Presented by: Thaddeus Squire, Culture Works
1st Place: Georgia Guthrie is a designer and maker. She first got involved at The Hacktory as a volunteer interested in integrating technology and art of all kinds. Once involved, she worked to create a beginner-friendly environment where new and interesting visitors would come back and make amazing things. As Director of The Hacktory, she’s forged partnerships with numerous arts organizations in Philadelphia, has worked to promote awareness and appreciation of the hacker/maker spirit, and was named Hacker of the Year at the 2012 Philly Geek Awards, hosted by Geekadelphia. She’s interested in growing The Hacktory into a hub of creativity, a resource for educators, and a leader in addressing the gender gap in tech.
Georgia has this to say about this recognition and her organization: “Being a finalist for the Social Innovations Award is great validation for the work we strive to do at The Hacktory, which is to show that incredibly innovative, technically sophisticated, and creative technical work can be done by any person from any background, and to provide the tools and resources for our community to do just that.”
2nd Place: Aviva Kapust, The Village of Arts and Humanities. Our mission is to amplify the voices and aspirations of the community by providing opportunities for artistic expression and personal success that engage youth and their families, revitalize physical space and preserve black heritage. We value creativity as our most powerful and effective tool for catalyzing healthy and sustainable change—with, for, and as neighbors to our community. Creating space for people in the neighborhood to read, dance, sing and make music and the beautification of physical space serves as a catalyst toward positive mental and emotional states for residents of their neighborhood. Aviva is a great leader turning this vision into reality.
3rd Place: Joseph Conyers, Project 440. Joe spearheaded an educational workshop series for music students across the city that focuses on social entrepreneurship, community engagement and college/career readiness. Joe has strategically grown this organization to address a cross section of needs in the lives of high school and college music students as well as local communities and neighborhoods.