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Event Recap: At the Mercy of the Crowd(funding)

By Deborah French Frisher It seemed impossible to match the frequency outside Gray Area Foundation for the Arts last week on San Francisco’s Market Street when the Giants played the second game of the World Series several city blocks away. And once inside the no-nonsense GAFFTA location for the panel event At the Mercy of the Crowd(funding), […]

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+ […]

Event Recap: At the Mercy of the Crowd(funding)

November 6, 2012/0 Comments/in Public Programs, Research and Development /by Admin

Mercy of the Crowd(funding)

October 15, 2012/0 Comments/in Public Programs, Research and Development /by Adam Fong

Full Sized Blog Element (Big Preview Pic)

Event Recap: At the Mercy of the Crowd(funding)

November 6, 2012/0 Comments/in Public Programs, Research and Development /by Admin

By Deborah French Frisher

It seemed impossible to match the frequency outside Gray Area Foundation for the Arts last week on San Francisco’s Market Street when the Giants played the second game of the World Series several city blocks away.

And once inside the no-nonsense GAFFTA location for the panel event At the Mercy of the Crowd(funding), the field of what is possible at the intersections of technology, arts, and culture was alive with a voltage of enthusiasm just as palpable.

The panel addressed the full room full of innovators in a presentation and Q & A that gave new meanings to the terms of pitch, strategy, team, and fans or friends.

Coaching from the panel
The diverse panel was moderated by the Stacy Bond, creator and executive producer of SonicSF. Panelists included Alex Kane, musician; Eleanor Hanson Wise, co-founder of The Present Group; and John Spokes, director of development,
USA Projects.

Stacy introduced her role on the panel with a generous disclosure about how her experience in crowdsourcing funds through Kickstarter had fallen short of their vision for a launch, creating a credible space for sharing not only successes, but the failed attempts that are inevitable and lead to successful strategies through lessons learned. Eleanor described successes of The Present Group in providing a subscription service for clients to receive and view cutting edge on-line art, web hosting with incentive prizes and an experiment in art micropartronage. Alex described his resourcefulness in a college social media marketing class of enrolling class members to make their assigned project his Kickstarter campaign, describing the critical value of a small mass of friends that moved his campaign as a solo musician. He also spoke about the soft value of getting the word out about one’s project through the crowd funding process. John brought a seasoned presence to the panel, describing the role of the artist in the ecology of culture, providing not only an introduction to the philosophical framework of USA Projects, but validating the challenges and gifts of most of the people in the room.

The thrill of the full house that evening generated the kind of intelligent hope and informed commitment to find one’s community and enlarge the spirit and service of that community through your shared vision. The event at GAFTTA offered concrete ideas for how to get your game on as a team so that the crowd (funding) will come.

Take-home tips

Go together, not alone. Have a supportive circle, a group of friends that can amplify your reach through social media.
Take confident hold of the important roles played in culture and its economic ecology by artists, tech innovators, and cultural administrators when sustaining the original passion through the long concrete hours of work that goes into project crowd funding.
Practice pitch perfect; it takes feedback and revision of content to choose the words that get your project’s idea out of your brains and into someone else’s heart.
Rejection or falling short of the funding goal is an opportunity for clarification.
Repeat yourself, oh, yes, say it again and again and be sensitive to the timing: a burst of enthusiasm in the beginning, a slump in support after, and a subsequent need for that second wind to bring the project home in the life of your crowd funding campaign.
Make innovative offers with meaningful benefits to those who give to your campaign and, thereby, become partners in reaching your goal. Cultivate community and involvement.

Thanks to folks at GAFFTA for the open door on Market Street and it’s role in making sense that night of the madding crowd(funding).

About Deborah
Deborah French Frisher is a writer working as project Director for GlobalChill.org, assistant professor in drama therapy at California Institute for Integral Studies, and author of the burgeoning blog her French press.

Mercy of the Crowd(funding)

October 15, 2012/0 Comments/in Public Programs, Research and Development /by Adam Fong

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!

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Event Recap: At the Mercy of the Crowd(funding)

Mercy of the Crowd(funding)

Event Recap: At the Mercy of the Crowd(funding)

Mercy of the Crowd(funding)

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Event Recap: At the Mercy of the Crowd(funding)

Mercy of the Crowd(funding)

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