The interface is slightly different, but the end result is very similar, with one big bonus. Even if I don't reach my funding target, I still get to keep the funds pledged. So very very excited.
What's this all about you ask? Well, it's a writer's nightmare. What started out as a fully paid artistic residency in the jungles of Guatemala has now turned into a fundraising exercise because of the global financial crisis. The US-based Non-Government Organization ArtCorps used to pay for their artists to fly to Central America and then covered the cost of the accommodation and food, as well as gave them a $1000 US budget for the artistic project they were undertaking. Fast -forward to our post global financial crisis situation and that is no longer the case. Unfortunately, I only found this out very very late in the picture.
I had applied to go to Guatemala with ArtCorps this year, to a place very close to Tikal, my dream paradise. Alas, the host NGO which was collaborating with ArtCorps lost their funding from the Ford Foundation when Ford went bust. Watch the rug get pulled. Watch me fall by the wayside. Watch ArtCorps promise to try again for 2011. This all happened in December last year.
I then spend most of this year working on getting my doco off the ground. It's still grounded, but the engine is almost ready for takeoff. The wings are getting built. The engineers are nodding in agreement at the blueprint. It's all good people. Then in September this year, I hear back from ArtCorps. They want me to start in January 2011 and they need my security deposit and my airfare right smartly.
Well... a little more notice would have helped. I was broke. Then I lost my part-time job. And then something happened. The universe smiled. ArtCorps refused to take no for an answer. They negotiated with new NGOs, with me, with whoever was willing to listen. The next thing I know they are asking if I will consider doing a six month project instead of a yearly project. I'm still broke mind you. However, something inside me shifts. Call it The Secret, the Law of Attraction, "creative visualisation", faith, whatever you want. I suddenly remembered, I had travelled through British Columbia in 1997 with $30 CAD to my name for one week. I also remembered I climbed on a plane to Japan when I was 21 armed only with the airfare I had borrowed from my boyfriend. In 1998 I had moved to London with no job, landing on one Ishan Muthalib's doorstep to his chagrin. Yet, I had overcome. I could overcome again. So I took a leap of faith.
I started looking for grants, funding schemes all sorts of things. In the middle of all this, crowdfunding went nuts. I discovered that the Queensland Government will fund professional development for artists, including their travel costs. I found a short-term contract with Dimension Data, an up and coming IT outsourcing company. ArtCorps granted me a reprieve. They allowed to pay only part of the deposit upfront and to come up with the airfare in January. It was as if the universe was saying: you're getting on that plane to Guatemala. No buts, not ifs. So I accepted this turn of events and began my fundraising effort by posting a project on IndieGoGo and reading through the Arts Queensland application form.
Wish me luck peeps, I'm about to embark on that nightmarish voyage that is a grant application. Between that and the crowdfunding platforms, I should be sorted. Oh, I guess you must be wondering how I came up with the money for the deposit. It was the generosity of one amazing woman: Nina Birch, who as she puts it, believes in karma. She lent me the money, bless her. I aim not to disappoint her.
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