DENTON CROWDFUNDING: OCTOBER

Denton Femme Fest is just one of the three things you can donate to that we are highlighting this month. 

It’s been a while since we last took a while at the Denton crowdfunding scene. For those not in the know, crowd funding is sourcing money from local friends, family and invested peoples to help fund your project, idea or startup. We heard tell of a few projects making the rounds and figured it was as good of a time as any to search through Kickstarter, IndieGoGo and a few others to bring to you the best of crowdfunding that Denton has to offer.

Have a look through the following three campaigns and decide for yourself if one tickles your fancy. If so, hurry over to their page and donate. You’ll feel good about yourself for the rest of the day and probably get a prize later on.

Odds are if you have a kid and follow the Den10, you’ve crossed paths with Anyah Brittain Martinez and a baby version of the Explorium before. She’s often up at the Community Market on Saturday mornings with engaging toys, activities and craft projects for youngsters. The Explorium is a hopeful children’s science museum to be located in Denton, TX that Martinez would like to open. Proceeds from this campaign will go towards renting an actual physical space for the Explorium to operate their various exhibits within.

Every once in a while we get jealous of larger cities and their many kid-friendly activities. It always happens when we visit the Austin Children’s Museum, the Ft. Worth Museum of Science and History does it, and now that the new Perot Museum is open in Dallas, it happens more than ever. We know this is a project on maybe 1/1000th of that scale, but something is better than nothing, and a little bit of heart can go a long way. Denton kids are in dire need of something like this. Unfortunately for us, there isn’t anyone with the last name Perot or overly-deep pockets living within our city limits with a foundation that needs to expel super large amounts of money. Maybe one day, but not now. For now, it’s up to us. If you can, donate to this project. It really does seem to have the best of the community in mind. The Explorium is looking for funding through “GoFundMe,” so don’t expect any silly gifts in return (it’s more like donating to a public broadcaster except with less guilt beforehand) - just the honest feeling of knowing you tried to help something good happen.

Local community activist and super-active social media person, Amber Briggle, has been in this column before. Last time we saw Briggle, she was pushing for a splash park, and while that’s still in the works, she’s back again, this time for her own, personal massage business, Soma Massage Therapy. Soma, apparently, is looking to grow.

Briggle wants to move her business out of her home and into a new space, get a new logo, and purchase some new equipment, amongst other things. This new space will also allow her to hire a few new massage therapists, as well. If you’re looking to get a massage yourself, why not go ahead and make a donation (a $100 will get you a massage and you’ll have that civic pride feeling) or, if you have more of a sweet tooth than you do back problems (boy do we envy you), make a donation of $25 and Briggle will bake you up a batch of your favorite cookies. 

If you’re interest in becoming more of a mover and shaker in the community and you like the cut of Briggle’s jib, you can attend this Saturday’s Neighborhood Empowerment Summit at the Denton Civic Center at which Briggle (and a few other cool people) will be giving some words of advice and sharing her experiences.

Here’s a quick and easy one, Daisy Salinas is looking for $200 to fund the Second Annual Denton Femme Fest at Mable Peabody’s. It looks as if it’s going to be a sure thing as they have already almost met their funding goal and the date for the shindig has already been set for November 23rd at Mable Peabody's. The event looks to have it all, complete with dancing, spoken word, a visual art auction, and “diverse” musical performances. In this particular case, your cold, hard cash goes not only towards the production fees associated with making this festival happen, but also the creation of local Latin zine creator’s, Muchacha Fanzine’s, upcoming issue entitled, “Nuestros Cuerpos/Our Bodies." A donation of as little as $5 will get you a single copy of one of their past zines of your choice. You can check out their old zines on their Etsy page.

DENTON CROWDFUNDING: AUGUST

It's been a while, but the crowdfunding scene in Denton is at a boil currently, so we figured it was as good a time as any to search through Kickstarter, IndieGoGo and a few others to bring to you the best of crowdfunding that Denton has to offer. Go ahead and read through the following campaigns. If something strikes your fancy, please donate and feel good about yourself for the rest of the day.  

