Cha Cha Cha Changes

We've changed the departure date, again!

Although it increases the probability that we will get caught in a hurricane, ourselves, we have decided to change the date of our departure to the 15th of July to accommodate for a pretty amazing contribution. We've been given an in kind donation of packing, crating and shipping by Jonathan Schwartz.

He runs an art handling and shipping bizness out of Queens, NY called
Atelier 4 . Our illustrious Kara Blossom has worked for him for 5 years and he has decided to support our efforts to get the goods ready for international shipping and arrange to truck it all down to Miami for us, all 3500 lbs of it! This is a huge contribution to the final push of phase one of our project! This is a very crucial step, one that requires diligence and experience so that all of the efforts of every single person who has helped this effort along the way can be realized. This ensures the success of moving all of our goods to the airport in Miami so that they can be air lifted to Port Au Prince on the 16th of July.

Thank You Jonathan Shwartz!!

Another shout out goes to Bryan Moore in Grand Jesture, Colorado for hosting a benefit movie screening for Domes for Haiti. He raised $370 for our project. Every bit counts as we've found many hidden costs along the way that we had not planned for. Thanks! You Be Moore.

Another special thanks goes out to Mutual Aid for Disaster Relief for donating the travel vouchers that are covering Kara and I's airline tickets. This enables us to utilize money to better support the orphanages we are going down to Haiti to serve.
The vouchers were left over from the Mutual Aid for Disaster Relief project. They were first responders, mostly street medics that went down in the first days after the quake and did some very important work. They decided collectively to donate enough to cover two plane tickets and they followed through with their commitment with the help of Olivia Katz who went way out of her way to make sure it happened. Thanks Olivia!

We are excited. The anticipation has been building for me, personally, for what seems like a very long time, all told, almost 5 months. I am so beyond happy to be gathering up some very cool gifts to bring to the kids!

We have another awesome human who has been inspiring folks over by St. Louis to donate food to bring to the kids. Anna Ieleggio found willing donors and arranged the shipping on 75lbs of organic peanut butter to Brooklyn!
She is also tracking down a sweet donation of sorghum for the kids to eat the peanut butter with. Thanks Anna! Great work. Now if Lundberg will donate a few cases of rice cakes, they;ll have something to spread that nut butter upon.

I am also looking into bringing soccer balls. At least 20! I contacted Russell Corporation today to ask for a donation. I think that would be something that the kids could truly appreciate. Having shelter is great and all, but these kids are like any kids in the world. They want to play. The World Cup has linked up people from all over the globe, each rooting for their team to win. Let's include the kids in Haiti in the fun. Who knows, maybe next time they'll have a team that will wow everyone with their skills.

Kara, David and I have been hard at work getting everything ready to go. We've been spotted eating delicious food at the new hot spot in Bushwick.
Yummus Hummus! They have a very cool new cafe on Waterbury right around the corner from 3rd Ward. Go have some of their delicious, home made food and enjoy the ambiance of their funky decor. BYOB is encouraged.They also make their own ice cream!

We made a trip to Materials for the Arts today with the help of Artistic Evolution's Serra Fels. I gathered up some really fine lightweight fabrics, a shit ton of thread, zippers and buttons to bring to Haiti to donate to some seamstresses to help support them to support themselves. Thanks Serra!
And thanks to Gaylen Hamilton for accompanying us and driving his very fancy red van on the wavy wavy roads to get us there. That place is a truly incredible resource for everyone in the community doing creative projects.

Dome Stretch

We are packing up the domes and other essentials to ship out of Miami on July 12th!

We are still accepting donations! We are shipping via air from Miami and this is rather costly. We are also trucking the shipment down to Miami from Brooklyn, so in kind donations of a rental truck would be amazing.

If you are an expert packer, we could use your help!
We need a metal banding machine to pack the shipment for international air freight.

thanks for reading!!

