This month's crowdfunding collection does the rounds of Indiegogo, Kickstarter, Crowdfunder and Spacehive.
Apocalypse Survival Training
Exercise is boring and everyone knows it. The gym is interminable, football and squash are dangerous, running never ends, table tennis has been over-run by suits and it always rains too much for cricket. Thankfully we have Adele Kirby to help cure this horrible malaise and get us tearing around town like maniacs, with her 'narrative fitness adventure' phone app.
The idea behind Apocalypse Survival Training is that an 'apocalyptic alien attack' story will take place in London that involves you haring about, presumably dodging tentacles and attempting to prevent the end of the world. It sounds like a marvellous idea to help make halting the slide into obesity a little more fun, and rewards for the Kickstarter include all manner of bonus downloadable content, invites to recording sessions and the chance to play a monster yourself in the final audio recording. Clearly people have taken to the idea as it has just reached its funding goal, but we couldn't not include it and recommend you get on it now to help shove it towards its stretch goals.
Ashford Place rough sleeping project
Despite the Mayor's promise to end homelessness in London there remain far too many rough sleepers on our streets, unable to find a suitable bed for the night. Ashford Place is a charity that supports homeless individuals in the Borough of Brent into housing, employment, education and health care where they need it, and their crowdfunding project is looking to raise money to continue the important work they do in north-west London.
There is no emergency accommodation in Brent, which they hope to rectify with the funds raised. It seems a bit wrong to highlight the rewards attached to the Crowdfunder; there are some, but you'll have to take the time to visit the link to find out what they are. Please give a few quid while you're there.
Roots to Titles photographic exhibition
The titles in question are boxing belts in this photographic exhibition of London's boxers. The exhibition will take place at an East End gym, and photographer Richard Cannon has sidestepped the usual boxing shots of huge fighters with their hands held up or at the point a face is rearranged by a boxing glove. Instead he has gone for black-and-white shots using flash lighting, which depict boxers after they've been sparring — catching some quite unique images, a few of which you can see on the Kickstarter page.
The exhibition will also include an exhibition fight, aptly enough. Rewards for helping to fund this intriguing show include prints of the boxers in the exhibition, plus the opportunity to become part of it with a shot of you in your boxing gear after sparring with a terrifying fighter picked at random, possibly. Even 94-year-old Charlie Oliver looks like he can look after himself (the photo of him is on the website).
Hoxton Community Garden Pathway
Londonist gets occasional missives asking us to include Spacehive on the monthly crowdfunding round-up, and though we're quite open to it, there rarely seem to be more than three or four projects actually in the fundraising stage. This is one, though: fundraising for a new sandstone pathway in the Hoxton Community Garden.
The old path is apparently knackered, cracked by the encroachment of tree roots in the garden. The Hoxton Trust is looking for a couple of thousand to sort it out and, as seems to be the way on Spacehive, there are no pledge rewards and they are hoping philanthropy alone will see them through. Good luck with that.
Romanian Film Festival in London
There have been 10 previous outings for the Romanian Film Festival in London, and it will be going ahead again at the end of November regardless of how successful their Indiegogo fundraising is. But the event has increased in popularity since its inception, and anything that continues to add to the general well-being of London as a centre of world culture is no bad thing.
So here we have the organisers looking to raise a few extra shillings to help with screening rights, venue costs and travel costs for filmmakers. Rewards for your backing include VIP passes to the festival, tickets for the closing night gala and various DVDs and whatnot. Not every film will be set in Transylvania and involve biting, we're promised.
