The real one · AZIC Foundation · Bridgeport, CT
Okay so the two dollar thing was real. But this is the actual plan.
That campaign you just came from? I genuinely enjoy making stuff like that. Weird internet experiments are my favorite part of marketing.
But it is not the thing. This is the thing.
I'm building a creative community center in Bridgeport. A real building, with real machines, where the next generation of creative leaders and entrepreneurs can learn, make, and actually own what they make.
Because right now the creator economy is being flattened into prompts. Everything looks the same because everything came from the same place. The tools got cheaper and the work got emptier, and somehow the people who never had access in the first place are being told they missed it. I refuse that.
Technology isn't the enemy here. We are going to use every bit of it. Gatekeeping is the enemy. Give people the room, the equipment, and somebody who will actually teach them, and creativity comes roaring back on its own. It always does.
What your money actually does
Not vibes. Specific things, at the scale we're operating right now.
One blank tee, or a sheet of transfer film. Multiply it and that's a cohort's first print run.
A kid designs something, prints it, and walks out wearing it. That's the whole hook, and it works every time.
A full session for four teens. Design, production, and the thing they made in their hands.
A refurbished workstation that goes home with somebody at the end of the program.
A paid apprentice for a full season. Real client work, real deadlines, real check.
The facility
A campus, not a room. Built in phases and opened as each phase gets funded, so the doors open early and stay open instead of waiting on one perfect check that may never come.
The programming
The building is the easy part, believe it or not. This is the actual work.
- Youth studio After school and summer cohorts for teens. Paid, not volunteer. They leave with a portfolio, a product, and a check.
- Apprenticeships Print production, studio engineering, design. Trained on real client work with real deadlines and real money attached.
- Equipment library Cameras, mics, laptops, cutters. Checked out like books, because the barrier is almost never talent.
- Business school for creatives Pricing, contracts, licensing, taxes, LLCs, grant readiness. How to keep the money once you finally make some.
- Reentry and second chances Skills training and paid placement for people coming home. Talent does not expire while you're away.
- Resident makers Studio space and stipends for local artists who teach a set number of hours in exchange.
How it gets built
- Prove it smallRun programming out of partner spaces now, with the print shop funding the first cohorts. Already in motion.
- Secure the siteLand and building in Bridgeport, structured so the Foundation controls the space for the long haul instead of renting at somebody's mercy.
- Open phase onePrint lab, digital lab, one studio. The smallest version that can actually serve people.
- Build the campusFull studios, gallery, stage, commons. Programming scales as the square footage does.
- Make it self fundingProduction revenue, bookings, and enterprise work underwrite free access, so the mission never lives or dies on one grant cycle.
What we're aiming at
These are goals, not receipts. Nothing is locked in yet and I would rather tell you that straight than dress it up in a nice deck.
- Paid creative work in the hands of local young people every single year
- Equipment access for anyone in this city who asks, regardless of what they can pay
- Creative businesses launched and still standing three years later
- A building Bridgeport owns a piece of, instead of one more thing sold out from under it
Back it.
No minimum, no tiers, no shame. Two dollars is genuinely fine, that is the entire spirit of this. Put #resist in the memo so I know you came from here.
One tap. Apple Pay, Google Pay, or card.
Send it instant checkoutOr the old fashioned way
Venmo @pomegranatepistolsNot money? Also extremely useful: equipment you're retiring, a space we can run a cohort in, a few hours teaching something you're good at, or an introduction to someone who funds this kind of thing. putmetowork@sj-moore.com
501(c)(3) status pendingAZIC Foundation is a registered charitable organization in the State of Connecticut, with federal 501(c)(3) determination pending. Money sent through this page goes to me and funds the work described above. It is not a tax deductible charitable contribution. When that changes, this paragraph changes with it.