Panellist John deWolf reviews Macktez’s 2019 Summer Stipend grant

Macktez is a technology solutions consultancy based in New York; its Summer Stipend competition promotes and rewards relevant projects that seek innovation in unlikely places. The 2019 call for projects saw six finalists striving for a stipend to fund for personal projects themed on creative action. The finalists’ projects were evaluated on 3 criteria: originality, relevance and conviction. Some of this year’s projects included a mobile garment mending service in Seattle, an exhibition of stained glass window illustrations made from single-use plastics and a project aimed at heightening the awareness of global climate change through a Global Day of Creative Action.

John deWolf, Fathom Studio’s Director of Interpretive Planning and Design participated as a panellist for the 2019 Macktez Summer Stipend Competition along with Francine Snyder, (Robert Rauschenberg Foundation), Bob Barber (Russell Design Associates), Jonathan Cedar i(BioLite), Barbara Glauber (Heavy Meta), Charlie Gray (Gray Scalable), Manuel Sanchez Miranda (MMP), and Steven Harper (MN Design). The finalists’ projects can be viewed on the Macktez website.

For over twenty years, Macktez works with creative companies to manage their internal technology. Macktez approaches the technology as a user interface problem and focus heavily on communication, documentation, and helping the staff to help themselves. Macktez manages all sorts of disparate technologies for their clients by evaluating each situation individually, take personal responsibility, identify problems, and plan realistic solutions. Then we take action.