An anonymous donor (whose idea this was) selected 5 proposals which have been funded at $10 each. Winning proposals below:

_________________________________________________

 

Monessa Bacon

With my $10 nanogrant, I will turn the bill into 1,000 pennies at the bank. Soak them in a bowl of vinegar and salt then scrub each one with an old toothbrush. Afterwards, I will take a simple dress and attach the pennies carefully onto every part of the material. My new persona as I wear the dress will be “Penny.” On auction to the highest bidder: the opportunity to make an incredible life-changing wish as they toss me into a water fountain. I will give the money to a person in real need in this community.

_________________________________________________

 

Mauricio M. Chavez

We all currently live in a world that operates day to day off our environment.  However, I feel that most have lost touch with how we obtain our food in this country.  Anyone who has ever harvested food from the ground by hand can truly know the appreciation of what our plant can give us if we put in a helping hand.  Therefore, if I had $10 I would purchase various seeds of trees and organic plants.  Planting them around various places, I would leave a new spring of nature and a possible of food for many.  The amount of food and nourishment you can obtain from plants is quite astonishing.  These plants would be able to feed people and add to the motion of nature itself, therefore promoting continual living.  In addition to plants you can harvest, I would include the planting of trees such as cottonwoods in a large given area.  Dozens of trees planted in a dense arrangement would maintain a great attraction and addition to the environment.  The greatest thing one could give nature at this point is nature itself.  The amount of resources that are extracted from our environment is incredible and much as needed to make an impact.  We can make our surroundings beautiful, we can put forth the effort to help others grow, and we can make a difference in this world.

_________________________________________________

 

Nova Cynthia Barker

Laundry: Public Interaction Performance Art 

 I will go the Solana Laundry Mat do a couple of loads of laundry and talk to all the people I meet about how I am doing this Public Performance Art about doing Laundry and talking with people about Public Art, Money and Economy, how they interconnect and how I got this Nanogrant to do this Public Performance Art where doing laundry and sharing ideas becomes art. I will publish the responses and comments on my social media sites: FB Art Page, Arts Blog, Linkedin and on my Twitter and Tumbler Feeds. I think this will be a fun way to get a conversation going about what public art can be and how people can participate in the process. 

 

_________________________________________________

 

Allan Stone

Changing the world is a very broad and difficult task. The possibility of things that I would change is infinite. If I was given $10 to change the world, the first thing I would ask myself is how would I change the world in a way that is beneficial to people as a whole. There is an on going issue that seems to be occurring again and again in different cities across the country. This is the issue of police officers shooting black males without just penalties, causing the perception that they are able to get away with it.

 

Being that I identify as a black male in this country, it not only brings fear to myself but to my younger siblings. With this $10 that I would have to change the world, I would create a poster of an image. The image is a mechanical scale. This scale has two bricks, one on each side. One brick is white and the other brick is black. The bricks are the same size, same shape, and same material. Basically, everything about them is the same except for the color. The image of the scale shows that the darker brick appears to weigh less. The only word that is on the image is the word “life” engraved into each brick.

 

 With the $10, I would use it to print as many copies of this poster image as possible. I would then place it on as many establishments within the city and hope that the image would eventually be shared worldwide. The purpose of this image would be to bring awareness to current race relations in this country and cause people to see the reality of black men’s perceptions of their self worth within our country. I believe that this would garner a reaction from people and slowly change the mentality of our country, and ultimately begin to change the mentality of individuals within our world. 

 

_________________________________________________

 

Lauren Camp

Using a random GoogleMaps search of the city of Santa Fe (that includes the number 10), I will generate 3 locations. At each of these three street addresses, I will post one of my poems (packed in a cellophane envelope for weather craziness) on themes of New Mexico: land, rain, stillness, desert.  The hope is that whoever comes upon the poems, posted on street signs or trees, will take a moment to stretch into the secret beauty of Santa Fe, and forget the narrower view of the day-to-day grind.