Ideas@TheCentre
Invest in a creative type
Artists often assert that Australian arts are struggling because of inadequate funding, harping on the need for more taxpayer support.
But as Cass Wilkinson argues in the Winter edition of Policy, government sponsorship has created an insular, backward-looking arts tradition that is accessible to only a select few. To generate a broader participation, we should be looking into independent, bottom-up approaches to arts funding.
Pozible, an online crowd-funding website, is one such example. Artists can advertise their ideas (for example, a short film or a music album) on this virtual creative ideas billboard for 90 days to attract funds from supporters.
Melbourne artist and graphic designer Jeremy Kool recently succeeded in raising $5,000 for his children’s book, The Paper Fox, which he will shortly release on iPad and Android.
In return, supporters are rewarded depending on the amount they contribute. In Kool’s case, supporters making a $5 pledge will receive an advance edition of the digital book and a 32mm badge of the main character, the paper fox. Those making a $70 pledge will get the digital book and an A4 character portrait of their choice. A $100 pledge receives more, and so on.
Projects that fail to receive the target amount do not get funded, and any money pledged is returned to supporters.
Funding targets on Pozible are generally small, ranging from $24 to $175,000, according to This is not Art – not much if you’re making a feature length movie, but more than adequate to record an album or publish a short story. The funding process is transparent: the number of supporters and their contributions are displayed on the site for everyone to see.
Pozible will not revolutionise arts in Australia, but it is encouraging for several reasons. First, it bucks the conventional approach that arts funding is about government funding. Second, its bottom-up, market-based funding approach links the arts community with those funding it. Third, given that governments have limited budgets, such innovative movements may lead to a more small-scale projects being funded than if left entirely to government grants. Finally, and most importantly, the community themselves decide which projects are funded, not some faceless bureaucrat.
Community-based ideas like Pozible can help make arts more dynamic, robust and financially independent.
Alexander Philipatos is a Policy Analyst at The Centre for Independent Studies.
