A.I. ART as FUNDRAISING TOOL
I want to try something.
I’m involved with a lot of arts organizations and projects, each cool and exciting in their own way. I like sharing them with others, and each year I play an important part in presenting the absolute joy of live theatre productions to thousands of people (no lie). All of these things require a lot of financial support. I hate posting constantly on social media for fundraising purposes, since it tends to reach the same people, most of whom will never be geographically near enough to attend a performance. So, I’m proposing a solution:
Use AI to make a low-cost, tangible fundraising product.
In art as in life, people are freaking out about the threat of Artificial Intelligence reaching into every facet of work and stealing our jobs. I feel no fear; there is no way for a robot to create an in-person performance, and it is fairly obvious what is made by an artist and what is done by approximation. Instead, I see the potential of AI as a tool for folks like me, working in underfunded capacities and with limited resources. While in grad school, I studied alternate funding methods for arts organizations because it is very important to be aware of new tools when funding is so limited in our industry. I see this as another aspect of my continued learning.
I have been tossing this idea around for months and have even been selling the prints on ebay for a few weeks, but I was nervous about sharing it widely because it’s such a hot button issue lately. I have a ton of respect for visual artists; every time I try to create my own, I realize just how much I have to learn. Frankly, I don’t have time to devote to learning visual arts while working on all my projects. I am not in the business of making content for content’s sake.
These images are concepts I have long searched for and never found. I think they’re worth sharing if for no reason but inspire real artists. When I entered the prompts, I was stunned by how well they matched what I envisioned. Someday I will try my hand at painting, but I must first finish my current projects.
A big question in fundraising is the return on investment – what does it take to make a buck? (Hopefully less than a buck.) AI art is ultra-low-cost in terms of time and money spent making it; I am asking for at least $10 to cover the costs of printing and shipping the signed prints to those who make a purchase. I cannot afford to commission an artist to devote this sort of time and effort into the artworks, so I am not preventing artists from being hired. These funds enable me to pay real artists to work on my most important projects, namely ArtZapp.
These prints are intended to address a problem I face in fundraising for intangible products like theatre: some people will never see the fruits of their gifts. In short, these prints are items you can hold, share, and see every day. Instead of asking everyone to give out of the goodness of their hearts, I’ll be giving something as a reward that doesn’t cost a ton to make, and I’ll even write a brief note of thanks on the back. I won’t ask you to make a bunch of direct donations to the numerous individual organizations and projects I’m working on, so you don’t have to worry about getting tons of email from them until the end of time (but please sign up for my newsletter and you’ll get a personal story about each one as I’m working on them, as well as links if you feel inclined to support directly).
By the way,
I won’t send my newsletter more than once a week, if that, and they won’t be public so you’ll get the inside scoop. At some point, each project will have formal fundraising campaigns I may include information on, but I promise it won’t be spammy and will include more than just a request for cash.
What the money goes to:
Expanding ArtZapp to include other art forms, innovative features like ArtzMapp, additional outfits for Zeke the Zebra and including arts nonprofits in the fun
Hiring artists and animators for Buttercup’s Lament, an animated short I am producing.
Investing in other artists’ projects
Funding special projects for the organizations I work with
FYI: I don’t have coffers to line.
At all times I am working to find funding for these projects through grants, sponsorships, and all sorts of other ways that are independent of crowd campaigns, so I don’t intend this to be the way of funding. Mostly, I need cash on hand to take the quality up a notch by hiring people skilled in very specific tasks.
If you don’t want to purchase anything and just give, or if you don’t want to go through Ebay, I can Venmo, Paypal, CashApp, Zelle, or even take a check (you’ll have to contact me for the address swap). If you want to do a monthly amount, I can get that set up. On Ebay, 10% automatically goes to Ensemble Stage, but I can deal directly with you if you get in touch (no fees and lower shipping costs). If you have any suggestions on how to better process these transactions or on what AI art you’d like to see next, let me know!
I wouldn’t be here without you. Thanks for having my back and helping me make cool stuff.
-Justin