Tuesday (9/13) on the Los Angeles Times blog Culture Monster, Mike Boehm reports, “United States Artists says that creative folks conducting do-it-yourself fundraising on its website have reaped $1 million from philanthropically minded visitors in the initiative’s first nine months. The Los Angeles-based organization, which awards $2.5 million a year via its USA Fellows program, rolled out the USA Projects fundraising program in December, billing it as the first online ‘microphilanthropy’ effort devoted strictly to artists living in the United States. Since then, 125 projects have been funded in eight categories—architecture and design, crafts and traditional arts, dance, literature, media, music, theater arts and visual arts. More than 7,000 donations have been made, averaging $146, the organization announced Tuesday. … Donors anted up $20,230 for ‘The Great Flood,’ a film-and-musical performance piece about the epochal 1927 overflows up and down the Mississippi River, and their impact on American culture and society. … More modest proposals have benefited: L.A. artist Cindy Bernard needed $5,000 to incorporate videos into ‘The Inquisitive Musician,’ a live-performance piece based on a 17th century German satire concerning a face-off between classically trained violinists and self-taught fiddlers who play by ear.”
Posted September 16, 2011
