Friday, October 15, 2010

Kickstarter -- A Source of Funds for the Creative Arts

Many of you already know about C. Hope Clark's Funds for Writers website and newsletter. This is the go to place to learn about grants, contests, and other opportunities for writers to fund their writing projects.

When writer friend Tim Northburg was searching Funds for Writers for ways to finance hiring a professional editor for his YA novel, Bacon Finnegan and the Relics of Merlin, he found Kickstarter, a platform funding mechanism for setting up a project with a time limit for raising the amount needed to get the job done.

I've looked at much of the info on this site, and am impressed at the line-up of projects. Looks like a great way for artists and writers to get backing for their projects, and a great way for those who support the arts to help out. I tested making a pledge to Tim's project and discovered the payment charge went through amazon.com, which increased my sense of security in sharing my credit card number. Kickstarter also has a blog which may be of interest.

I suspect that getting the word out for any one project is difficult, but for writers or artists who have a large network of friends, it's an interesting way to fund a retreat, important conference, art classes, a gallery showing, or hiring a professional editor to help a beginning writer polish a manuscript.

To view Tim's project page and the trailer for his manuscript, go to the Kickstarter: Bacon Finnegan and the Relics of Merlin.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Patricia - Thanks for this very useful information! It's very good to know there is funding out there, and that people who are in a position to offer support can safely do so.

Patricia Stoltey said...

Good morning, Margot. So many great projects go unfunded because there's no way to get the word out. I think whoever designed Kickstarter had a great idea.

RHYTHM AND RHYME said...

Interesting information Patricia, thanks for sharing,

Yvonne,

KK Brees said...

In a time when funds have all but disappeared, this is great news. Thanks for sharing, Patricia.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Sounds unusual!

Unknown said...

I'll check it out. Thanks for posting.

CD

Jane Kennedy Sutton said...

Sounds like an interesting concept. I’ll have to check it out.

Lisa_Gibson said...

thanks for sharing the link. Sounds interesting. :)

The Old Silly said...

Sounds great - thanks for the tip, Pat!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the post. I didn't know Kickstarter was out there. I'll definately check out both links.

Stephen Tremp

Jemi Fraser said...

Thanks for the info Pat! :)

Jo Schaffer said...

My sister and her husband are on Kickstarer for their film 95ers: Echoes... it is such a great tool for creative types.