Denton Community Splash Park

With tomorrow’s Better Block’s meeting, the idea of making change happen is hot on the mind of Dentonites. This campaign, initiated by local mover and shaker, Amber Briggle, evokes that mindset in spades. If the concept of a “splash pad” doesn’t evoke anything in your mind, imagine the summers your spent in your front yard, running through the water spray from the nearby oscillating sprinkler. Well, a “splash pad” is kind of like that. It’s an area with multiple streams of water in various arrangements, with multiple drains preventing said water from pooling. It’s fun and kids love ‘em. Maybe you’ve seen a small one behind the Barnes and Noble in Highland Village.

Briggle has spoken with the powers-that-be at the city level and been promised that if she raises the funds, the park would be built. If not this year, then in the next year. Briggle went on to say, “The goal… is to bring this money to City Council, show them how serious we are about this, and hope that they can meet us the rest of the way so we can get this built in the next year!

Many Denton artists and businesses have donated their time and products as incentives to donators. $500 will net you your own Paul Slavens concert, $150 will get you an engraved brick on the site and a donation of $250 will allow you and seven of your friends to yell at Kevin Roden about politics of your choice at your very own Drink and Think.

Donate here. 

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Denton Holiday Lighting Festival Song Compilation

The event commonly known as “The Tree Lighting,” “wassail fest,” or “Kettle Korn Time,” is actually the “The Denton Holiday Lighting Festival.” It’s a free event in December every year that you probably already go to (we just learned that every year a commemorative Denton Christmas ornament is produced - how do we not already have all of them?).

This year, they’re producing a compilation CD in celebration of their 25th anniversary. The compilation will be full of of their favorite holiday performances from Denton bands. You can look forward to hearing Sarah Jaffe, Boxcar Bandits, the Denton Community Band and many others on this multi-decade spanning compilation. Our friend Nick is the only person we know who still buys CDs. Thankfully, the crew behind the The Denton Holiday Lighting Fesitval also plans on making the album available to purchase online, as well.

Donations to the cause can get you cool swag like T-shirts and framed photos.

Donate here. 

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Two Hearts, 6,100 Miles Apart

Well, this is a tough one. Local artist, Michael Todd, is looking to fund a trip to Paris to meet his longtime Russian internet girlfriend, Anastasia. He's looking for $25,000 in order to travel the 6,100 miles distance, document said experience through professional means and to then get their story out to the masses in the form of a documentary and follow-up book. While we were left wanting to call Max and Nev of Catfish after reading Todd's novel of a explanation (which we highly encourage you to read, yourself) on his IndieGoGo campaign, something kept us from finding their contact info on MTV.com. We want to read this book. We would pay $12/ticket to get the chance to see this documentary. While our pessimism forces us to doubt the legitimacy of Todd's girlfriends' story, either way, it would be wonderful to watch. Donations will get you the normal digital download or sponsorship credit, but we also found it interesting that they're offering the ability to go to the screening of your choice, naming SXSW, NYFILM and Sundance as future screenings. "Dream big and love conquers all," right? 

Donate here. 

CROWDFUNDING: MAY

​Denton Juice Co. wants your cash so they can buy a pair of those pants that says "Juicy" on the rear. 

​Every once in a while, we like to take a look into the crowdfunding (sourcing money from local friends, family and invested peoples to help fund your project or idea) scene in Denton. Last month, we highlighted Bookish Coffee's campaign for a new roaster, Rabbit Hole Brewing's biergarten plans and some lady's horse movie-thing. Two of the three we discussed were funded. We'll let you figure out which won't be fully-funded by the end of it's run (hint: it's the one that doesn't involve a stimulant or depressant). Four weeks later, and we have another in a long list of projects Dentonites have in the works. Have a look through the following three Kickstarter campaigns (nothing from Indiegogo this month) and decide for yourself if one tickles your fancy. If so, hurry over to their Kickstarter page and donate. 

Top Notch Juice for Denton Juice Co. 

First up this month, we have a campaign started by Denton Juice Co. Much like Bookish Coffee last month, your favorite mobile juice bar wants to step up their machinery for larger production. They’re looking to purchase a few new-fangled juicers, a trailer to haul ‘em around in and a few odds and ends, as well. They need $10,000, altogether, and they have until June 9th to get it. We wonder if they can get a juicer that’ll keep their famed "Unicorn Blood" juice blend from staining our t-shirts, but we're not holding our breath. Pledge $200 and you get to create your own juice concoction. As little as $5 gets you their eternal gratitude. So if you’re the type that feels under-appreciated on Saturday mornings, go ahead and donate to this campaign. Then, head down to the community market every Saturday from here to the end of time to be thanked profusely by the folks behind Denton Juice Co. Eternal gratitude is no small feat. 

