Kickstarter Will Fund More Projects In 2012 Than National Endowment For The Arts
Fan funding platform Kickstarter is on track to distribute more than $150 million to creative projects in 2012. That's more than this year's $146 million budget for The National Endowment of the Arts (NEA), the primary source of government arts funding in the U.S. Kickstarter's lifetime funding now stands at $150 million, but is accelrating rapidly with $99 million pledged last year alone.
Kickstarter vs. The National Endowment
Besting the NEA is not, however, an accomplishment that Kickstarter is entirely proud of. “We view that number and our relationship to it in both a good and bad way,” Kickstarter co-founder Yancey Strickler told
TPM. It means that a lot more money is going to the arts. “But maybe it shouldn’t be that way,” admits Strickler. “Maybe there’s a reason for the state to strongly support the arts.”
Of course, Kickstarter's definition of "creative projects" extends well beyond the NEA's mandate to add design and technology like iPod Nano watches and iPhone docs. Kickstarter also does not offer the level of post-funding support of projects that the NEA does. “Successfully funded projects are the independent creations of these people,” according to Strickler, “We provide help when asked. We know success rates for various product categories, we have a sense of what will make a project more or less likely to succeed. But we don’t get too granular with it, it’s not like, ‘oh if only Johnny had sent a message on this day his project would have been different.’ We’d love to have the time to do that some day.”
Pitchfork & Family Records Curate Kickstarter Communities
But communities are forming within Kickstarter that do offer promotion and support for some projects, including music. Influential site Pitchfork curates a list of music and music related film projects; but independent label Family Records takes an even broader approach. "It's important to us to be involved in new ways to encourage creativity across different fields," says Lauren Glucksman, Family's Director of Artist Relations. "We are not only a music company just as you are not only a music fan. These will not be official Family Records projects, just projects we come across that we believe in".
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Here’s one person’s response.
Information Diet | Kickstarter's not even close to the NEA: This comparison is unfortunate because Kickstarter and the NEA are two very different things, and have two very different missions. Comparing what Kickstarter to the NEA is like saying Facebook has organized more working-class americans than the AFL-CIO: it only makes sense if you’re completely ignorant of the function of either.
I think there are some interesting comparisons to be made but we should recognize that most of the art funded by Kickstarter would never be funded by the NEA. The NEA is a highly hierarchical organization that funds art that’s been highly vetted by an elitist system.
I do think the NEA is important, funds great art and deserves more support, but we should also understand that Kickstarter offers much more of a democratic process (within the limits of a class stratified society) that represents the desires of the people who fund it while the NEA is an elitist organization that struggles within a political system that cannot be truly described as representing the citizenry’s interest.
Kind of related to the difference between direct democracy and representative democracy.
I have just launched my project on Kickstarter and I am reaching out
to see if my project would be worthy of being listed on your curator page.
Please have a look see, my product is very innovative and it works, I have students to prove that.
My work promotes reading in a fun way. When complete my work could easily be put into an educational movie.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/37728413/phonicsville-learn-reading-and-speaking-fluently-t
Thanks and may today be the best day of your life.
Cajun Cole