A New Way To Raise Money For The Arts

A New Way To Raise Money For The Arts

Crowdfunding is a worldwide phenomenon, and New Zealand is no exception. $1million has been raised for arts projects on the Arts Foundation’s crowdfunding website in the last two years. Have you heard about Boosted.org.nz?

We asked Arts Foundation Marketing Manager, Stephanie Alderson, to write a guest blog for us today, so you can learn a little bit more about Boosted and how it works.

Boosted is the Arts Foundation’s crowdfunding platform that lets you raise funds for your art. It is suitable for artists across all disciplines, and for producers and organisations that are raising funds for an artistic project.

Boosted launched in 2013, raised $1million for the arts in its first 2 years, and is on track to raise another $1million in its third.

We are crazy about art

At Boosted, we are crazy about art. Many of us are artists ourselves.

We take the black and white concept of crowdfunding, and make it colourful and bright.

To us, fundraising is more than raising money.

Crowdfunding empowers artists.

It is about building an audience and communicating with them in exciting new ways.

Feeling empowered by your network, and feeling inspired to push boundaries, are key to the experience of fundraising on Boosted.

Gemma Gracewood funded her documentary with Boosted

Gemma Gracewood listed a project in March 2015, with the aim of raising $10,000 towards post-production costs for a documentary.

Gemma was able to raise $13,808 in 27 days.

The documentary, entitled Joseph Gets Dressed (view campaign page here), follows Joseph Herscher as he transforms ordinary household objects into an elaborate machine that will dress him from head to toe…in front of a live audience.

Joseph Gets Dressed has since been selected as a feature in the New Zealand International Film Festival in Auckland – the World Premiere of the film, with Wellington dates to come.

Gemma says, “Boosted was definitely the right way to go. Our documentary is unlikely to be a commercial success, but it has other important qualities: a strong focus on art, a great message about the importance of play, the potential to further raise Joseph’s profile being a few.”

Gemma had used other crowdfunding platforms before, but felt that Boosted was the right platform for this project, “because of its arts focus, and the ability to bring on matched-backers.”

It was also appealing to be able to focus on the work itself, without the admin of rewards.

It’s more love than commerce

Boosted is a purely donation based platform.

People donate on Boosted because they like to contribute and be part of your production.

It’s more love than commerce.

With a success rate of over 80%, we work hand in hand with an artist, toward a great outcome.

Our artist toolkit (1.62Mb .pdf) is an excellent starting point and guide. Our blog also provides some practical tips.

All donations on Boosted are genuine and made to the Arts Foundation, so everyone who gives can claim a 33% tax credit.

The tax credit makes donating on Boosted tax effective for all donors, and makes it particularly attractive to major donors to be part of your crowd.

Are mainstream crowdfunding platforms such as Kickstarter appropriate for artists?

Although rewards based sites such as Kickstarter have been popular, they can also be challenging for artists, and an added pressure.

Filmmaker, Taika Waititi, spoke to Sunday Star Times about his experience fundraising on Kickstarter for BOY, “I ended up for six months just drawing pictures for complete strangers, and they got weirder and weirder as I got more annoyed.

People would ask me to draw their family, and by the end I was drawing a giant baby holding its parents in its arms and stuff. I had to paint ‘Shogun’ on about 20 helmets, it just got ludicrous.”

Supporters love to get a behind-the-scenes look into the artistic process

On Boosted, artists are encouraged to put more focus on the artistic process, including the engagement of potential donors and including them every step of the way.

The great thing is that you are building a strong and dedicated network of supporters that are likely to follow you throughout your career, far beyond your Boosted project.

At the time of writing, musician, Dudley Benson has 2 days left in his campaign to complete his third album, Zealandia, and is looking very likely to reach his $12,000 target at 91% raised so far,

“Honestly, if I survive the next week intact, I am going to recommend that every person at some stage runs a Boosted campaign: the experience of receiving an email saying that someone has just given you their money because they believe in you, is something to be felt.”

Do you have an art project in mind?

If you have a project in mind, give us a call and talk to Kate at Boosted on (04) 382 7910 or email kate@boosted.org.nz. We like to hear what’s going on in the arts community, and we would love to bounce around ideas with you!

Boosted, run by the Arts Foundation, powered by Westpac | www.boosted.org.nz

ENDS

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