Kickstarter

Burbuja Backers,

It's been an intense few days for the Sonic Trace + Burbuja team!

First on the agenda, THANK YOU for making La Burbuja a reality - exactly the way Hugo envisioned it. La Burbuja + Sonic Trace is reaching that lovely stage where the project is telling us what it needs to be. Four months ago, Eric (co-producer) and I were looking up plywood prices in Home Depot, setting dates with Harriet Ells (KCRW Program Director) to start nailing and gluing in her backyard. And alas, Frances Anderton, Hugo Martínez, Kickstarter and you - our Burbuja Backers!

Thank you, you've really made a difference in giving Sonic Trace an identity and offering communities across Los Angeles a special space where they can share their stories. With your contribution, you are making public media, truly public. We will keep you posted on the first stop of La Burbuja once it's in full dress. We'll also keep on sending pics of progress if you don't mind. It's Exciting stuff!

You should receive your rewards by the end of next month. Some of you were sent a "Kickstarter survey" email recently. Please reply with your mailing address to redeem you award. 

Keep Sonic Trace on your radar, like us on facebook (www.kcrw.com/sonictrace), tweet about us @SonicTrace_KCRW and stay tuned for our first radio+video series about Zapotecos in Los Angeles airing this Fall on KCRW.

Lastly, below is La Burbuja on Friday, the second the Kickstarter ended. She celebrates!

Lots of alegría on this end. Thank you. Anayansi, Hugo, Eric, Christin, Paola & Javier

Wait! Never enough thank yous:

A very special thanks to the Awesome Foundation who jump started La Burbuja. You guys are awesome! (I bet you get that a lot)

Some shout outs to people working hard every day to help give birth to Sonic Trace:

Sue Schardt, Noland Walker, Jessica Clark and everyone at AIR; Jennifer Ferro, Harriet Ells, Jacob Conrad, Gary Scott, Frances Anderton, Alyssa King and over a dozen more people at KCRW, Carmen Vidal, Megan Pryor, Carlos Linares, the guys at Varo Sheet Metal Design Work, Dangar Engineering, Hugo's family, the López family at Guelaguetza Restaurant (Bricia&Fernando!), Julieta Mendez, Gaspar Riva-Salgado and the amazing folks at Zeega. And about 100 more.

Also, did you know that:

Sonic Trace is part of Localore, an initiative of the Association of Independents in Radio (AIR) and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Additional funding from the Wyncote Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts. It's home is KCRW's Independent Producer Project. The project is co-produced by Zeega, a non-profit inventing new forms of interactive storytelling.

Check out nine more uber-awesome Localore projects, here: http://airmediaworks.org/localore

Estimados,

This just in...

This is the moment to up your pledge by $1, $5, $10, $20 dollars. KCRW will put in $500 if we make it to $7,500. We have less than 66 minutes to go.

You're already registered, all you have to do is add a few more bucks. We'll throw in some KCRW goodies and an on-air thank you in the voice of lead producers Anayansi & Eric.

Thanks for having our back, 

The peeps behind Sonic Trace & La Burbuja

Dear Burbuja Backers,

First of all a huge virtual abrazo for helping us exceed our Kickstarter goal. It's truly thrilling!

Since our launch party on August 9th, Hugo Martínez and his team have continued with sleepless nights, 20-hour work cycles and a dinner schedule that bleeds into 5am breakfast.

We still need $2,117 to finish La Burbuja in the way that Hugo and his team envisioned it. Please spread the word these 24 hours. We can make it!

After spending many days at their studio, one thing is clear to me - architects are way crazier than independent radio producers.

See for yourself:
http://www.flickr.com//photos/82721330@N02/sets/72157631176469128/show/

Yesterday was day #33 since they began work. We aired an audio re-cap about building La Burbuja. It was produced in collaboration with KCRW's Frances Anderton and DnA and it gives you a taste of the process.

Listen here: http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/de/de120821la_burbuja_has_lande

This was Hugo's response 12 hours later:

We are here at the shop. Christin and I still working on La Burbuja. It will be another long night for us. But, we wanted to take a moment to write to all of you and say: Thank you! We heard the DNA show today while taking a break and laying down on the floor of our office. We are exhausted, but when we heard the show today it re-energized us.

