Make.Shift invites you to participate in our first full day of human powered holiday joy. By hopping on one of our Power Wheel bike generators this December 10 and 11, you’ll be among the few people in the world to light up a Christmas tree with nothing but sweat and festive cheer!

Beginning at 10 am at the Farmer’s Market in Depot Market Square, we’ll be cranking the generators for a full 24 hours until 10 am Sunday, December 11.

Riders will be going on an hour-long stationary riding tour of the square, with live entertainment, tasty refreshments, and of course – the fruit of their labors – A MAGNIFICENT HUMAN POWERED CHRISTMAS TREE LIGHTING THEIR JOURNEY THROUGH THE NIGHT.

Riders pay a $10 entrance fee, and are encouraged to solicit sponsorship from employers, friends and relatives. Prizes will be awarded to the rider who brings in the most dough! Through these donations, our community will be doing its part to help support local, independent artists and musicians and the incredible things they do.

We only have two bikes, which means spots are limited! Go to the link below to sign up today:

http://signupgenius.com/go/cyclotron

SUPAH GOLD SPONSORS:

SAG WAGON CREW:

Moka Joe’s Coffee
Black Drop Coffee House
The Bagelry
Flax4life
Coconut Kenny’s
La Fiamma
Boundary Bay Brewery
Community Food Coop
Megan Flaherty
Paul Robbins

And of course we couldn’t do any of this without a Christmas tree! Big ups to Bellingham Pawn for donating the tree.

Related show

• Artist: Cyclotron: 24 Hours of Human Powered Christmas!
• Date: Saturday, December 10th 2011
• Time: 10:00am
• City: Cyclotron: 24 Hours of Human Powered Christmas! in Bellingham
• Venue: Depot Market Square
• Address: Railroad & Chestnut
• Country: United States
• Admission: $10
• Notes: Christmas trees need lights, and lights need power. Where does the power come from? This Winter, THE POWER COMES FROM YOU!
  

  Sign up here! http://signupgenius.com/go/cyclotron

  Read all about the Cyclotron here:

• Add to Google Calendar | Download iCal

Make.Shift is happy to announce that Jinx Art Space will now have open office hours from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays – Fridays.

Come take a look at the gallery, peruse our zine library, or check out one of our open studios for rent!

Jinx Art Space Grand Reopening:
Make.Shift Finally Finds a Home!

WHAT: Jinx Grand Reopening & October Art Walk
WHEN: 6 p.m.-12 a.m. Friday Oct. 7
WHERE: Jinx, 306 Flora Street

Make.Shift is happy to announce the grand reopening of Jinx Art Space on Friday October 7. The local nonprofit, which bought the business and took over the building’s lease in July, has worked tirelessly to update and rework the space’s basement. Make.Shift has kept artists in place who are already renting studio space, while devoting more room to affordable music studios where bands can practice without fear of noise complaints.

“We’re excited to provide more infrastructure for artists and musicians, while retaining the character of the old Jinx,” said Cat Sieh, Make.Shift Director.

Sieh said the space will function much as it did before, with some additions and changes. The upstairs space will remain a gallery, and Jinx will still participate in regular Art Walks. Live music will still be held downstairs, and Make.Shift will also make the downstairs space available during weekdays for special events rentals such as fundraisers and event receptions.

The grand reopening will include Art Walk gallery reception “The Black Forest: Fear and Nature,” a group show featuring more than a dozen local artists including Aaron Brick and Kelly Hoekema.

Downstairs artists will open their studios to the public as usual, offering everything from paintings to handmade Halloween costumes! The Bellingham Circus Guild will be there with their usual fiery antics, in addition to a vaudeville act, and live music by Bar Tabac.

Come say hello and see the new Jinx. We’ve missed you!

Jinx Art Space is owned and operated by local artists and business owners Michelle Schutte and Django Bohren, and located at 306 Flora Street. Jinx is an artist collective in the heart of the Bellingham Arts District. The art and music venue has become a nexus for local artists and musicians since opening nearly three years ago when it quickly filled an important void in the Bellingham music and arts scene. The space has provided 14 work studios for visual artists and 3 practice spaces for artists and musicians with a broad spectrum of experience, a gallery to showcase monthly art shows, and an all-ages music venue for over 100 shows and around 300 bands in the last few years. Since opening, Jinx has received the Mayor’s Arts Award (nominated by the Bellingham Arts Commission), as well as Best Gallery from the Cascadia Weekly and an Appreciation Award from What’s Up Magazine for support of the arts.

Make.Shift is a Bellingham-based nonprofit established in 2008 that supports independent musicians through innovative and environmentally friendly programs. With programs such as bicycle-powered generators (used to power amplified music), and the Magic Van (available to local bands for touring throughout the PNW), Make.Shift has worked steadily towards their goal of supporting musicians while keeping the environment in mind. For some time, the non-profit has searched for a physical home from which to base these operations as well as provide additional arts and music resources to the community. The plan for a new space to provide affordable band practice space, a community silkscreening studio, a local art gallery, and a resource library, in addition to other prospective ideas such as a rentable darkroom, has been forming since the non-profit first worked towards a prospective lease agreement for a different address. Volunteers were forced to continue their search for a commercial space in downtown Bellingham when those negotiations fell through in February.

