A hint of desperation can be attractive . . .
Houston Arts Alliance’s crowd-funding site is up and running. Months in the making, the site allows web users to browse through projects proposed by Houston non-profits, and make online donations, much like popular crowd-funding sites for individuals like Indiegogo and Kickstarter. The HAA site is a local division of power2give.org, a project of the Arts and Science Council of Charlotte NC, which provides similar services to nine other cities in the Southern United States.
Currently there are 22 project listed by hopeful early-adopters of the new funding opportunity. Visual arts related projects include: HAA’s own Blue Trees by Australian artist Konstantin Dimopoulos (goal: $10,000, 1% funded), Woodlands Art League‘s bid for a permanent gallery space (goal: $10,000, 0% funded); the Mural Wall at Lawndale art Center (goal: $5000) as well as Lawndale’s other local-artist shows (goal: $10,000). A swarm of dance, theater and youth projects round out the total, with a couple odds and ends, like the Weather Museum’s bid to preserve the personal papers of weatherman Isacc Cline, the Meterologist In Charge (MIC) of the Galvestion Weather Bureau during the 1900 storm that destroyed Galveston.
It’s so easy, even I signed up to give $5 to the Lawndale Mural fund- I’ve waited years to see that big wall painted, and it’s probably expensive. According to the fine print, 18 cents (3.75%) of my money will go to The Arts and Science Council in Charlotte, NC, another 41 cents (8.25%) stays with HAA for Administrative costs, and Lawndale will get $4.41, even if they don’t meet their goal; enough to pay for a couple gallons of mis-matched paint at Home Depot.
