Monday, February 23, 2015

Engage: Free Live Education in the Arts

Engage is a European-based business that "has been developed to help people follow their passion and offers classes in the areas of photography, videography, cinematography, art, design, music, crafts and business. These workshops are free to watch live via the Engage website with the option to purchase a download of the course if missed or if people would like to view again."

Here's their Kickstarter url: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/engagelive/engage-free-live-education-for-creative-entreprene

Their Kickstarter ends on March 20, 2015 and they are a little over halfway to their goal. (Their website is www.engagelive.co)

Donal Doherty is the founder of Engage. He "comes from a background in marketing and PR before changing career five years ago to become a photographer. When developing his business he listened to the experts and they have helped him to create a market leading photography studio. While he loved watching live workshops it was difficult to participate due to the time difference and sometimes the content shared was not 100% relevant to his business. Donal knew that some of the best trainers he'd heard from are based in Europe and wished there was a world-wide resource that blended their ideas and strategies with those of their US counterparts. So two years ago he began working to bring those experts together to help people to succeed in their creative businesses."

“We will offer thousands of people around the world a chance to learn from leading educators for free and to interact and shape the learning experience live. People can also apply to be in the in-person studio audience and we’ll have both delegates and trainers flying in from around the world for the courses. To an extent this all rests on the success of our Kickstarter campaign which we hope will fund 16 courses in 2015, with the plan to offer a course each week in 2016. Not only will this help us to create employment in the local economy, but we’re hoping to be part of the sea change of native digital companies accessing global markets.”

They have lots of instructors lined up for videos in the future once they receive funding:

Kevin Mullins
Sasha De Paz
Andrew Appleton
Melissa Love
Mark Seymour
Tracy Willis
Gerry Coe
Glenn Norwood
Levi & Shayna of Harder+Wiggins, USA

So check them out.

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

YaYtags - luggage tags

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1666587351/yaytag-trendy-id-tags-for-luggage-or-anything-you is the link for YayTags - "Trendy ID tags for luggage or anything you like!"

They've got some fund designs on their luggage tags, and I've never seen customized luggage tags like this before so I think if you're a traveler you'll love 'em.

School kids will love them to - they don't need to be used for luggage tags - they can be tied onto anything!

The campaign is running until March 7, 2015, and they're about a fourth of the way toward their goal of $3,000.

The founder of this campaign immigrated to the US from Cambodia and part of the proceeds of her business go to help people in that country:

My name is Sunchea Phou and I am an entrepreneur and philanthropist. YaYwallet was first created out of my frustration in finding a fun slim wallet and part to generate income for my foundation Year Zero. Year Zero Foundation supports children in my homeland of Cambodia. The launch of my first product YaYwallet was well received and led to the birth of my company YaY Novelty. YaYtag is my newest creation.

Check out her campaign, and if you like the designs, back the campaign.

She has already got YayWallets for sale, check them out at her websites:

yaynovelty.com

yearzerofoundation.org