Translator Sought

Domes for Haiti is a Brooklyn based grass roots shelter initiative for Haitian orphans in PaP. We are sending ten geodesic domes as instant hurricane resistant shelter to ten orphanages in Port Au Prince
We are looking for a Haitian born translator to volunteer their time for this effort. The trip will be happening in the first part of July, dates are still being determined. The trip will be for two weeks. We are looking for
someone willing to camp out, get dirty and help us to communicate with the people we are going there to serve. One of our crew members does speak french, but not specifically Kreyol. There is no monetary compensation
for this adventure, but the rewards will be immense in non-monetary terms! If you are interested, we would love to have an opportunity to interview you and for you to interview us and ask any questions you may have about our trip.
All crew members(2 of us)are also volunteers. Airfare will be covered by the project. We are a 501c3 non profit working in partnership with a Haitian non profit organization located in PaP
direct all inquiries to Lopi at info@domesforhaiti.org. website: www.domesforhaiti.org

Wishes

Thanks to the kids at IgNYte for raising 600 bucks for Domes for Haiti last night at the Happy Hour on the Upper West Side!!

Domes for Haiti is building momentum for Phase Two of our project. In the next three weeks while we wait for the excellent craftspeople at Sperry Tents to make our dome covers, we are gathering goods to bring with us to gift to the kids down there. Shelter is a basic necessity of life, but there are so many other essential components to survival! These kids don't even have beds, shoes or food and water readily available. We welcome your collaboration on gathering up donated goods. Here is the list. If anyone gets inspired to call around to health food stores or kid shoe stores or art supply stores to ask for donations on our behalf, please contact me, Lopi, at info@domesforhaiti.org and I will send you the documentation they will require to legitimize your requests.......I would LOVE some HELP!
Send any and all goods to Domes for Haiti c/o 3rd Ward 195 Morgan Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11237

Wish List:

Beds, Hammocks, Shoes, Clothing, Peanut Butter, Honey, Rice Cakes, Water Filters, Buckets, Solar Panels, Art Supplies, Soccer Balls, Baseballs & Gloves, Sneakers, Notebooks, Pens, Crayons, Paint, Pillows, Bedding, Towels, Soap, Medical Supplies, First Aid Kits, LCD Projector, Laptops, Non GMO Seeds, Comic Books in French or English, Solar Powered Flashlights, Candles, Solar Showers, Camping Cook Gear and Camping Cook Stoves

below is an animated video made by JJ Hurvich of some of us building a dome frame and then taking it down.

If you would love to donate money to our efforts and want ALL of it to go to our efforts, please click on the "buy now" button to your right.

Be sure to come to the Happy Hour for Domes for Haiti this Thursday night!
For those of you who live in Manhattan, it's a hop a skip and a jump. For those of us who live in Brooklyn, It's more of a hop, skip and Leap, but I promise you, it will be well worth the extra leg power it takes to get you there. The Hudson River is a lovely place to watch the sunset.

It will be held at the Boat Basin at 79th Street and the Hudson starting at 5pm and going until later.......

Thanks to the folks at IgNYte for their fundraising work for our project!

In other news..... I have been hard at work, scouting out crew for the second phase of this project, bringing the domes to Haiti and building them! I have great news, I have my first crew member and she's a winner, folks! It's the infamous KARA BLOSSOM!!! If you dont know her, she has "built some things". This woman is talented, smart and full of vim and vigor. I am super excited to have her join the project. She has been working on the ANDES SPROUTS artist residency project in the Catskills. She was with the swimming cities of serinissima project last year in Venice, Italy. She was an intrinsic part of the building crew. She is very knowledgeable about all things built as well as a three time survivor of hurricanes. She grew up on an island off the coast of Florida, so Haiti is literally just a hop, skip and oil slick jump away for her.

The other crew member will be revealed in a couple days. She is hard at work on a farm in Northern California and I am totally excited to have her exuberant and capable energy on the team. Check back in a couple days for her unveiling!!

SPECIAL SHOUT OUT!!
To Be Moore in Colorado! He is hosting a screening of Poto Mitan: Women Pillars of Haiti thanks to Renee Renata
and the Yes Men fix the World as a benefit for Domes for Haiti!
If you live in Colorado, some town called Grand Function or Junction or Junction Function or something or other. It's a great town, they have cool graffiti in on at least one wall. don't ask me how I know that. :}

Another Fund Raiser for Domes For Haiti
is being produced by the group IgNYte People

It's Happening on:
Thursday June 17th at the Boat Basin
79th and West Side Highway-right on the Hudson!!!!
5pm until later......
Happy Hour for Domes For Haiti !

there will be raffle prizes and cheap drinks!

