On July 24, 2010 Bucketworks will be hosting the very first Walker's Point Traveling Arts Festival! We're really excited about this and are thus putting out a call for artists, sponsors, and volunteers.

Artists! This is an opportunity to display and sell your work!

Musicians! We'd love to have you play!

Dancers! Come dance for us!

Sponsors! We are looking for sponsoring partners to provide things like children's entertainment.

Volunteers! Help us spread the word, setup, and take down.

Interested? Call Jenn Turner at 414-305-1324

Bucketworks Core Members, GroupCard announces their acquisition -

"We’re excited to announce that GroupCard has been acquired by InComm.  Helping people come together to give their friends and family a meaningful gift has always been an important part of GroupCard. We created GroupCard with the basic principle that social expression and group gifting would be a major growth driver for the online prepaid business. Teaming with InComm will help us achieve an even broader social payments strategy in partnership with the leading product brands and retailers worldwide."

Read the TechCrunch article

We're very excited for and proud of the GroupCard guys! Congratulations! GroupCard got their start as an online greeting card company, which developed into a pioneering Facebook App, they're a two time winner of the prestigious fbFund program, and were invited last summer to participate in the fbFund REV incubator program at the Facebook offices in Palo Alto. They also recently launched a socially enabled gifting program through Facebook.

From Bob Ralian "We love working in Milwaukee, and love the co-working environment at Bucketworks. It's a supportive environment that we believe has been a key part of our success."

April events calendar at Bucketworks - all events hosted at new location - 706 South 5th St. in Walker's Point just south of downtown unless otherwise indicated. If you haven't had a chance to see the new space - here's a list of opportunities to do so! To view our full calendar visit: http://bucketworks.org/calendar.

There are a number of dining options in our new neighborhood so be sure to check out La Fuente, La Perla, Botanas, National Eats (great vegetarian options there), or The Iron Horse Hotel's sophisticated Smyth, Branded, and open soon - The Yard.

 We're back for a second great unconference-style event: StartupAccelerator 2!

Last year's event brought together 100 people to share their experience and skills in starting up a business, program, or social enterprise. Not like a regular conference where you sit-and-get, this event is one you create with your fellow attendees. You propose the sessions. You participate in the conversation. You build your network! Bring your startup idea, concept, or business, and get ready to learn tools and techniques with your peers--and share what you've learned.

Where:

Center for Advanced Technology and Innovation
2320 Renaissance Blvd
Sturtevant, WI 53177

Click here for Google Map

When:

Saturday, March 13

10am - 6pm

How to Prepare:

Bring a food donation--we are donating the food we receive to the Racine County Food Bank

Prepare a 5-10 word intro: First name, Last name, What you are starting, What you want to learn, What you are offering
Prepare a presentation-- you can share on any topic related to starting a business, program, or social enterprise. (See notes for presenters below)

Come at the start--that's the best time to participate in the kickoff ceremonies. Registration is simple, so arrive at 10am. We'll have coffee and food for you to snack on before we start the event.

For Presenters:

Remember the Law of Two Feet: "If you are not getting or giving value where you are, then use your two feet to go somewhere else." This is what makes the unconference experience so great. No one needs to spend any time participating without learning, networking, or being involved. This law also makes it challenging for presenters. People might get up and leave in the middle of your conversation. Sometimes that leads to bringing back more people! Here are some Do's and Don'ts for presenters:

Don't 'show up and throw up.' Canned slideshows of sales pitches with bullet points will lead to losing your audience.
Do engage in conversation. Your fellow participants might know more than you do about your topic. Invite them to share.
Don't get upset when people leave. Just let them go. They might come back!

Do partner up with other presenters if your topic is similar to theirs. (Check the List to see what's currently being planned, and the Prezi of StartupAccelerator 1 to see the agenda from our first event.)

We look forward to seeing you there!

If you haven't already, please be sure to register on our site:

The StartupAccelerator Team-
Bucketworks, BizStartsMilwaukee, and The CATI

On a sunny Valentine's Day Sunday, Bucketworks volunteer Ron Bean, 5 young people, 2 board members, and other volunteers (including myself) moved ArtWorks for Milwaukee into the new Bucketworks space.

We'd like to give them a warm Bucketworks welcome!

ArtWorks's mission and goals are aligned with our own: "To prepare underserved teens to enter Milwaukee’s workforce by utilizing the arts as a method to teach employability skills."

We are proud to become partners in our new space.

On Sunday, February 14th ArtWorks for Milwaukee will be making their home at the new Bucketworks space. ArtWorks will be moving out of their old space on 1421 N Water St at the Water Street Garage start at noon. They hope to spend the first hour packing up and moving out and arrive at Bucketworks around 1:00pm.

It's Valentine's Day, I know, but if you have a couple of hours to space we'd love to have some extra volunteer to help them move in, unpack, and settle in to the new space. Volunteers please email Jenn Turner or call 414-305-1324 x 702.