Economies of Art
Symposium:
Session Title:
- The Art Mainstream as the Enemy
Presentation Title:
- Economies of Art
Presenter(s):
Abstract:
In the matter of funding their endeavors, ®™ark and its workers face a condition familiar to nearly every USA artist, and to others as well: there are virtually no government grants to be had. Foundations are few, and direct corporate grants are rare in the USA – especially for activities that have no bearing, or, worse, have desired negative impact, on the ‘bottom line’ of the donating corporation or corporations in general. One way that ®™ark has resolved this impasse is by profiting from the fundraising intelligence that has accumulated in the corporate world.
®™ark has now successfully implemented a ‘mutual fund’ system for its projects, complete with ‘celebrity fund managers’, in order to make project investment more palatable. ®™ark is also considering methods culled from the political sphere: direct canvassing of pledges for actions against specific companies (‘bond issues’) and somewhat covert solicitation of funds from foreign groups with shared interests. We will discuss these ideas, and also display some of the promotional tools (videos, brochures, etc.) we have employed to popularize ®™ark and ®™ark projects among our contributor base.
