in Madison, Wisconsin

Time:            8:30am – 5:00pm

Reception:   5:30- 8:00pm at Next Door Brewing Company

Courage is needed to be an effective and impactful change agent. This year Project Kinect’s Social Change Forum will allow us to explore the relationship between courage and social change, how we access courage, and how we find it when we need it.  Our intention is that we all walk away from this year’s forum more comfortable in uncomfortable space and able to access the courage necessary when we need it to have those scary conversations, problem solve those uneasy circumstances, and lead those who are still seeking courage. Our forum will not find all the answers, but together we can utilize the skills and talents from our brilliant communities to gain tools and best practices that access that courage we often need.

Meet Our Hostess: Jenna Rhodes

12494126_10207473129638938_1113303543_oJenna Rhodes, MA, MPS, MPH, is a high energy, bundle of love, courageous agent of change. Currently Rhodes is the Program Coordinator in the Arkansas Children’s Hospital Research Institute Childhood Obesity Prevention Research Program where she supports outreach, programming, and research focused on increasing access and availability of healthy food utilizing farm to school strategies. She is also a Program Coordinator for the City of North Little Rock where she works on economic development projects related to walkability and strengthening local community organizational capacity, including the creation and continued coordination of a diverse community coalition.

Meet Our Keynote Speaker: Neena Viel

Neena-VielNeena hails from Newburgh, New York. As a teenager experiencing homelessness and food insecurity, she developed a social change lens early in life.  She was the first student at her high school to earn the prestigious Gates Millennium Scholarship. She received a BA in Communication Studies at Arkansas State University, and earned the Martin Mahlon Fellowship and the Student Undergraduate Research Award for her work on supportive communication with at-risk youth.  The Clinton School of Public Service was a natural fit for her and she was able to develop her expertise in youth development through work with the Arkansas Out of School Network, The Nyaka AIDS Orphans Project and the Department of Human Services. Viel has explored research projects in social-emotional health, supportive communication and education. She now works as part of the development team at College AccesDSC00315s Now in Seattle, where she works to empower low-income and first-generation students to access and graduate college. Viel has also spoken at the Arkansas State Teen Leadership Conference, the Arkansas Healthy Child Summit and the Bright Futures Begin Early Conference. She’s thrilled to come hang out with the cool people in Madison, WI!


Special Guests 

Sina Davis

Screen Shot 2016-01-25 at 10.34.34 AMSina Davis is the organizer and director of Mother’s in the Neighborhood; a program formed through the Allied Community Co-op that focuses on parent engagement.  Mother’s in the Neighborhood is a fierce organization that is working hard to shed light on the circumstances of the underserved communities in Madison, WI. In addition to Mother’s, Sina Davis is a community organizer, assists with the community engagement work through Let’s Eat Out, is a mother, friend, and ally.

 

Brandi Grayson

Screen Shot 2016-02-23 at 12.17.12 PMMadison 365 called her 2015 Disrupter of the Year. Brandi Grayson has a unique and forward way of delivering conversations about race and inequality to everyone, including those who try to avoid the discussion.  She works with the Madison YWCA and is one of the creators of Young, Gifted, and Black. At the 2016 Social Change Forum, Brandi will facilitate a conversation that will challenge us to bring the workshops into our every day lives.

Step Up: Equity Matters

We will also have a special activity facilitated by a founder or two from Step Up: Equity Matters

 


Workshops

The Inner Work of a Change Agent

Facilitator: Sara Alvar12524301_10207013655354850_8321277687501556547_nado from Step Up: Equity Matters and Co-Owner of Alvarado Real Estate Group 

Sara will share parts her journey and get specific about ways we can become more affective and impactful change agents. If it were only about the passion we have, it would be a piece of cake. In this session we will learn the value in self-care, how to tap into our courage, and create a sustainable path as a change agent through the power of our tribe, how to say No and Hell Yes, and other intentional self-love practices.

