Arts Day

I hate to admit it but I am often a cynic about advocacy. I just don't fully believe that the big boys who run the machine (and it still feels like an old boys machine) are really listening to us small peeps. But still I send my e-petitions and I go to public hearings and I speak up.

And this year The Field is sending 3 artists and one staff member up to Albany to talk the talk and walk the walk!! Connie Hall, Whitney V. Hunter, Will Rawls and our own Audra Lang will be at 33rd and 8th Avenue at the vigorous hour of 7am to ride a sleek bus up to Albany to meet with the fancy folks who make the decisions (is my cynicism sneaking out?). Add your e-voice to their voices and
SEND YOUR OWN E-PETITIONS HERE.

It's true: the whole arts sector (and that's YOU!) is at risk this year. If you haven't heard, New York State is slashing the budget in every possible nook and cranny. It will hurt. Speak up now and maybe maybe it will hurt a bit less.

OurGoods: Past, Present, and Future

Recently, I asked a mentor of mine if he'd be a reference for me on an application. He said, "Sure, but why don't I get regular reports about OurGoods? How IS OurGoods doing?"

So, this post is a report in 7 parts.
(I should do this more often)

#1) We're 2 years old.

In 2008, I applied to get funding from The Field's ERPA initiative for the idea that became OurGoods. As The Field explains, "ERPA (pronounced ur·pah) grows from the premise that the traditional non-profit model of fundraising does not support the majority of performing artists in New York City. ERPA aims to thus revitalize performing artists’ and arts organizations’ economic lives for long-term impact." In 2008, The Field took a risk and gave me $5,000. By the end of 2009, OurGoods.org had 5 co-founders (Jen Abrams, Louise Ma, Carl Tashian, Rich Watts, and myself) and an alpha site built. Jen Abrams and I applied for the next round of ERPA funding on behalf of OurGoods.org, and we recieved $10,000 for ERPA in 2010. We just applied for ERPA funding in 2011, and we are absolutely thrilled to hear that The Field is giving us $20,000! That's $35,000 in three years for five people, or just over $2,300 for each of us per year.

#2) We just received a $20,000 grant for ERPA Phase 4!

Thankfully, The Field understands that Economic Revitalization can mean an increased exchange of goods and services via barter, not just cash. OurGoods connects creative people who want to trade skills, spaces, or objects. And yes, even barter websites need legal tender to pay for web hosting, materials, and some labor. We encourage a hybrid economy, moving between non-monetary exchange and the cash economy. OurGoods gives creative people more opportunities for non-monetary exchange, and funding OurGoods with a little cash creates a lot of valuable non-cash exchanges for a lot of people.

#3) Online participation always increases with off-line events (in real space).

We have 1182 people using OurGoods and it's been open to the public for 3 months, so I'm glad that many creative people are interested in barter. But we have far fewer completed barters than we'd like. To really engage people in OurGoods, we need more live events. We had a handful of "live barter workshops" in November and talked openly about the awkwardness of action-oriented conversations about value, so that helped bring thoughtful users to the site. We also spent time helping people identify valuable skills (most people say they don't have anything to offer), and that helped people use the site more fully as well. Tomorrow, Trade School will open again, so increased face to face time with a barter-interested community should help build trust and energy around OurGoods as well.

#4) A major site upgrade is coming soon.

We are overdue for another interface design upgrade. Co-founders Carl Tashian, Rich Watts, and Louise Ma will be integrating the "dashboard" (what you see when you first go to OurGoods) in March so that a first time visitor to OurGoods.org can browse the site more deeply without having to make a profile. Co-founder Jen Abrams and I will be calling individual users to ask them what works and what doesn't. Here's a chart we use to gauge how we're doing.

#5) We started working with other organizations as partners for our events.

Lots of groups have sent one or two emails about us (especially in the theater/dance community) for the live barter events, and some of them list us as an opportunity of their website (Queens Museum, Exit Art, BAX). I feel supported by generous people at many organizations, who all care deeply about cooperation and reciprocity. I'm still not sure we're asking them to do enough, or engaging them properly though.

