Arts Patronage

[vasanthakokilam]

We often talk about our desire to have a system in place through which we can support the artists we like who have not achieved mainstream success.

I keep bumping into 'patreon' a service that is aimed to address this need. I hear Podcasters trying this model instead of advertising.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patreon

It is natural to think that such efforts will be successful only to the extent of the willingness of the supporters to part with some money. While that is indeed true by definition, in practical terms the success is really a function of how big the network is. So if we plan to build a system similar to Patreon for CM and related arts, the challenge is not the software platform or the billing method but how to bring in potential patrons into the network.

A forum like ours, Sangeethapriya, and various Facebook groups related to CM our members belong to, artists Twitter followers, Various CM associations etc together constitute a good chunk of the potential patrons and so any such system needs to be promoted using all those venues until a critical mass is reached after which the network can grow organically.

One good thing about this is, there are no committes to decide who to provide funding etc. it is all 100% determined by the patrons through individual or collective action.

Let us discuss if Patreon or any other competing platforms can be tried first before we try to build our own!
We then need to pilot it by creating a project and promote it through all the above mentioned venues and see if the 'collective we' in addition to talking about this are really willing to act.

[VK RAMAN]

This is a good idea for rasikas to discuss and agree on.

[shankar vaidyanathan]

vk: It looks like the deserving artist must create the recurring pledge appeal on their platform. Not sure how practical for our target artists. Also 5% is a steeper cut. As you know, 2.5-3% is the going rate that credit card issuers charge. An idea is pay-per-stream: for e.g. 3.5-5 cents per spin from cloud as opposed to paying to outright download. This way a deserving artist could share their creation/body of unappreciated or under appreciated works and the donor "gets something in return" - the American way of crowd fund raising. Wait until Harimau reads this - another NRI idiot;-)

[munirao2001]

I wanted to share my recent experience. I had sent the appeals of Vani Kala Kendra for the financial support for the Sri Raamanavami Sangeeta Utsav-2015 to select Builders and Promotors and few Corporate-ITC & BEML. I did not receive any response. I personally met select few persons living in the street, I live. Three supported with funds totaling to Rs.28,000/-(Rs.25,000 + 2,000 +1,000) and one more has assured support on 3rd April. This experience has led to my thinking that if the discerning rasikas join the cause and work in the neighborhood,unmindful of the rejections, funds can be raised. I have suggested Vani Kala Kendra Team to create the data base of rasikas- appx.250-300 are attending the concerts, create volunteers for each street in Basaveshwaranagar and volunteers to collect the funds. I am keen to follow up on this idea and action to find its effectiveness.

munirao2001