The Universal Patronage Project

So as all projects do, this one has continued to grow and change. The most significant thing that has happened is the decision to launch Phase 2: I’m in the largest portrait ever made.

So join the group and spread the word!!

According to Mashable, today marks the 6th birthday of what we have come to call Facebook.

As you may have noticed, we fell off the wagon with this project awhile back. Lots of excuses, but in reality, I think it comes down to a simple truth: we’re afraid of the project. Not conceptually – I think we’re both fascinated by it. But in actuality.

Neither of us are really big telephone users. And begging for money is scary. Scarier than we anticipated. It’s one thing to talk about it in theory – quite another to actually begin calling people that you know and asking them to give you something. Especially when that something happens to be the most culturally valuable abstraction – hard cash.

But since it’s FB’s bday, it seems the least we can do is to get something going. My personal goal for tonight is just to call ONE person that gave us their phone number.

Hope to talk to you soon.

The second appeal has not produced as many hits on the blog or phone numbers so far. It has however, gotten a different tone of response from the people that have replied. Much more “charitable” – for instance one person related a story of someone sending them money on Christmas when their spouse was out of work and how that had made their holiday.

“I don’t have much,” she said. “But it made the kids Christmas.”

Wow. This was from a “new” fbf – someone that I haven’t seen in a number of years, but that I went to grade school and high school with. For some reason that made me feel a little weird.

So too did the response from a fbf who we actually know pretty well saying that she hoped if we needed money – or anything else – that we would be comfortable enough to just call and ask her for it.

Not sure how this will affect our next appeal, but here’s some thoughts:

• Should we remove people from the email list that have already written back?
• Should we be more or less forthcoming with our personal financial situation?
• What role should/ does pity play in this particular equation?
• What role does ART play in it?

So things changed a little in our way of thinking after we sent out that first appeal. The most significant change: we are sending out 1 appeal/wk. This is for a number of reasons, not the least of which being that 5 solicitation emails in a row – regardless of how support-worthy the cause – would annoy pretty much anyone.

We also noticed that the original email only had a shelf-life of about 3 days. After Wednesday, we didn’t receive any additional phone numbers. It also became apparent that we needed to wait and see what people wrote (those that replied with more than just a phone number) – what kind of questions they had, what things needed expansion or clarification.

It appeared (from our very limited sample) that people wanted to know more about the $$$ aspect. No surprises there.

So here it is – the second version of the appeal:

As Suzy Orman says: People first. Then money. Then things.

2. As for the $$$ part:

We mentioned it in the name of transparency. The idea behind the Universal Patronage Project is a large number of somehow-connected people each giving a small donation toward the achievement of a goal, for instance allowing us to keep the lights on at Fishbowl (our gallery/project space).

So at some point during our conversation, we will ask each of you for a small donation as an investment toward the direct support of artists and art-making. For the purposes of this email, let’s say that amount is $10. Maybe you can think of it like this: A reasonable amount for a friend to ask for, and one you wouldn’t think twice about giving them.

Plus, there’s no worries:

If you participate by sending us a donation, but then find yourself needing that money back – even the next day – all you have to do is ask, and we will return it to you. No questions asked. No hard feelings. Liquidity is key.

So please send us your numbers. You can reach us anytime at: 773 383 0396.

Yours truly,

Ruby & Cash (as of 10/09)
Beau & Lily (05/08-05/09)
Paul & Kate (12/05-05/08)

and all of those that went before…

So of course we are not alone in our venture to raise money; not even the idea of sponsoring a single brushstroke is original. Which made me wonder: How many other artists and art organizations are using some form of this idea?

I decided to do some searching on Google. I limited myself to 3 keywords per search, and to twenty total searches. Here’s what I found & the order in which I found it. You can also click on the picture to go to a gallery of screenshots from the search.

1. Keywords: “sponsor brushstroke” 451,000 hits
2. Keywords: “sponsor brushstroke painting” 21,400 hits
3. Keywords: “sponsor brushstroke artist” 22,300 hits
4. Keywords: “sponsor individual artist” 3,850,000 hits
5. Keywords: “sponsor individual artwork” 10,200,000 hits
6. Keywords: “sponsor artist art” 17,200,000 hits
7. Keywords: “buy a brushstroke” 177,000 hits
8. Keywords: “adopt a dot” 2,810,000 hits
9. Keywords: “adopt a brushstroke” 13,900 hits
10. Keywords: “adopt a painting” 2,270,000 hits
11. Keywords: “adopt a sculpture” 1,890,000 hits
12. Keywords: “adopt an artwork” 2,160,000 hits
13. Keywords: “adopt an artist” 3,020,000 hits
14. Keywords: “adopt art piece” 8,940,000 hits
15. Keywords: “support an artist” 177,000,000 hits
16. Keywords: “support a brushstroke” 121,000 hits
17. Keywords: “support a painting” 47,600,000 hits
18. Keywords: “support an artwork” 30,200,000 hits
19. Keywords: “give money artist” 28,500,000 hits
20. Keywords: “donate money artist” 1,530,000 hits