I love political campaign e mails. There’s such a sense of urgency and drama. I got one this morning that said, “Own a piece of this movement by making a donation of $25 today.” Own a piece of this movement. Boom. Yes. I even like how they’re addressed – there’s no “Dear Potential Subscriber” or “Dear Patron” or even “Dear Amanda E Ameer”; it’s all “Amanda –“. I’m like yes, what’s up, how can I help you? Also, I appreciate them suggesting $25, a specific, manageable amount that I don’t really have to think about.
Where is the sense of urgency in arts fundraising e mails? I don’t want a free tote, I want to know that you really need my money now or something bad will happen (or something good WON’T happen). Also, where is the gesture toward a broader movement? Everyone wants to be part of something big and history-making; what is/where is the national arts movement, and will my donating money to Playwrights Horizons make me a part of it?
Last thought, re-triggered by our clever political friends: “own a piece of this movement, literally”, formerly called, in my mind, “the church organ commission”. When a church needs an organ (re)built or repaired, the fundraising committee asks church members to sponsor individual pipes. Money doesn’t seemingly go into a general pot – you know which pipe is yours. I always wondered why dance companies and chamber orchestras (or symphony orchestras, for that matter) didn’t seek to create new works commissioned by the so-called people. “I own 4:03 – 4:23 of the newest John Adams piece for Alarm Will Sound.” The more people who commission the work, the more who have a vested interest in spreading the word and making the work a success; a new donor base and an established street team, all rolled into one!
Most importantly, donating money to tangibly help create a new piece of dance or music really would make me feel like I was part of a movement, literally and not so literally.
We already have a community commission called the Cambridge Commission. We have jointly–our music community–commissioned 4 pieces already–one every two years. Our most wonderful chamber music group–Music From Salem– just premiered Gerald Busby’s Piano Quartet last Saturday which was our 4th commission. It was a smash hit!! Everyone loved it. gerald busby is wonderful–google him to find out and go to http://www.musicfromsalem.org/historyofccomiss.html to read about how we got started. People love feeling like they are supporting new chamber music and keeping it alive and hearing it for the first time in our little village of cambridge, ny.
I’ve been following some of your suggested strategies for a commissioning club over the last few years. One BIG difference between commissioning new work and contributing to something tangible: Um, “something tangible.” In my experience, donors are much more likely to contribute to pay rent, or buy a building vs. make new work. Investing in new art is risky and hard to measure (is it any good? who can tell?)… sponsoring a pipe in the organ gives them something that actually exists. Time based performing arts have a hard time delivering something tangible. If we can figure out how to package “new work” as something tangible, that will be a big deal!
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All valid points. In my mind, the crediting is the most important aspect in making the “purchase” of seconds/minutes of a new work tangible, that is, just like with a normal (” “) commission, the person or people who funded the work and the venue at which/artists with which it is premiered must be mentioned every time it is performed. If that’s a list of 100 names with time stamps attached, so be it. Also, I personally think the emotions attached to sponsoring a few seconds of a piece would be more tangible than hearing an organ with a pipe I sponsored played. Few people can actually tell which pipe is being played at any given moment (I can’t, at least), but sitting at a concert and knowing your twenty seconds is coming up would be thrilling. Re: guaranteeing the new piece will be good and identifying who determines that, well…if anyone reading comes up with that answer, don’t post on this blog – sell it for a lot of money!! Thanks for commenting! -AA