Kickstarter On Track To Distribute More Funding Than The National Endowment For The Arts

Fundraising website Kickstarter is on track to beat the National Endowment for the Arts in funding, Talking Points Memo reports.

In an exclusive interview with TPM, one of the web startup's co-founders, Yancey Strickler, said the company expects to distribute $150 million to its users' projects by the end of the 2012 fiscal year, edging out the NEA's $146 million budget.

Kickstarter has been around since 2008, distributing funds for projects in a variety of creative areas including art, comics, technology and theater. The way it works is community based -- users pitch their projects, and anyone on the internet can donate money to fund them. The NEA is an independent federal government agency that has been around since 1965, awarding grants to the arts, from dance and design to music and theater.

While NEA funding calls are made by a council and the NEA chairman (Rocco Landesman), and typically don't exceed $100,000, Kickstarter's grassroots model is limitless. Some projects have raised mind-boggling amounts of money, such as this Elevation Dock for the iPhone, which was one of three projects to exceed $1 million, raising close to $1.5 million on Monday.

In general, Kickstarter projects follow a looser definition than the NEA's, described as "creative" projects rather than solely artistic ones. The NEA's recent grantees include Magic City Smooth Jazz, supporting their Jazz in the Park series, and the Puppetry Arts Theater, Inc. in Brooklyn, NY, to support a production of a new musical, "Antropomorphic" (see a list of recent grant recipients here), and are often meant to promote arts education as much as specific projects.

Strickler added that the company views the implication of the $150 million number "in both a good and a bad way."

"Maybe there’s a reason for the state to strongly support the arts," Strickler told TPM.

Whatever Strickler's reservations, this can't be anything but good news. There's no reason the two worlds shouldn't coexist -- the more underground Kickstarter projects, and the more traditional NEA grants -- when all it means is more funding for the arts. The only way it could be viewed in a negative light is if someone used this news to bolster an argument for cuts in federal arts funding. So just don't tell this guy.

Comments

[BigLittle]

12:48 AM on 02/28/2012

This gives one some hope. The fact that the NEA can't manage toe spend 50 cents a year per capita is a measure of the Unites States failure to achieve a mature civilization, and a marker of it's decline, which we are already witnessing. The failure of the NEA is a failure of national vision, perhaps the sum of this individual decisions can help fix that somewhat.

[Parthenokinesis]

03:24 PM on 02/26/2012

This makes me happier than I could have possibly imagined. Seems metaphoric, the people are stronger than the petty government they set up for themselves.

[Adam Leipzig]

09:51 PM on 02/25/2012

What great news and a breath of fresh air for new models to support the arts. It is no surprise that string social networks will do more than government funding, as the politics of social networks doesn't travel along the lines of "culture wars." This is another perfect example of not doing things the same old way with arts and culture. Bravo!

[MrNOBODYCares]

09:05 PM on 02/25/2012

with funding for the arts being cut at every turn this news is not shocking at all.
this year I will see which does better to fund my art project, I applied for a state grant and launched a kickstarter project I have 7 days left on kickstarter - its not like the National Endowment For The Arts would even give a nobody like me a second look

Mr. NOBODY
the last days on kickstarter
http://haiti.fm

[Aynjewl Faycc]

05:26 PM on 02/25/2012

Fem C Aynjewl Faycc: shoots and edits her own music video with original music. Her track "Meadow of Dreams" is also written, recorded, mixed and mastered by the artist herself. She produced the beat used here as well. Check out her talent in the video at http://youtu.be/LPAdfv8xc6s