Mercy of the Crowd(funding)

Thursday, October 25, 6:00 PM
Gray Area Foundation For the Arts
923 Market Street, Suite 200, San Francisco (map)
Sliding scale, $5-$25

Space is limited! RSVP via Eventbrite

Crowdfunding platforms are proving there’s a new way to raise money in the arts. As of April 2012, a total of 20,000 projects raised $200 million+ through Kickstarter alone. Join Arts + Tech SF and Emerging Arts Professionals (EAP) as we explore how crowdfunding platforms are being used in the arts and creative sector.

We’ll explore questions like:

• How is technology and a hyperconnected world helping artists get their projects off the ground?
• How are funding models being changed by technology?
• And what happens if my project isn’t funded?

Panelists
Eleanor Hanson Wise, Director & Co-Founder, The Present Group
Alex Kane, Musician
John Spokes, Director of Development, USA Projects
moderator Stacy Bond, Creator & Executive Producer, SonicSF / EAP Fellow 2011-12
6:00 PM Performance by Alex Kane
6:30 PM Panel
Reception to follow

This program is presented by ArtsTech, Emerging Arts Professionals / SFBA, and Gray Area Foundation for the Arts, and is one of many Creative Conversations taking place in October as part of National Arts and Humanities Month, coordinated by Americans for the Arts.

Special thanks to our in-kind partners Naked Wines and Whole Foods Market, and Tumblr as lead sponsor of ArtsTech.

Panelist Biographies

Eleanor Hanson Wise is the co-founder and director of The Present Group, a project-based initiative that blurs the line between art production, commerce, advocacy, and philanthropy. She has developed a program for TPG that includes an art subscription service, a web hosting service that funds an intermittent arts prize, and Art Micro Patronage, an experimental exhibition platform showcasing and funding artwork online.

John Spokes, an experienced fundraiser and management consultant with an extensive background in the performing arts, joined the USA team in 2011 after serving as the director of development at UCLA Live for five years. In Minneapolis, Spokes operated his own nonprofit management consulting business and served as director of development at Chrysalis, A Center for Women, successfully implementing a multimillion-dollar capital campaign. From 1994-98, he was a key part of the development team at Minneapolis’ Guthrie Theater, working as director of annual and individual giving, interim development director, and director of community giving. He was also the annual fund manager at the highly respected Children’s Theatre Company, director of development at the innovative Illusion Theatre, and co-founder and managing director of the Eye of the Storm Theatre. Spokes devotes much of his work and leisure time to arts advocacy as a volunteer leader. When he moved from Minneapolis to Los Angeles, he was able to sell his snow blower – a day he considers to be the most liberating moment of his life!