Funding and the Arts

From time to time, I want to answer questions that come to me via email that I think might be of interest to more than just the sender. Here’s a question on funding that goes to arts funding but for anyone looking for sponsorship.

Q: How did you raise the money to shoot the videotape Tribes & Bridges at the Steppenwolf Theater and produce the Kaleidoscope Curriculums for inspireaclassroom.com?

Like many artists, the phrase, “businessperson,” can make me squirm.  But hiring tellers, shooting videotapes, printing curriculums, all of it, takes money.  I have been fortunate throughout the various Kaleidoscope projects to have Father Derek Simons and the Society of the Divine Word’s support plus support from my own regional storytelling organization, Northlands Storytelling Network.  However, I had to branch out further to turn dreams into reality.  The Tribes & Bridges videotape, for example, was made possible by a unique collaboration between religious (The Society of the Divine Word and the ACTA Foundation), arts (The Steppenwolf Theater, Illinois Storytelling Festival, Northwest Area Arts Council), business (The Kaleidoscope Group, Diversity Consultants) and corporate (The Northern Trust Bank) sponsors.

Fundraising is storytelling: What stories do you have to tell a corporation or an arts organization to motivate them to get involved with you?  You are a story:  What relationships have you or can you develop?  What will potential funders tell themselves about you?  “She’s trustworthy.”  “They’ll be around for awhile.”  “He’s accountable.”

Your potential funder is tuned to one station: WIFM – what’s in it for me?  Don’t tell a future funder or business partner your story alone i.e. why your project is so worthwhile.  Speak to their needs.  Do they want publicity, a name in the community or a long lasting product at the end such as a book or video?  For our multicultural shows on justice, we had to ask: what are our funders’ ideas of how things can or should change in our society?  We needed to write a clear business proposal that spoke to their vision.  Yes, organizations care, but they need more than that to have your project rise above all the others that come across their desks.

Fundraising, scheduling, feeding the PR machine, answering e-mails, bookkeeping and distributing tapes are all responsibilities I’d gladly do away with, but the nuts and bolts of business hold the artistic structure together.  The art of commerce is a story that makes creative projects happen.