#6) I continue to read about barter, money, alternative economies, and corporations.

I've been reading a lot of economic anthropology texts and connecting to grassroots economic organizers. Do you know SolidarityNYC? Through a meandering research path, I met people who connect land trusts, co-ops, alternative currencies, and others under one framework: the solidarity economy. On another note, I hope to teach a class about the morality of barter and its relationship to identity, trust, and mutual aid. I'm writing about barter as a space between gift and market economies, and hopefully I will be confident to post about that sometime soon!

#7) Meet me in person at Trade School!

It's so nice to open Trade School again, especially now that OurGoods.org is open to the public (last year it was in a closed alpha phase during Trade School). It seems like teachers and students are just as enthusiastic about trading knowledge for goods this year as we are. Plus, we'll be featured in the Wall Street Journal tomorrow, for our opening day! I love imagining barter on Wall Street.

More nuggets-o-wisdom from the wise Morgan von Prelle Pecelli!

In the final class of Project, Proposals and Pitches, Morgan asked students to bring in a 2-page proposal containing a project description, artist statement, artist or company bio and an image representative of their work. Once in-class, students were asked the following questions to measure the efficacy of their proposals and find new ways to better communicate their work.


First Impressions:
Clarity: did you understand what you read?
Impact: did the text express an urgency and clear outcome?

Second Read through:
List the questions you had for the writer. Whatever questions came to mind as you read the 2-pages no matter how minute or conceptual. (not suggestions, questions).

Indepth interrogation:
1. When reading their bio paragraph did you get a sense of their
- history
- values
- vision for the future

2. When reading their project description did you understand
- what the project was?
- how the audience would experience it?
- who was working on it?
- what support it already had?
Did you "see" the project in your mind?

3. When you read the artist statement paragraph did you understand why the artist needed to do this project
- for themselves? (personally and professionally)
- for their audiences?

4. When looking at the image did it
- inspire interest?
- reflect the text/ideas described?
- reflect the artist's voice?
- make you want to see more?
What did it tell you?

5. When reading the entire 2 pages
- did you understand WHO the reader should/could be?
- what if anything was really not clear?
- was the layout (font and format) easy to read? did it also reflect the artist?

For more tools and tips from this Morgan, visit www.idratherwatchthefatkiddance.blogspot.com/

Under the American Presenters' Radar of Realness

Are you showing work at APAP, UTR, Coil or American Realness or __________ this year?

Do you plan on getting gigs at the Walker or Jacob's Pillow or the Red Cat or __________?

Or do you hope to chat it up with Mark or Mark, Vallejo, Ben, Philip, Ella or _________?

How are you going to make it happen for your 2011?

I usually find this time of year so distressing. Too many quickie excerpted shows with terrible lighting and no sets. Too many desperate artists hawking their undervalued wares. too too too much.

When I read the Belarus news today though I was reminded of how luckyluckylucky we are to do all the things we do.

Congratulations to all the artists and arts-lovers who worked hard to free the Belarus Free Theater. Now go see their show at LaMaMa.

Crowdfunding and Fiscal Sponsorship? Oil and Water or Eggs and Toast?

How many Kickstarter campaigns have you seen lately? Yikes. Everyone and the sister is doing one.

Are people raising more money for their art at Kickstarter?

Are they keeping more money in their pockets too?

Are they giving away too many gifts with each contribution? (and thus losing money?)

Are the getting new donors/audience or is it just the same gaggle of supporters?