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REM - An Independent Feature Film 

REM is being billed as a Denton film-making super project of sorts. While at this point, we’re not sure if that’s something to shake a stick at or not, Remington Blake and the group behind REM have already garnered the attention of many fine folks (they even got district 1 city councilman, Kevin Roden, to host a fundraiser for them at his house). While the video description leaves us feeling the movie has the potential to be a little collegiate and affected, the talent involved leaves us hopeful and we know for sure that it will look pretty at the very least. REM is looking to raise $8,000 before June 4th. A pledge of $25 gets you a digital copy of the movie after it’s hopeful festival run.

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Robert Gomez - Earth Underfoot 

Having recently released an album full of adaptations of Robert Olen Butler poems about decapitated heads (2012’s Severance Songs), Gomez has once more turned to Kickstarter to fund his new record. Gomez previously ran a Kickstarter promotion in the summer of 2011 for his aforementioned Severance Songs album. The campagain was successfully funded in Denton and the album was great. This time around, he’s looking for a total of $2,100 to assure this album is “well recorded.” If Gomez is involved, we’re sure it will be. $500 nets you dinner prepared by Señor Decapito, himself, but as little as $1 gets you a, “Thank you” blurb on his website. Funding runs through June 7th.  

BOOKISH COFFEE AND DENTON CROWDFUNDING

​Rabbit Hole Brewing Glasses

We’ve spent a lot of time covering Bookish Coffee here at We Denton Do It. Back in the day, we interviewed previous owner Brian Daskam about Bookish and their late-bicycle delivery service (RIP, awesome idea). A year or two later, we also we did a behind-the-scenes video with the then-new owner, Clay Rozell, about how their beans go from green to brown and eventually end up in your cup. Bookish was busy even then, and this was before their coffee was sold at The Cupboard, Natural Grocers, Denton Square Donuts, UNT, and all of the other lovely places in town you can purchase Bookish Coffee. Clay and his cohort, Wade Matheny, are in need of a new roaster and they’ve turned to you (via Kickstarter) to help. They're looking to purchase something that can handle larger roasting sizes to help their business accomodate for their recent growth (get that checked, Wade).

​Clay Rozell of Bookish Coffee

In a city where we see lots of local business fail each and every year, it’s nice to see one that’s having problems due to their success. At this time, Bookish has a little over a week left to receive the $13,500 in pledges (down from $30,000) that they need in order to be successful. This is normally the make-it-or-break-it point for most crowdfunding projects. The people who were excited to donate have already done so and the rest of the donations will either have to come from people who are holding out to donate or have just heard about the project. Maybe you or one of your friends is one of said people. So, if you haven’t already donated, do so before next Saturday. $50 gets you a Bookish Coffee mug, too! You can put it next to your Armadillo Ale Works beer glass.

Speaking of beer, while a lot of our local brewing talking time gets devoted to our pals at Armadillo Ale Works, just down the road there’s another couple of dudes hoping to get a brewery up off the ground. In the middle of Justin, TX (yes, that Justin, TX) Matt Morriss, Tom Anderson and Laron Cheek of Rabbit Hole Brewing are trying to convert an office space and parking lot into a tasting room and biergarten, respectively. They’re started with a goal of $12,000 and have already received over $8,000 of that goal with a little over a week left. While the space might not look like much, the crew has big plans and a strangely awesome (in a b-movie kind of way) video to accompany the project. Plus, it’ll give you more to do in Justin than just buying a pair of boots or getting lost.

And lastly, on the more serious side of things, Giovanna Salas of Crazy Dreamer Productions, is looking for $7,000 to get her documentary about wild horses into the saddle. The crew has already been hard at work filming their non-biased documentary about what place wild horses (or the legends, thereof) have in a modern society, but are looking for additional funding to help with location fees, equipment rentals and festival entry fees. Sounds like this thing is getting made even if you hate horses. While there was plenty of room for Salas to make a “They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?” joke, sadly, they did not. Take that into account before you decide whether or not to donate.