Thank you all for believing in us and most of all for believing in the Sonic Trace project. We are truly passionate about what Sonic Trace will do. We believe this is the platform that will allow silent voices to be heard. The silent voices of the immigrant experience in the U.S.A and their journey as they leave everything behind and readjust to a new world. Stories like the one of Wendy Carrillo and Carlos Linares are why we are trying so hard to get it done. Gracias.

I want to be clear ~

Sonic Trace - in the way we envision it -  would not be possible without your pledge. Hugo's email is directed at you, as well as everyone at AIR, Localore and KCRW. Your support is helping to transform the Angeleno narrative.  I believe that in order to understand Los Angeles at the local level, we have to relentlessly take our mics beyond US borders, and into Michoacan, Oaxaca, San Salvador, Antigua....and beyond. For me, this is true of any city in the US today.

This is what you are pledging to - understanding 21st century America through the eyes and ears of the world. Sonic Trace and La Burbuja will gather stories that every American citizen can trace into their personal history. Stories about movement, boundaries, food, identity, cultural flux, politics and history. Immigrant stories.

As we near the close of our campaign, I want to take this opportunity say thank you, gracias, dioxhclen (zapoteco), Yuj wal dios (Q' anjob'al) for being part of the Sonic Trace family.

Now, let's make it to 8k!

Anayansi & Eric (and Hugo, Christin, Paola, Javier, Carmen, Julieta & our allies at AIR&KCRW)

PS Stay tuned for our five-part series about Zapotecos in LA airing this Fall on KCRW. As well as  stories from Carlos Linares, Wendy Carrillo and more.

We are just a day away from our launch party at Guelaguetza and this is just a courtesy reminder to come out and celebrate with us! Remember to bring a friend, hot date, family member or all of the above to record their story. No story? Sample some Molotes, Empanadas and other Oaxacan bites over a $3 Tecate, there will be plenty of them.

You can count on some dancing too, DJ Alexis Rivera will be spinning, plus a live performance by Guelaguetza's Cumbia house-band Latin Wood.

As for La Burbuja, we did not raise the $5,000 in time for the chrome paint job or steel metal needed. It's an expensive process, and with time and budget constraints, Hugo could not pull enough favors to get it done in time. Nonetheless, we will still unveil La Burbuja tomorrow, August 9th, without it's metallic skin. Until we raise AT LEAST $5,000, we will not be able to skin La Burbuja. Each gallon of the chrome paint costs $1,200. And your everyday rapper will pay 20k to get a chrome paint job. So, Hugo is pulling favors for Sonic Trace! Help us, cover the basics.

So, donate today and tell your friends who have always been into NPR or design to donate too! Help Hugo Martínez and his team push the bar on design and architecture. And help Sonic Trace give a space to Angelenos where they can feel that what they say matters. This is something that has never been built before. Help Hugo build La Burbuja exactly how and his team envisioned it.

Hello future backers,

We are at about the halfway mark of this campaign, meaning, it's time to dream a little higher and set up some stretch goals!

$5,000 is cool but we need more love for our design construction team, who have been working 20 hours a day to finish the avant-garde communication behemoth. La Burbuja will be used to obtain cutting-edge personal immigrant stories at the source. More funding means more engaging content, more media attention given to those whose voices are not typically heard on the radio. Help La Burbuja be a model for future storytelling journalism.

Stretch Goal #1 - $8,000

Money to lug it around! La Burbuja will be stationed at 45 different locations within Southern California, we are going to need to rent a trailer each and every time. You will help us pay our Oaxacan neighbor for a pick-up truck to carry it, he is willing to offer to Sonic Trace for a small fee.   Our Volkswagen just wont cut it!

Stretch Goal #2 - $10,000

Cooler, padding and air conditioning money. We want to make our guest feel as comfortable as possible, as it is now, La Burbuja does not have any air conditioning, fancy-theater padding or funding for complimentary beverages for our guests. With a couple of extra bucks, give the gift of basic human amenities! 

Stretch Goal #3 - $15,000

La Burbuja arrives to Mexico City! Sonic Trace in Mexico, interviewing American expats and asking them the three Sonic Trace questions: Why do you go? Why do you stay? Why do you come back?