Two Bit Circus Foundation

A free arcade cabinet made from <$600 in parts.
Assembly is an exciting STEAM activity that covers CAD, CNC, electronics, operating systems, electronics, game development, music & art.
Place the cabinet in a venue like a coffee shop or laundromat for an entrepreneurship activity with the potential for passive income! Ideal for schools & maker spaces. Perfect for MIT’s Fab-In-A-Box program. Key benefits:
Passive income with low overhead
Empower underrepresented youth & creators to monetize their creations
Raise money for schools or scholarships

Family Code Adventures addresses the scarcity of elementary coding classes and teachers by enabling parents and guardians to teach their kids to code at home. We will train parents/guardians to use an easy to understand coding program and support them as they teach their kids at home. The program will strengthen intergenerational bonds, increase BIPOC representation as digital creators and leaders, and create a digitally empowered citizenry at the dawn of Artificial Intelligence.

Coding Crew addresses the scarcity of coding classes and teachers by training middle school students to teach their peers to code. These student-teachers work alongside their peers to create video games that are showcased in a Community Arcade for family and friends. This increases leadership and communication skills, as well as confidence in computer science for low-income students. Each person we teach teaches others, and they then teach others, exponentially spreading coding skills and confidence. Each One Teach One!

Two Bit Circus Foundation will conduct its five-week Digital Music Production class in ten Los Angeles area Middle Schools, teaching students how to produce and engineer their own songs. Through the use of Digital Audio Workstations, our classes focus on the production process - composition, engineering, mixing and recording. Choosing schools in the Music Desert of most low/moderate income communities, our program will provide cognitive stimulation and encourage reading and STEM proficiency.

Collaborating with ExoDexa, Atari founder Nolan Bushnell's educational platform, 2BCF has created two middle school Digital Gamified Curriculum projects that embed standards- and grade-aligned STEM/STEAM curriculum inside a video game format. It is based on the belief that learning should be enjoyable, that children learn while they do, provided they are absorbed in the task, and that the game industry knows how to keep kids in their games and aspiring to the next level. Critical thinking and problem solving become second nature.

STEAM Guide to the Galaxy is 2BCF's online learning/play library, designed to address distance learning and offer in-classroom resources for preK-12 students. Project Playbooks contain project-based science, technology, engineering, art, and math (STEAM). The Two Bit Remote Gameshow uses our team's live stream gameshow platform to present STEAM-related quizzes, classes, clown calisthenics, a fully immersive online STEAM learning carnival. Each of these, with this grant, will be adapted for special needs students in/out of the classroom.

2BCF will install its signature program, STEAM Lab Makerspace (SLM), in 20 low/moderate income elementary, middle and high schools in Los Angeles that have been wait-listed since 2017, benefitting over 13,000 diverse, under-served students. Installed with upcycled materials and original curriculum, each SLM is a career-readiness incubator of ideas - a “student think tank” where students can build STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math)-related skills to understand how things work, experiment, redesign and invent projects.

We're ready to expand our in-school and after school programs to 4 more schools (2 semesters at each school). Each program brings 8-10 professional artists to create original music with students. Students learn the ropes by doing it with pro's, touching all aspects of the creative process, including technology and business. We prioritize equipping students with the skills, knowledge, relationships and opportunities to start their careers through our program, including field trips and internship opportunities in addition to weekly sessions.

Imagine that in addition to information, your local library also offered access to advanced technologies such as 3D printing, laser cutting, and circuit board printing, along with the know-how the community needed to put the power of innovation into everyone’s hands. 2BCF’s LA Makerspace division, in partnership with the Los Angeles Public Library system, is bringing exactly that to the Library’s Koreatown Branch in the form of LA’s first Family Makerspace. Free to the public, families, and individuals of all economic situations and cultural backgrounds will be able to develop new interests and new skills for the much-needed tech workforce, and to create new products and launch small businesses, always with a commitment to environmental sustainability. And finally, it will be a flagship and training space for librarians, educators, and other community leaders to spark their own Makerspaces and Maker programs.

Robots, fire and next-gen inventions - STEAM Carnival - a Trojan horse to interest kids in Science, Tech, Engineering, Art & Math careers. Young inventors in South Los Angeles step right up!

STEAM Carnival is a modern take on the traveling circus featuring high-tech games, workshops and spectacles!