I will be there with my crew, we'll have tee shirts, scarves and patches with handmade silkscreen designs from Buckminster Fuller's drawings available for your purchase.

We have a fund raising goal of $5K to complete our budget.
We will be raising money to pay for airfare, lodging and food for three crew members including myself. We are also raising money to bring money into Haiti to hire local workers. We will be hiring a translator, truck driver and some day laborers to prep sites for domes.

Please come out and if you can't, feel free to donate via our paypal! We just need a little more cash to get us into the second phase of the operation on the ground in Haiti.

next step

We're still catching our breath from the huge amazing benefit event we had on Saturday. We will have more photos soon, stay tuned. ...

What is the next step for Domes for Haiti?

I had located a manufacturer to fabricate the dome covers in California. However, I thought I ought to make one more last attempt to find an east coast alternative and I did. Sperry Tents in Rochester, Massachusetts. I called up Matt after following a lead from a facebook photo I saw of a beautiful circus style tent being set up in Haiti. See, some good does come from Facebook.
Under the photo, which I think I saw on Grassroots United fan page, it said "tent donated by Nantucket Tents." So, of course I called up Nantucket Tents. and they sent me to their manufacturer who is also a sail maker.

Matt was immediately receptive to the project and excited to be a part of it. He matched the price of the manufacturer on the west coast, so I said yes. Cutting out all of those extra shipping charges is going to save us a couple grand. I am having one of the frames sent to Matt today via UPS.

The other problem we had to solve was what kind of fabric to use. I settled on a Dacron fabric, polyester and cotton blend that looks and feels like natural canvas but is more waterproof and longer lasting. It's called Starfire. I had been counting on saving some money on the job by using donated fabric, but the donation I had was of PVC Vinyl and I decided to nix the vinyl domes. Not only is the fabric toxic in its production, but also in it's inert state as well as if it catches fire it releases arsenic. Not good.
So I am spending a little money on the fabric to get something really nice and breathable that wont kill any ecosystems or people in the process.

I ordered it yesterday, it will be shipped to Matt today so he can get to work on Monday fabricating the dome covers. He said to give him three weeks from when he starts it, so we are looking at June 28....

He is giving us a great price on the job and I have faith that he will make a beautiful dome cover. The domes are going to be terra cotta and khaki colored. I thought that would blend in better with the landscape.

Check out Matt's two web pages: Sperry Sails Sperry Tents

Although we raised alot of money at the benefit on Saturday, we actually could use more money. I am going to work on the budget in the next few days to see where the hidden costs are that I failed to factor into the original budget. As I find out more details about actual shipping costs and how much to hire a translator, for example, the cost of the entire project is shifted. The budget I had made before was bare bones, just to get the domes made and did not account for airfare, fabric or paying staff. I was planning on going to Haiti alone and hiring locals down there to assist, but I have come to realize that I really need a team of at least two people to come with me. These people need to be friends that I already know and trust who have a very similar outlook as I have. I can't really expect people to pay their own way, so I have to at least offer to cover their airfare and food and lodging in Haiti. I will be adjusting the budget to reflect the entire cost of the second phase of the project.

We have another benefit for Domes for Haiti coming up on the 17th of June. This group Ignyte People is hosting it. Hopefully, with their help, we will complete our entire fundraising effort. I will report back in a couple of days to show how much more we actually need. I will say that when our projected goals are matched, we can always use more funding to support further efforts as well as to support partner organizations such as Grassroots United

I am continuing my search for a free shipping alternative out of Miami in the next few weeks as Matt is fabricating the domes.
I will also be gathering up tools, fabrics and hardware to bring to Haiti with me.
If anyone has any tools they'd like to donate, please contact me at info@domesforhaiti.org

I will be heading to Haiti a week before the domes are expected to arrive, to scout out possible locations for the domes to be set up. Sam, from Grassroots, will show me a few potential sites and I will make a decision based on my heart as to where they ought to go.

