Hello, and thank you for your consideration in supporting The Biota Project.

What is The Biota Project?
The Biota Project (TBP) is a grassroots multi-media science communication organization led by a team of diverse scientist-artists interested in decolonizing science and serving the needs of historically marginalized communities. Our innovative mixed media approach highlights the voices and experiences of diverse communities and their relationships with science, nature, and society.

This campaign will help fund our production team’s mixed-media science communication projects which comprise a mosaic of traditional art mediums, video, podcasts, creative writing, storytelling, and song. 

The Biota Project was started in 2013 by two friends, J. Abubo (a filmmaker) and S. Ul-Hasan (a scientist), as a result of their own frustrations with the lack of representation in science documentary film at the time. Both wanted to create spaces and platforms where more voices and faces like theirs were heard and seen within each individual’s respective professional realm. Growing up in locales now subject to gentrification, Adubo and Ul-Hasan felt emboldened to paint a different picture of not only their neighborhood but the society around them through science and art. They were not alone.

Unique Features of The Biota Project:
The Biota Project features a democratic  non-hierarchical team structure that permits new and innovative approaches to science communication. Roles are rotated between internal meetings to public content. The result? A vibrant range of different science communication styles from makeup tutorials  to poetry. The Biota Project is a radical protest to the individualist paradigm, acting through a community-centric mindset. Each of our individual successes is a mere reflection of our efforts as a team and mutual interaction with the public.

The Biota Project is all-inclusive!
We have no prerequisites aside from an enthusiasm to support and grow. The Biota Project thus acts as a platform for anyone to engage in science communication and contribute their own unique energy and ideas. More on this can be read via  Cheng et al 2018 ICB.


Why Support Our Cause?
We are honored to have received support over the years, and as the reach of our organization continues to grow, so do our needs to sustain and expand. The Biota Project team operates primarily through voluntary service. At first, this was reasonable to do, allowing us to create change directly towards the issues in which we and our communities are affected. However, all team members balance family matters, work, and school (be it themselves through studies or profession or with their kids) and this has become ironically unsustainable towards our mission.

When applying for larger grants, applicants don't know the outcome for at least six months. We need your support to help us push our organization to the next level in our reach and goals through 2022.

Funding request breakdown:

7% Maintenance Goal: $2,000
This goal will allow us to upkeep our website and boost our material across various platforms to reach a larger audience. This will also allow us to renew our non-profit status and initiate a formal account for our current and future funds.
10% Partner Support Goal: $3,000
We currently partner with similar ground-up organizations free of charge for either party.  Financial support to our partners, such as Massive Science, Notes By Niba , and Cosplay for Science  provides means to waive training charges for team members to gain skills such as blog writing or original content creation.
23% Artist Support Goal: $7,000
Artists are heavily underpaid and under-appreciated in all realms of the workforce. Over the years, we have worked to contract artists who partner with us, providing services in exchange for amplification, due to lack of funds. This goal will allow us to create a system for supporting all our artists and expand our website to feature all the artists we've partnered with through the years.
27% Content and Facilitation Labor Goal: $8,000
This goes directly to our team. We are in need of providing labor funds for team members to facilitate our meetings and oversee task management. Current voluntary labor exceeds 10 hours per month which is our suggested limit of service. Content we create: Short films and vlogs, blogs, podcasts, artwork, poetry, music, research articles and posters, and K12 education material.
33% Community Support Goal: $10,000
This amount is our largest request, and is dedicated to community building. These funds support supplies for partnerships with schools and communities, conference registration and travel for sharing what we learn with others, and initiating functional materials such as The Biota Project reusable bags and water bottles for others to learn and become connected.

Have a question on any of the above?
Contact us: www.thebiotaproject .org