Huge thank you for the amazing turnout we had over the weekend! For those who missed it, CCMedia did a little bit on us. Thank you so much to all those working hard at CCMedia to raise the voices of our community!
I’m honestly still trying to process everything. More than anything I feel grateful. We’ve had an outpouring of love, encouragement, and requests for volunteers. We’re still getting a lot of things dialed in, so please keep watching the socials for more info. This is currently ran 100% by volunteers, myself included, and we’re working hard and intentionally to build a safer and sober space where everyone who comes here will feel a sense of belonging. Those of us building Radness Ensues spent almost a year working with Center For Non-Profit Law to get the paperwork right and we’re slowly building our offerings to the public, which includes our volunteer vetting process. If you would like to volunteer, we love working with youth and educators and ask you to have a recent background ready (something within’ the last 2 years with a reputable agency known for working with youth) and reach out to me at becka@radnessesnues.org.
Here are some of the current regular happenings going on:
Every Thursday night, starting August 1st, we have YOUTH FIRST Open Mic…the focus is giving everyone who is under the age of 21 the opportunity to perform. It’s not that adults can’t participate, but the youth will be able to jump ahead of you and there’s a strong chance you won’t be able to perform once the word gets out.
This runs from 6pm-9pm, and the sign up list goes out at 5pm.
Sunday’s are dedicated to music. Thank to a generous donation in Honor of Kirk A. Taylor, our board members, and Uptown Music, we have a variety of instruments to share with everyone. The first part of our day, we encourage you to Make Sum Noiz from 11am-4pm. We have piles of music instruments to choose from and get your hands on. You’re also allowed to bring items from home and we encourage musicians of all levels to join us, especially those who’ve never touched an instrument before.
We also have an instrument building station with an ever growing pile of parts and broken instruments, where you can build an instrument from your own imagination.
We start to wrap things up at 4pm, to welcome a few bands on stage for our mini concert, where bands perform on a mixed bill (meaning a variety of different styles of music could be present). The Sunday mini concerts go from 6pm-9pm. Please bring headphones for the littles. We bring in a wide variety of musical styles and no matter what the style, loud is loud and tiny ears should have extra protection, especially.
On 2nd and 4th Mondays from 7-8:30pm, we host a science based grief group, where we read together, journal together, and learn how to hold space for each other. We ask that only those interested in participating attend these meetings, as healing is a very personal journey and grief is already a difficult subject. For those who cannot afford the book, we do offer copies here at the location. You will need a journal and a copy of the book to participate. We also offer the meeting on zoom, please reach out to Becka if you would like to attend the meeting on zoom becka@radnessensues.org
Here’s a link to buy the book: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/unfuck-your-grief-faith-g-harper/1140045146?ean=9781621062042
We have a free art station available during our public open hours. It is filled with donated art supplies from community members and we are always accepting more donations.
We are preparing to launch our dinosaur/prehistoric themed gift shop, and we have a self-serve coffee station that we are raising funds to turn into a coffee kiosk to help fund the non-profit and add more value to the youth internship program that we are currently developing.
The Becka Makes Buttons – Button Shoppe also lives here and pays rent to Radness Ensues to help keep us open. Regular hours for that is Wednesday-Saturday from 11am-6pm, but you can pick up your orders any time we’re open. If I’m around, I’ll probably make buttons with you.
The Button Shoppe is also open for some special hours from 12-5pm Monday’s and Tuesday’s through August 20th, as we are happy to host a couple of youth interns from Garten Services, and they work Monday-Thursday. So if you’d like to give a youth an opportunity to exercise their customer service skills, please take advantage of these days while they work through their summer programming.
We’re currently open 7 days a week, so swing on by if you’d like to stop in and make something or just hang out and make some new friends. We’re still working on our community mural, so if you’re itching to paint a wall, we’re happy to have you add your own special touch to the wall.
We have lots more to say, but it’s more fun if you just come down and check it out for yourself!
One last thank you (for this Blog) goes out to the KeizerTimes for putting us on the front page! Thank you so much!
In love and Buttons,
Becka
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