I have refrained from making any solid commitments as to recipients of the domes because to do so through the internet is problematic. First and foremost, I believe that the people I would like to assist probably dont have internet access. Secondly, there is so much desperation and need down there that one could easily fall prey to scams of one sort or another. The best approach and the one I've settled on is to rely on the local contacts of an experienced organization that has been there for a long time and knows whats up.

It is my intention to house kids with these domes. There are a few potential sites that I will be checking out once I arrive in Haiti. I also did not want to make any promises I could not deliver on. Until I am in Port Au Prince, with my domes safely through customs, will I know that I have succeeded in bringing ten domes to Haiti. There are just too many potential pits to fall into to make promises until I've run the gauntlet and won.

I am getting damn close to winning is all I can say at this point!

Thanks to everyone who has contributed to this effort along the way, we could not have done it without every single person's contribution!!

A random collection of images from the last week.......
the build up to the event mixed in with some shots from the event.


Joe: Mac Catty

We built out 3 main 17ft domes with three different themes. Waterfall, Storm & Home.
Smaller installations included a campfire, Ballroom Dress, Play, Bedouin and a shack.

Waterfall Dome

Water fall: Arielle Bier

Storm Dome

Storm: Olivia Katz + Brett Hurley Lord

Home Dome:

Home: Lopi LaRoe

Billz Billz Billz Dome

Anna Ialeggio + Lopi LaRoe

Anna

Campfire

Lopi, Ryan O'Connor + David Siegel





Ryan Celery O'Connor as Beezelbub



Pelican in the Oil by Anya Sapozhnikova

Joe G

Thanks to everyone who contributed to this effort.
Stay tuned for exciting adventures to come!

Danger Party

Our Event last night was a huge success with 1000 + people in attendance.

The installation came out amazing, we finished it all in time with a modicum of stress and everyone there had a great time, enjoying everything from Haitian Dance to swinging on a swing made out of a giant ball of shredded paper inside a mini dome covered with ballgowns

Thanks to the generous support of the entire community, we were able to raise over $20.000 in one glorious night of art. music and performance.

Special thanks to Will Etundi, the Danger, Jason Goodman & 3rd Ward

We could not have done it without the amazing energy of the build crew:

Arielle Bier, Olivia Katz, Lopi LaRoe, Brett Hurley Lord, David Seigel, Anna Ialeggio, Jackie, KT and Ryan O'Connor.

The event ran smoothly thanks to the experienced crew who ran the bar, the door and the music all who generously donated their time to the benefit. Kevin Baltick, Jeff Stark and Taylor Kuffner, thanks so much!

Special shout out to Dan Glass for the 626 Roving Sangria Pump proceeds.

Thanks to the girls in the Band of Bicycles Amperstand who served up delicious bike blended drinks all night! We Amperstand you!

Thanks to the DJ's for playing. Thanks to the performers who made time in their busy weekend schedules to play, dance, climb in the name of raising money for shelter for Haiti.

Shout out to Anya Spanakopita for her portrayal of a pelican stuck in an oil well.

Check back tomorrow for photos! We have a big week ahead, things are going to be moving quickly now.

Thank you to all who have helped this project along the way, every single act of participation contributed to a greater whole which has now launched this project into it's second phase of operation: HAITI.

Benefit For Domes For Haiti

This Saturday you are invited to: Beauty + Ruin

a benefit for Domes For Haiti

Arrive after 9pm, stay until sunrise...
Details and Map: http://www.thedanger.com/

This weekend you will find yourself in the aftermath. Two-dozen artists have built a landscape of beauty and ruin within large geodesic domes, ragged tents and hidden lounges. It starts with an intimate conversation in the corner of an army-tent turned Bedouin hide-away, continues on the dance-floor pressed against the bouncing crowd and Brooklyn's brashest march bands, then finishes with a drink, a whisper and the sunrise slipping through windows. This event is about building the best we can out of the little we have.

The Music:

Mikerline Afro-Haitian Dance + Drum Troupe : The feverish intensity of their performance is built on the deep cultural history of Haiti and the legends born from it.

The Rude Mechanical Orchestra : Mix a slew of drums with a bunch of brass then toss in a fire-cracker and you have the sound and movement of the Rude Mechanical Orchestra.

