I've been saying it a lot recently: Ruckus NYC is a one-day conference and concert about art and the internet, happening on September 29th at Cooper Union. It's going to be awesome. But something else has been bubbling up in my head, about why we're doing this, and why it's important. Neil Gaiman was right …
RUCKUS NYC is live on Kickstarter!
Which means that yes, I am asking you for money. It's been about a year and a half, but finally, instead of writing about Kickstarter I am once again using Kickstarter. RUCKUS NYC means a lot to me, and I hope you'll want to be a part of it. It's the next step in work …
Kickstarter Revenue & RUCKUS NYC
In a lot of ways, Kickstarter is supposed to free you from revenue projections. Kickstarter CEO Perry Chen tells the story of wanting to see if there was enough interest in an event before committing the money and effort to hosting it - that experience was part of what inspired him to create Kickstarter. The …
Arts, meet Capital. Then meet crowdfunding.
I'm thinking a lot about how artists and small organizations are similarly structurally cash-poor (we try hard to make art, not save or earn money), and about the boundary in the arts between the structurally cash-poor actors and the structurally cash-rich ones: foundations, governments, Big Content(tm), corporate donors, and individual wealthy people. I got started …
Continue reading "Arts, meet Capital. Then meet crowdfunding."
I Love Public Online Collaboration
It makes composition so much less lonely. Yes, I'm still sitting alone in my house making things up, but other people can chime in and help me think through neat dramatic issues or musical ideas if they want to. And the best part is that they can participate while I'm still technically alone, which means …
Musicians and Restaurants
I just saw this video linked in a blog post by James Buckhouse, the man behind #TeamClassical. Peter Gregson has a great message about what classical music can learn from restaurants. It's worth listening to the whole talk and hearing him flesh out the ideas, but basically he's saying that restaurants understand that they need …
Why Don’t I Have a Non-Profit?
I'm an entrepreneurial young person in the arts in New York City. I produce events large and small, have experience and expertise in the management of a non-profit, particularly in grantwriting, and all the other skills necessary to create and lead that kind of an organization. I have a core group of collaborators that could …
How to Plan Your Kickstarter – part 3
This blog series is from June of 2012. It will still help you get a handle on on planning your Kickstarter project, but I highly suggest you start with Kickstarter's own Creator Handbook. They keep it updated, and they do it very well. Once you're finished with that, this series can give you some insight …
The Responsibility Scallop
There's always one. Every time people do something together, someone is the responsibility scallop. Sometimes it's the boss, sometimes it's the second-in-command. Usually it's that busy and worried-looking person who checks on things and reminds other people to follow up on stuff. The responsibility scallop is in charge of the list of what has to …
How to Plan Your Kickstarter – part 2
This blog series is from June of 2012. It will still help you get a handle on on planning your Kickstarter project, but I highly suggest you start with Kickstarter's own Creator Handbook. They keep it updated, and they do it very well. Once you're finished with that, this series can give you some insight …
This Rough Magic – Prospero & the marimba
Last weekend Rose Ginsberg (director), Ian Rosenbaum (acting marimba), Victoria Nece (visual effects, including the image for this post that you see on the homepage) and I made this video. Rose and I had been meaning to rehearse and film this piece for a while, and we finally made it happen as part of issue …
Continue reading "This Rough Magic – Prospero & the marimba"
How to Plan Your Kickstarter – part 1
This blog series is from June of 2012. It will still help you get a handle on on planning your Kickstarter project, but I highly suggest you start with Kickstarter's own Creator Handbook. They keep it updated, and they do it very well. Once you're finished with that, this series can give you some insight …