Recently I sat down with the super friendly folks at RocketHub - the new kids on the crowdfunding block. We spoke about crowd funding and its relationship to "traditional fundraising" like fiscal sponsorship.......Read it here first

Have you crowdfunded? How did it go for you?

kahlil almustafa: Funders Need Romance Too

It was more than a year ago that the astounding Fran Kirmser gave me this bit of Fundraising 101 advice: “Your application should not be the first time a funder hears from you.” Duh! Of course, that sounds right. Imagine inviting someone to a cozy movie on the couch without a first date. Imagine inviting someone to lovely candlelit dinner without a history of awkward laughter and accidental hand touching. Not a good idea. The same goes for funders. Before you wham-bam-thank-you-Ma'am ask for money, it is a good idea to try to get to know your potential John first. Here is a simple breakdown of Pre-Proposal Contacts with funders.

First Step, initial contact with the Program Officer. Each grant has a contact person. This communication has two objectives: 1) obtain the application forms and guidelines to follow should you decided to submit a proposal, and 2) it is the first step in building a relationship. You want to find out a couple things from the Program Officer: the names of past grant winners, and the names of past grant panelists. This is not the time to overwhelm the Program Officer with excessive questioning or your life story. That is no way to get a first date.

Step Two, contact a past grant winner. Most people are hesitant to take this step, especially us New Yorkers who compete with each other for everything from seats on the train to corporate and government funding. Truth is though, most artists feel a shared camaraderie and would be glad to help you storm the funders gates for the hidden treasure. This is not a time to receive feedback on your proposal. Your main objective here is to get information that would be helpful towards developing your grant application. Some questions to ask: “Who was most helpful on the staff in developing your proposal?” “How close was your initial budget to what you were awarded?” “What would you say was the most important to pay attention to in the grant guidelines?”
(The pros might suggest you contact past panelists next. I’m not up to that stage yet.)

Step Three, back to the Program Officer. Early in your communication with the Program Officer, you should find out their preferred method of communication: email or phone. Thank the Program Officer for their prior assistance, let them know briefly who you are and let them know you have some additional questions. Some important questions to ask during this follow-up phone call are: “Would you review a pre-proposal and give feedback?” “Who reviews the final proposal?” “What is your process for reviewing applications?” “What are some of the most common mistakes people in the applications you receive?”

Contrary to this blog entry’s title, these pre-application communications are less about romancing the funder as much as it is about acknowledging the steps it takes to build an intimate relationship. And receiving money from a funder is definitely a partnership. At best, it is a long-lasting, googly-eyed love affair. At worst, it is you turned down yet again because you have not taken the necessary steps true love demands.

kahlil almustafa: The Art of Business

Once I began to approach business in the same way I approach my art, everything became, well, poetic. For several years I studied the business of art: money management, time management, grant writing, networking, and marketing. Though my skills improved in all of these areas, it all clicked when I began to study, The Art of Business. Here are some insights I found applying my art as a performance poet to handling what my momma would call, “my bizness.”

First, I asked myself a question: “What do I need to do to conduct successful business?” The answer: communication, communication, communication. I began using my approach to poetry to my emails. My poems are often meant to honor people and share my visions, so I started to include a sentence acknowledging people’s hard work, insights, or commitment, and a sentence articulating my vision in emails with partners and collaborators. I also started a tradition, “Thank You Fridays,” to put in random calls thanking one or two people a week, just because. This poetic approach transformed my relationship with key partners. They instantly had more leniency for my sometimes inconsistent communication, and more importantly, were increasingly staked in my artistic vision. Score 1 for Poetry!!

Second, I thought about applying similar rituals to my business as I do to my art. For years, I’ve used a special Black & White composition notebook to scribble down words that eventually evolved into poems. Now, I have a dedicated notebook to write down my business ideas, and a green pen to write with. Two of my favorite poets, Langston Hughes and Pablo Neruda wrote with green pens, so it is an homage to them as well. My other ritual was to light a candle when I started handling business in my office. The lighting of the candle helped transition me to my work day. The blowing out of the candle helped me close out my work day.

These are two simple ways I’ve incorporated my approach to poetry to business. More important than these two examples is the overall transformation to my relationship to conducting business. No longer am I a novice in an unfamiliar world. I am an experienced poet exploring my artistic practice in real time with people.