Wooster Collective recently asked their readers, “If I gave you $50 today, with the condition that you had to spend it on ‘art’, what would you do with it?” They received immediate feedback, and though it wasn’t their intention when they asked, they decided to give $50 to the individual behind one of their favourite ideas, Ché Francisco Ortiz. His idea was simple and effective — to “buy a ton of sidewalk chalk and give it out to every kid i saw at the park or boardwalk.” Ortiz bought the chalk, headed to the boardwalk, and a brilliant moment of intervention, community and creativity happened. For only $50. It got me thinking: is microgranting the future of art?
What happens when money runs out? What happens when banks won’t lend, and when grant programs get cut? Microfinancing has been a growing trend in the last couple of years, and with Kiva — a microfinancing organization that typically lends to individuals in developing countries — launching their lending to U.S. citizens, its pertinence in the “developed” world is growing too. It seems an apt thing to apply to arts-funding as well. For $50, Ortiz engaged an entire community of people to unleash their creativity in a public space, and facilitated a fun, collective experience. Ortiz’s idea is so brilliantly simple — the chalk ensures that nothing is damaged; it’s a perfect material for drawing on concrete and asphalt; it inspires excitement in kids and nostalgia in adults — that it almost isn’t shocking that he did it on a dime.
Working within limitations can often be a true test of creativity. A microgranting funding model could challege artists who are up for it. And as for people providing the funds, wouldn’t it be interesting if, instead of buying a framed print or a painting or a glazed bowl, you funded a community or public art project and were named a partner or producer?
Wooster Collective is on to something.
Above image from Ortiz’s Flickr.
(Just to be clear — I do think that $50 is on the extremely low side of a microgrant. I believe in artists getting paid for their time, and I don’t think $50 did that in the case of Ortiz. But it seems to me that innovative, collaborative and community-minded projects can be executed for a couple of hundred.)
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[...] it’s official. I was so moved by the effects of spending $50 on art that I am venturing to develop a model for microgranting the arts in Canada for my Criticism and [...]