CONNECTJOY FACTORY
An artist run social clubhouse in Chinatown with an itinerary of music and art events, supper clubs, movie nights, Factory Forum speaker events and wellness studio sessions. Profits fund a bespoke internship program for people who are ready to get off the streets and into employment, while receiving one on one mentorship with well matched clubhouse members. Our interns are equal members of the clubhouse, receiving all the massage and self care sessions that the paying members do but with no charge, free professional training with our employment partners, free confidence building therapy with experienced counsellors and showers prior to sessions.
Please list the organizations collaborating on this proposal.
The Cult Collective [ie. Pia Lindstrom, Founder of the Xenii parties with Rob Perry. My mentor and consultant]
Zinc Cafe DTLA
Recycled Movie Sets LA
Roo Coffee
Fig Tree Cafe Venice Beach
Lumineux Oral Essentials
Non Plus Ultra (501c3 for artists)
Discordian Design
Pizzanista
Bomme Studio
ISA ISA, DTLA florist
Boxed Water
HJK Women
Bunge Construction
NEXT Margarita
Seven Shores Management
PBR
Venice Shores Management
MyIntent
Past collaborators (but we are yet to approach about formal partnership):
Union Rescue Mission [meeting scheduled for Monday]
Waves 4 Water
Save the Children
Winston House
Mark Gonzales
213 Management
2332 Venice
Genius Loci Festival
Restless Group
Gjelina Restaurant
The Butchers Daughter Restaurant
Sachi LA
Nosotros Tequila
MVAD
House Beer
Libre Tequila
Mid Century LA
OM Digital Photo Booth
Lucent Dosier Experience
Bark Williams
MNKR
LOLA wine
HINT water
RUNA
Springboard Wine
Rock & Reilly's
PEARL'S Restaurant
Radfish Malibu
MAIA Restaurant
Katie Brown
LA Party Rentals
Blink Creative Group
Hustle & Co
WNDO art gallery
Lagunitas Beer
Bev Wine
Kassia Surf
Buero Skateboards
General Admission
Hatchet Hall
Deus Customs
Banks Journal
Bondi Harvest
Boom Town
2 Town Cider
Aqu Wellness
Briefly tell us a story that demonstrates how your organization turns inspiration into impact.
CONNECT- Our latest clubhouse model is a hugely collaborative effort which seeks to harness what everyone's good at to collectively channel it towards a grassroots and exponential impact on the current homelessness crisis in LA. With fun events, communal work space, collaboration and great people; our clubhouse proposes a new way to conduct your lifestyle, a new platform for musicians and artists to thrive and for people to improve their own purpose and quality of life while seeking to improving the lives of others.
JOY FACTORY started in 2015 as a spontaneous birthday fundraiser for former BBC news journalist and Producer, Susannah Orchard to help rehabilitate Syrian refugee families. This first birthday festival brought 250 people all paying $45 which raised $8k for Save the Children to buy enough blankets to keep 900 Syrian families warm during the winter months in Lebanon. Since then, the fundraisers have been attended by up to 600 people and featured artists such as Conrad Sewell, Turbotito, Grizfolk, DJ Goldierocks, Restavrant, Puscie Jones, Henry Pope and many more, as well as live artists, art auctions, whisky and tequila sponsors, beer and wine, Pizzanista, Myintent and Photobooths. Our latest event raised $10k after expenses for Puerto Rico.
The internship programme will provide training with our employment partners, therapy with trained professionals who have experience counseling people at this final stage of homelessness, and one on one mentorship throughout the programme with volunteers from the clubhouse. Candidates who are ready for this kind of internship will be nominated by our housing partners and will join the programme based on an assessment by our qualified counsellors. Interns who are successful in completing the programme will be supported into employment with one of our employment partners, who will have signed up for a minimum committment of hires per year.
Which of the CONNECT metrics will your submission impact?
Adults getting sufficient social & emotional support
Attendance at cultural events
Rates of volunteerism
In which areas of Los Angeles will you be directly working?
East LA
Westside
City of Los Angeles
How will your project make LA the best place to CONNECT?
Since Nov 2018, we rent a 5,000 sq ft warehouse in Chinatown where we house our stage 1 clubhouse and hold events.
How the community and organizations can get involved as we grow-
1. Sign up as an 'A-Member' to be included in the primary round of clubhouse memberships for $150 per 3 month calendar season for access to every 'Wednesdays at JOY FACTORY' event. This will include an art opening, movie night, Factory Forum talks, art closing and supper club if there's a fifth Wednesday. All events will include live music. The first 30 members to sign up will retain their primary A-membership rate for the entire year, while enjoying the more expensive X Member privileges for no extra charge, as we evolve to upgrade programming and facilities.
2. Contact us if
- you're a musician, artist or filmmaker
- if you're interested in becoming a volunteer for events or a mentor
- an artist interested in renting the Joy Factory art + therapy studio by the hour, with a 'first come first served' shared calendar and your own locker, or if you're an artist interested in volunteering as a mentor to one of our interns.
- a therapist of any kind, from masseuse to counsellor, who's interested in renting the art + therapy studio for your own clients by the hour, with a 'first come first served' shared calendar and your own locker, or interest in volunteering pro-bono hours to our interns or to our clubhouse members in exchange for cheap rent.
- you're interested in becoming a guest chef or food sponsor for one of our supper clubs.
- you're interested in becoming a drinks sponsor, if you'd like to sponsor us in-kind or monetarily as a brand
- interest in supporting us with startup funding or if you'd like to talk about investing in us
The population - We are speaking to Union Rescue Mission and have been connected to Midnight Mission, Homeboy Industries, LA Conservation Core, Electronic Waste and others who we plan to speak with next week about how we best cater for the homelessness population. We plan to serve and mentor both underprivileged teenagers and adults.
Early membership: Beginning soon with 'Wednesdays at JOY FACTORY', within the month you'll be able to enjoy an art opening, movie night, Factory Forum talks with cocktails and compelling speakers addressing possible solutions and providing research about the root of the homelessness crisis in LA. The 4th Wednesday will be the art closing, and for every month that has a 5th Wednesday, we'll have a supper club. All of these events will have a live music element and respect and support for new rising artists will be a big part of what we seek to do, giving a platform and consciously elevating everyone who performs at the clubhouse. Our full tiered membership model is below, and we'll be working towards this and increasing the itinerary and price packages of new memberships as we evolve.
In what stage of innovation is this project?
Pilot project (testing a new idea on a small scale to prove feasibility)
Please explain how you will define and measure success for your project.
The amount of interns who successfully complete the programme and graduate into lasting and fulfilling employment.