Facing Fears to Fuel and Cultivate Courage

10931702_10103935804158797_8488044511124061259_oFacilitator: Garrett Lee, founder of WHOA (We Help One Another) and Good Point Game and also involved with Homeless Services Consortium of Dane County and Occupy Madison

Garrett Lee will facilitate an experience that explores our underlying fears and how they impact our ability to co-create social change. Once we identify and face our fears, we can then transcend them and cultivate courage. In doing so, we will build a network of people who relate to our fears and overcome them to co-create the change we wish to see in the world. There will also be opportunities to earn Good Points throughout the day.

Reestablishing Integrity


noble updatedFacilitator: Trish Flanagan, co-founder of Picasolar, Noble Impact, and Future School in Fort Smith

As agents of change, we often find ourselves in circumstances that outside forces challenge our authenticity and we lose our integrity.  This workshop will discuss those moments and identify best practices to be better the next time we encounter those difficult moments. 

Check out the schedule for the day!


Thank you to our Sponsors! 

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Click here if you’re interested in becoming a sponsor.

Orgs We Love: Step Up

Step Up: Equity Matters in the Workplace

By Sara Alvarado, Co-Creator

The path to creating a sustainable society that works for ALL people begins inside each of our own hearts and minds as we seek to understand our own biases and stereotypes.

Step Up: Equity Matters in the Workplace is a newly created organization that provides a community and has become a movement for people to learn and focus specifically on creating equity in the workplace. The Step Up team offers workshops and a book club with the promise of diving deep and being real. That means we agree to be vulnerable and keep our minds and our hearts open. 

The creation of Step Up came out of a group of people that wanted what didn’t exist. They wanted the environment to grow and learn about what needs to change in the business community. Using Dane Buy Local as a base for reaching out and Sustain Dane as a catalyst for bringing it all together, Sara Alvarado, Amy Kesling, Tania Ibarra and Haywood Simmons joined together on a path that has expanded beyond their imagination. The reach is far and wide and the meaningful connections and impact are a direct result of people showing up with the willingness to change. 

The goal is to increase diversity in our workplace, the board room, the executive and leadership teams and find solutions to create an inclusive, welcoming and thriving work environment for all. It isn’t just teaching people about cultural competency and inclusivity, it is about creating a company culture that embraces diversity in all aspects of its operations.

The Step Up community in Madison, WI, is a movement for change and when you join the community you will get invitations to the various workshops offered along with a book club invitation and updates from other members that showcase success stories, learning moments and resources. If you are looking for the real deal, read this pledge and hopefully you will feel the tug to be a part of the change. 

Diving into the process you will learn to create and engage in conversations about inequities in the workplace and our communities. You will learn how to listen with your hear, use empathy and focus on the importance of finding common ground while challenging each other to identify biases within ourselves and each other in a loving, non-judgmental manner. 

This is an ongoing practice of communication and engagement. It is crucial that we become conscious, confident, and humble to create lasting changes.

This is the STEP UP community!

There is no one easy solution to the massive racial disparities in our community. If there was, we’d have figured it out by now and we wouldn’t be here. But we are here, still, and we are not okay with that. Change doesn’t happen overnight, as we can see. Change isn’t happening fast enough. But change IS happening and you can be part of that change. You can make a difference. Join the Step Up movement to experience the change.

***The next Step Up event is Friday, September 19th, 2015, 8:30am-10:30am at the Urban League of Greater Madison (2222 South Park St). Here is more information on that event and the link to their Facebook page.

Find out more about Step Up at www.stepupforequity.com.

New Event: Fall Food Cart Festival

Project Kinect is working with Let’s Eat Out! for it’s final event of 2015.  This season­ finale event will feature 20 local food carts (offering food options at $4 or less), Capital Brewery beer & great local music including the Tony Castaneda Latin Jazz Sextet on Sunday, September 27th at Burr Jones Field.

The Fall Food Cart Festival kicks off at 12pm.The event is in partnership with the Mad City Bazaar, an urban pop­up flea market, which takes place at the Fiore Shopping center, next to the park. The MadCity Bazaar opens at 10am with food and beer sales beginning at noon.

