Raise money to fund your creativity

A new fundraising service launched this week called Kickstarter. It’s apparently an expansion of SellaBand which is geared towards musicians. Kickstarter is aimed at pretty much everyone, “Kickstarter is a great tool for artists, writers, designers, filmmakers, musicians, journalists, entrepreneurs, athletes, adventurers, inventors, bloggers, comic book creators, explorers, curators, promoters, philanthropists, performers, and lots of others.”

“Currently the ability to start projects is by invitation only,” the website states. Only a handful of projects have been published thus far, and only one seems to be what I’d qualify as the visual arts. Photographer Laura Kicey is raising money for an excursion to Iceland. She’s being backed by three people at this point who’ve pledged — you can sign up and pledge even though you can’t create your own project — who’ve pledged $180. Kicey’s goal is $350. I was surprised and encouraged that money had already been given to some of the causes. Donors are rewarded not with tax deductions but objects from the artist, based on the size of the donation.

I’m trying to think of what kind of project I’d post on Kickstarter, if I were given the chance. At this point people are asking for as little as $20 for a drawing and as much as $80,000 to fund a film.

On the lower end, I’d probably set up a budget to help me function more easily in my garage studio over the next year or so. I have a goal to create enough new work in the next 12 months to fill a quality portfolio for an MFA program. This would probably amount to something around $1,000 and would include tools and materials such as clay, glaze materials, website finagling and a bandsaw. Of course, I could also ask for dollars to fund a stint in an MFA program. Now we’re talking in the $50,000+ range. A happy medium might be $5,000 to cover studio expenses over the next three years for me, as an aspiring mixed media sculptor.

Via TechCrunch.