…the dread of every freelancing artist is talking money. Whether at a dinner party with your family. Standing up for your worth with a client. Explaining expenses to your friends who you would love to create for, but…! Or trying to push a project through when the project itself doesn’t fall neatly under any major art fund. Oih boih.
Monetising art has always been difficult. When there are no wealthy patrons to take interest in your projects, where do you turn?
We in Spindrift have put great effort in sourcing finances beyond crowdfunding after feeling overwhelmed by the inevitable avalanche of projects of friends and acquaintances after graduation. While crowdfunding was an essential part in getting Spindrift’s early projects off the ground, we quickly feared it would exhaust the support and kindness of our networks.
There are many wonderful resources for artists, especially in Europe, when it comes to arts funding. It is highly competitive, requires patience during the months of processing, and a great amount of resilience for the inevitable rejections. But sometimes, in order to properly present your project to those large funds you have to have first done a Residency or a Research and Development production to have proper marketing materials and to legitimise your process.
That’s where we are now. Spindrift is staging a Research and Development production at Dixon Place in lower Manhattan in the hopes of staging a fully developed version in Icelandic and New York theatres. This production plays an integral role in developing the script, exploring the movement choreography, composing our own theme music and creating a video trailer and production photography to market this beautiful storytelling piece.
Actors Chris and Léerin during rehearsals
Through crowdfunding we were able to source a table and a bicycle important to the movement choreography and references in the script. We were able to cover our rehearsal space expenditures through a combination of funding and collaborating with artist friendly spaces. But we still have a little to go if we are to cover our performers with modest stipends after donating two months of their focus and hard work.
We want this event to be accessible to all, and so we will not be charging for tickets during our Research and Development run on Saturday 28th March, 7:30pm at Dixon Place. The greatest support you can provide any artist is simply showing up to see their work.
But if you are able to donate the equivalent of a cup of coffee with a friend, or the ticket price we forfeited for accessibility, your donation is sure to cause a ripple of happy dances through New York City.
Awards include our limited edition show poster, a thank you video from the cast and crew and even a producer title. Will you help us achieve our goals?