The series is a fundraiser for Let’s Eat Out! with all proceeds benefiting the group’s charitable work including its neighborhood dinner program and food cart internship program. Over the past summer, LEO was able to bring communities together and provide over 4000 meal subsidies in local food desert neighborhoods.. The 2015 internship program, which matched at­ risk youth with food cart owners for an intensive 8 week learning experience just concluded, with plans for expansion in 2016.

 

Projects We Love: That’s What She Said

by Stephanie Riedel

While you probably recognize, “that’s what she said!” as a joke, here in Madison it’s also a show that’s changing lives. Thought up in 2011 by Molly Vanderlin of The Bricks Theatre along with friends Miranda Hawk and Karen Saari-Pausch, they imagined a show where women could come together to find strength and share stories of their lives on stage with an audience.

Every show starts with a theme such as resolution, mother-load, lie or perfection and a group of six to ten women. Rehearsals start with a meet and greet where the women discuss the theme for that show and read what they have started writing. For the next month the cast breaks up into smaller groups that meet once a week to workshop what they’ve written with Molly leading them.

The whole process is emotional, powerful and sometimes extremely difficult. Even the most benign stories can lead to some pretty powerful places as the women explore them, which is exactly what makes this show so special. Past stories have included buying your first house as a single woman only to find you’ve got a roommate: a mouse; starting new Christmas traditions after your old ones were torn apart by divorce; that time you were in college and ended up working as a cocktail waitress in a strip club; having your first orgasm at fifty while coming to terms with a marriage that brings you both joy and absolutely no sex; coping with migraines that seek to destroy all the relationships around you; and being an adoptive mother trying to maintain her place in her child’s life as they meet their biological mother for the first time in India. Stories are unique to women, but reach out and transcend gender, race and age.

The women who perform are always from the community. Some of them have experience in performance, but not writing, others are writers, but not performers, still others have never done anything like this in their lives. The one thing they have in common is they are all terrified and they are all brave.

This August is their ninth show, themed Crave and marks the third year in the That’s What She Said run and this show may be the most important one yet with stories of addiction. Rehearsals start July 13th and the show runs August 20th-21st with eight women performing at The Brink Lounge (701 E. Washington Ave). Tickets are $15 and can be purchased at the door, or at brownpapertickets.com.

***For more information check out the group’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/TWSSBricks, or call (608)358-9609.

Project Kinect at Work: Let’s Eat Out!

Let’s Eat Out! has some amazing things coming up! 

  • Summer Concert Series

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Let’s Eat Out! has asked Project Kinect to assist in a four part pilot summer concert series at Burr Jones Field in Madison, WI. The series will be three concerts in June 21st, 28th,  & July 5th and a final concert, the “Fall Food Cart Festival”, on September 27th. The concert series would include the presence of local bands (3 bands for each date), six food carts representing LEO!, A beer trailer representing a local brewery, a sponsored children’s area, and a specific nonprofit benefactor for each event. Project Kinect’s role with the concert series will be to assist logistics for the events while outlining the process for giving donations to local nonprofits. If you are interested in becoming a sponsor, please check out the Let’s Eat Out! sponsorship page.

  • Internship Program

The Let’s Eat Out! Internship Initiative, in partnership with Briarpatch Youth Services, will target youth between the ages of 16 and 18 from economically challenged communities around the city of Madison who are seeking unique skills related to food service and entrepreneurship. The internship will not only provide a steady summer job (at $9 per hour), it will also provide external correlated training and the potential for long term job and entrepreneurial development.

In addition to providing valuable work experience and other training, the Let’s Eat Out! Internship initiative will also provide mentors for youth.  Food cart owners will serve as mentors for their interns and offer an up close and personal look at what it takes to manage and operate a small business.

Unlike other internship opportunities where interns often work at the bottom-rungs of the company, Let’s Eat Out! interns will be trained through day-to-day interactions with the owners of the businesses they’re working for.  The business owners will provide valuable guidance and insight on all aspects of small business management. Additionally, interns will be involved in labs each week that will assist to strengthen and add to their skill sets.

If this is something you would like to support financially, then here is where to donate.

If you want to volunteer,  here are great volunteer opportunities provided by Let’s Eat Out!s weekly dinners.