The Hungry March Band : This is one of New York City's legendary march bands. For a decade they've played the streets, warehouses and concert halls of our town and toured the world several times over. Their sweaty, classic sound captures the soul of this city in all its beauty and ruin.

dj Kiva : One of the kings of The Dub Stop, he will be bringing his patented stutta-step sound that brings together the best of hip-hop to jump-up in a way that is guaranteed to move you.

Cumba Mela : A dj trio that explores the boundless world of global bass music from tribal house to Balkan brass to electro and deeper...

Junglez : Explores the deep side of dubstep and the science of broken beats.

The Stellar Chic Duo : Arrive early to experience the experimental live composition mashing exotica with space age lounge in a new performance that must be heard.

dj Zemi 17 : The late night crowd favorite brings in the sunrise with intimate techno and his self-branded space hause. For the past few years Zemi has been the resident dj at TheDanger events. Too many times we have planned on going home just after 7am but the sound of Zemi 17 and the energy of the crowd wouldn't let it happen. But then, the dance floor at 9:19am is Brooklyn at it's best.

Plus mischief, fire and overhead performance by Anya Sapozhnikova, Brett Hurley Lord, Tajna Tanovic, Kae Burke and the 626 Roving Sangria Pump (wait for it...)

The Beauty + Ruin:

Explore five geodesic domes built into living art installations themed: Waterfall, Storm, Play, Home and Survive. Each will be a world unto itself with light and fire, water and magic. Smaller installations will complete the articulation of ruin across the 13,000sqft. expanse of this deep Brooklyn loft. Lopi LaRoe, Arielle Bier, Olivia Katz, Anna Ialeggio, David Siegel, Ryan O'Connor, Deb Yoon, the House of Collections, William Jackson Etundi Jr., Lord, Jordan, Mark Krawczuk, Band of Bicycles and many more... Also, Swoon, Tod Seelie and Ben Wolf are putting together a show of stand-out art sold to benefit their Haiti Shelter project: konbitshelter.org.

Drinks will be cheap, the night will be full and the fire will be real...

All this and more at:
195 Morgan Ave.
East Williamsburg / Bushwick Brooklyn
3rd Ward Brooklyn has graciously put off construction on their new second floor art spaces in order to host this fundraising event. 3rd Ward is full of heroes.

Take the L train to Morgan Ave. and walk North.

$15 before 11:30pm : $20 after : Strictly 21+

Map & Details: http://www.thedanger.com/

Dress in your best rag-tag formal wear. Pull out that dusty ill-fitting tuxedo or the prom dress you burned to erase the memory then saved because even burned memories are better than nothing at all. And don't forget the flower in your lapel.

Every once in a while a cause comes along that pulls out the best in people. The devastation being experienced by the Haitian people after the earthquake is not resolved or over. A local artist has taken it upon herself to bring hurricane resistant, semi permanent shelter to Haiti for 100 kids this year. A gift from Brooklyn to Haiti. For more information on the project this party is benefiting see: http://www.domesforhaiti.org/ for inquiries about how you can help this effort please contact Lopi at info@domesforhaiti.org

For more information on why the need is still so urgent see:
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2010/06/qa-haitis-rebuilding-challenges.html

--
"Real Wealth is Ideas Plus Energy." Buckminster Fuller

http://domesforhaiti.blogspot.com/
www.domesforhaiti.org

a little more poetical description for your reading pleasure:

The aftermath of disaster, where nature has had the upper hand and thrown the "normal" world upside down. where the impossible comes true. Ordinary household objects find themselves mid air, sofas have their springs exposed, extremely heavy objects are wedged in unlikely balance, machines are having dialogues with themselves about machine thoughts, dysfunctionally spinning tales no one hears, logs, rocks, dirt are mixed with books, pots and pans, random shoes, hats, clothing finds their way into tree tops, wall paper is peeling, bark is imbeded into a computer screen, random chaos starts to make a crazy sort of sense. feel the preciousness of life and the ridiculousness of clinging to material possessions. Observe the wisdom of the natural world and it's ability to reclaim every man made object.