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Artifcts Wins Grant for Brain Health Research

June 28, 2023

Today the founders of Artifcts appeared at MIT University's The Engine with eight other finalists to pitch their proposal for brain health research in partnership with UMass Chan Medical School. It's our great honor to announce that MeHI awarded Artifcts a $50,000 grant to complete its pilot research proposal. Read the official MeHI press release here. The research subject: Brain Health. And our aim: To confirm the feasibility of using Artifcts as an early screening tool for mild cognitive impairment and dementia. 

"People do not want to talk about brain health. It's terrifying to imagine life without healthy cognitive function. So you can understand why so many avoid even getting tested. And this testing is not yet a standard preventive health care practice." said Artifcts Co-founder and CEO Heather Nickerson.

Heather Nickerson, cofounder and CEO of Artifcts, presenting on stage at MeHI Healthy Aging sandbox pitch competition MIT The Engine

 
 
Heather Nickerson, Co-founder and CEO, on stage at MIT's The Engine for Artifcts' 2-minute final pitch to the judges.

The Artifcts team views this research as an important "and" for Artifcts, not a pivot. Co-founder and CSO Ellen Goodwin emphasized, "We've built Artifcts as a way of life, enjoyed by people 16 to 97 who create and share Artifcts every day. Now we'll investigate if we can play a role in dementia, a collection of diseases that affects more than 50 million people worldwide."

Artifcts, along with two others awardees, is a member of the AgeTech Collaborative from AARP. Read more from AARP on the MeHI Healthy Aging Sandbox Challenge.

From here, Artifcts will work with UMass Medical on a several-month process that will include study design and application to the Institutional Review Board (IRB), responsible for protecting the welfare, rights, and privacy of human subjects, for approval to proceed. With IRB approval, Artifcts will then recruit study participants. Interested in participating or know someone who may be? Follow Artifcts on social media and subscribe to the newsletter so you stay apprised of developments!

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© 2023 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Why We Support Hilarity for Charity: Bringing Light to Alzheimer's

Hilarity for Charity (HFC), how we adore you! We first met the HFC team at the 2022 spring American Society on Aging Conference. At the time, Artifcts was in the process of competing for funding to study the potential of the Artifcts platform to be used as a screening tool for mild cognitive impairment and dementia. Spoiler: We won! The more we at Artifcts learned about HFC's focus on care for families impacted by Alzheimer’s disease, inspiring the next generation of Alzheimer’s advocates, and advancing brain health research and education, we knew this was an organization we had to find some way, any way, to support.

Today we're honored to lead periodic, free, virtual HFC Caregiver Lounges for two of the groups that HFC supports: caregivers to those with dementia and youth ages 15-25. In all cases, we're seeking to bring people together through a new tool, Artifcting, and the ease, joy, and meaning made possible with each Artifct created.

"I know firsthand the joy that's possible when you simply ask a loved one, "What is this {thing}?" and then give them the space to tell their stories and reminisce about days past," said Ellen Goodwin, cofounder of Artifcts. "It's also remarkable how you can break through those uncomfortable silences and awkward moments between grandparents and grandchildren who are unaccustomed to spending time with each other and can lean into Artifcting as a win-win, meaning time together and capturing stories for always."

     HFC Caregiver Lounge, Oct. 2023

 
 
 
 
Check out wearehfc.org or follow @WeAreHFC on Instagram for the Caregiver Lounge schedule and event details. Images above show what to look for!

Last fall, HFC also invited Artifcts to a private fundraiser event in Austin, Texas, where the guests delighted in what Artifcts has built and is now doing within the brain health community. One guest remarked, "Imagine if all for-profit companies built with the vision AND the heart of Artifcts? It would be a different world, a better world." 

       Mother and daughter dressed up at HFC event

 
 
📸 Credit: Images 1-2, @baileytoksozphotography @magenbuse; Image 3: Artifcts co-founder Ellen Goodwin and her daughter dressed up and shining at the event @Egoody

Yes, Artifcts may be a young startup, but we have a vision that means transforming all of our relationships with 'stuff' and each other, one Artifct at a time. It's about meaningful connection meeting the practical realities of life: We collect a lot of stuff, and we need to know what it is, why it matters, and what we'll do it with it next. 

We appreciate the humor and truth behind this quote from Lauren Miller Rogen, "Everyone with a brain is at risk for dementia." Begin Artifcting today. Begin learning more about brain health today. Follow along with Artifcts (IG: TheArtiLife) and HFC (@WeAreHFC) for tips and events from Artifcts and HFC!

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© 2024 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 

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International Brand Strategist Gina Buchalter Joins Artifcts Advisory Board

As Washington D.C. headquartered Artifcts celebrates its 3rd birthday, it also welcomes Gina Buchalter to its strategic advisory board. Gina's storied career reaches across popular consumer brands, such as Aura Frames and Fitbit, as well as the world renowned Paramount Pictures.

Gina's deep experience delivering consumer products through new channels and partners will help Artifcts to expand its own footprint within core consumer segments.

"Gina's creativity and ability to connect dots that no one else even sees is captivating and carries with it the revenue basis to help startups and 'grownups' alike to flourish. It's going to be a great year 4 with Gina rounding out our advisory board," enthused Artifcts co-founder Ellen Goodwin.

"I am honored to join Ellen and Heather and the rest of the Artifcts team. It's such important work to help people chronicle their things and memories into one great cohesive story. I'm excited to be part of that journey."

The Artifcts Strategic Advisory Board also includes:

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© 2024 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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MassChallenge Invites Artifcts Into Early-Stage Accelerator

We interrupt your normal Wednesday ARTIcles story to offer you greetings from Boston, Massachusetts. The Artifcts co-founders flew to Boston yesterday to take part in a multi-day launch of the MassChallenge Early-Stage Accelerator program, one of the world’s top accelerator programs. What’s that? Read on!

As a self-funded, patented startup poised to become a household name—because, let’s face it, who doesn’t have stuff or stories—the team at Artifcts wants to ensure that we’re delivering to you not just the best product to capture the stories, history, and value of all you collect, accumulate, and inherit in life, but that we do so always with an eye toward the best in tech, the best in how we operate (lean!), and more.

MassChallenge is a global network for innovators working to solve massive challenges. MassChallenge connects startups, experts, corporations, and communities to grow and transform businesses and does not take any equity from companies who participate. According to Mass Challenge, the early-stage accelerator has facilitated a remarkable $9B+ in funding for its cohorts.

Of the 1,300+ companies to apply, Artifcts was selected along with approximately 120 others to work together over the next 3 months with industry mentors and partners to challenge how we operate, means to improve, and of course how to grow. While you won’t see any immediate change at Artifcts as we work through the program, we hope that we’ll come out stronger than ever and with new ideas for how to better connect with you and help you to enjoy all that Artifcts offers.

Opening session of MassChallenge, Boston, July 9

 
 
Andrew Bialecki, CEO & Founder of Klaviyo, shares his startup journey during the opening event.

In the meantime, please, continue to Artifct. Share Artifcts with friends and family. We may not have the marketing budget of a goliath corporation, but we have amazing community members who want to see Artifcts succeed. We’re so grateful. And, if you have ideas of what you’d like to see next at Artifcts, or even suggestions for what we could do to make your experience better, let us know! We love and take feedback from our ARTI community to heart.

Wish us luck as we roll up our sleeves and dive into the MassChallenge world!

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Curious about what else we've been up to?

Explore some of Artifcts' other "As featured in" and awards through the years.

© 2024 Artifcts, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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