“We had checked out virtually any vacant space on the market that even vaguely resembled what we were looking for.” (Make.Shift Director Cat Sieh)

After hearing for several months of the non-profit’s struggle to find a space, Michelle Schutte contacted Cat Sieh and made a proposal. The resulting agreement means that Make.Shift will absorb the existing Jinx space, while expanding the business to incorporate the new projects and programs.

“Owning Jinx has been an extraordinary experience, but recently we have found ourselves wishing for more time and energy to devote to the project. We hadn’t even considered selling Jinx before I had a sort of epiphany. I realized that Make.Shift was looking for a space to do much of the same thing we’ve been doing at Jinx for years, but on a bigger scale, and that handing the business over to them may be the perfect solution to both of our problems.” (Jinx Co-founder Michelle Schutte)

“Jinx has earned a deep respect in our music and arts communities. We want to keep the programs that have made Jinx such a unique place, and to expand to create even more opportunities for artists and musicians.”
 (Make.Shift Director Cat Sieh)

The group plans to devote additional studio space for musicians, while encouraging current tenants to keep their studios. Schutte said she is confident that Make.Shift will work to retain the character of the space, and continue to provide a home for her current tenants.

“Jinx has a personality of its own in our community and selling it means handing over not only the physical space, but also all of our artists, renters, and supporters. The real value of our business can be found in our people. It’s a special situation, and I trust that Make.Shift understands that. I know that they will take what we’ve created, add their own ideas, energy, and volunteer-power, and make it even better.” (Jinx Co-founder Michelle Schutte)

At this point, Jinx and Make.Shift management hope to include Whatcom All-ages Arts and Music (WhAAM!) in the new space, but final arrangements to combine efforts have been put on hold pending negotiations.

“Jinx, Make.Shift, and WhAAM! have each operated separately for years, and the best case scenario will find us all in the same building. I’m certain that collecting all three organizations under one roof will create a force to be reckoned with. I’m just really excited to see what happens next.”

Schutte will continue to run the space through June 30, when Make.Shift will take over operations. The space will reopen with few changes in August. Make.Shift staff will work with Schutte and the existing tenants to create as few disruptions as possible during the transition process. Make.Shift will retain and incorporate the name Jinx Art Space.”>more

This comes as a surprise to us as much as it does to our donors and the broader Bellingham community. Make.Shift and WhAAM staff worked tirelessly to make 111 Unity our home, and were given only a brief emailed statement as to why negotiations were terminated, noting that building owners lacked the time to rent out the building.

We want to assure our donors that the funds earmarked for our music hub will still go toward this wonderful new space as soon as we find an appropriate building. We’re back on the hunt, and we’re optimistic!

WANT TO HELP? We’re looking for a 2,000-4,000 square foot space within or close to the downtown entertainment district. Let us know if you have ideas!

Feel free to contact us with any questions you may have regarding the project: www.makeshiftproject.com

Whatcom All-Ages Arts & Music and Make.Shift are hoping to create an all-ages music hub in their new space at 111 Unity St., and though their fundraiser was a success, they’re still looking for donations of materials.

The groups created an online fundraiser with the goal of raising $8,500 by Jan. 15. In the month and a half that the fundraiser was open, the groups raised about $3,500 more than their goal. The money will go toward creating an all-ages concert space, affordable band practice space, a resource library and more.

More…

SINCE IT’S A new year, and, in 2011, I’ve yet to mention how you can directly, positively affect all-ages music here in town. While there are several ways you can go about achieving this end, probably the most visible—and pressing— at this point, is by donating to the ongoing WhAAM/Make.Shift Kickstarter campaign. As I’ve previously said, the goal of this particular pledge drive is to reach $8,500, which will go toward renovating and retooling the downtown
space the two nonprofits will soon be sharing. Specifically, it means they’ll be able to transform an old auto shop into a music venue/practice spaces/resource library/office spaces/etc. It will truly be a multipurpose, all-ages space, in the very best sense of what those terms can mean.
However, the need for donations is immediate, as the deadline to reach the pledge goal is rapidly approaching—the cutoff is Jan. 16—and, as of press time, the current amount promised is still about $1,000 shy of where it needs to be. It’s probably worth reminding everyone that, in the Kickstarter world, the only way WhAAM and Make.Shift can collect the funds is if every penny of the goal amount is pledged.

…more on p. 18

Bellingham-based Saturna Capital employees recently donated $107,000 to 37 nonprofit organizations as part of the company’s holiday season Charitable Giving Program.

For 2010, the company changed its holiday donation program, offering employees a chance to direct a charitable donation equal to the amount of their holiday bonus to one nonprofit organization. Employees who chose to forgo a bonus were able to increase their donation by three-and-a-half times.

Since 2008, company employees have directed $284,000 in donations.

Organizations receiving the largest donations during 2010 include: St. Paul’s Academy ($7,000), the Bellingham Food Bank ($5,500), Make.Shift ($4,500), Mt. Baker Scout Foundation ($4,500), Peaceful Communications ($4,500), and UPLIFT Charity ($4,500).

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