Kickstarter and the New Era of Arts Funding | Open Thread

Deadlines are approaching for a number of grant applications, always a joyous season for artists whose production costs far outweigh the income from their art. And while I have nothing but admiration and respect for the institutions who spend their money supporting the arts, I do know from talking with my artist friends that there are far more people applying for the funding than money to go around. I also know that the complexities of the various applications are stressful for the applicants.

Which is why I've been watching to see how Kickstarter is doing. As an idea, it borrows from the micro-lending organizations that have made a huge difference in the lives of people in poverty-stricken countries and apparently not the worse place you can invest your money either. But Kickstarter is focused on creative projects. From their website:

Kickstarter is a new way to fund creative ideas and ambitious endeavors.

We believe that:

• A good idea, communicated well, can spread fast and wide.
• A large group of people can be a tremendous source of money and encouragement.

Kickstarter is powered by a unique all-or-nothing funding method where projects must be fully-funded or no money changes hands.

The beauty of Kickstarter is that, being about creative projects, the more creative your appeal is (rather than the more exact or bureaucratically complete, as seems to be one of the keys to successful grant applications), the greater your chances of success will be.

I first started paying closer attention to Kickstarter when Laura Isaac used it to fund her hysterical project for #rank. At first I thought that was a wonderful, but certainly too-time-consuming video to produce just to raise the money. Then I realized, that funding hopefuls need to creatively attract not only those willing to part with cash to support them, but also the Kickstarter editorial staff in order to have to highlight/recommend their project over the others on the site:

What gets featured on Kickstarter is an editorial decision by our staff. We pay particularly close attention to fun projects that use the system creatively, have compelling videos and rewards, and have a nice head of momentum behind them.

So it's still highly competitive, but not with regards to who you know on the grant committee or how precisely you can complete the application. You want people to fund your creative project? Show them how creative you are.

Here is a quick cross-section of interesting fine art projects currently up on Kickstarter. Consider which of them you might support. Did I mention, your support always comes with REWARDS?

• Nature In Nature: Sculpture at the Audubon Center Boat House; Project by Robert Lobe
• #140hBerlin - A 6-day Performance; Project by Man Bartlett
• Soda Tooth Presents SMart Box: Art Education for Kids! ; Project by Soda Tooth

Please consider this an open thread to share your own Kickstarter project or commiserate on the grant application process.