826LA – Dollar Project.

The Dollar Project is an ongoing project about teaching kids that their creativity is invaluable.

Working with 826LA (a branch of the nonprofit writing and tutoring center founded by Dave Eggars) we’ve held workshops with kids aged 6-18 to write short stories about an adventurous young character named Galileo Greenback and his quest to improve the world around him with the only thing he has: a single, magical dollar. Where the story goes from that basic premise is completely up to them. 

Phase II of the project involves getting artists and celebrities affiliated with the center to illustrate the kids’ stories using just a single dollar bill as their canvas. The illustrated dollars will then be auctioned off at an 826LA art show, proving to the kids the invaluable nature of their imaginations.

Phase III will involve assembling all of the short stories and their accompanying illustrations into a single book called the Adventures of Galileo Greenback, the profits of which will go toward the center and the continuance of the project.

So far we’ve held two workshops in LA, with more planned for the future.
Below is the original concept PDF that Ryan Lee, Jill Lin and I created to pitch the idea to 826LA.