The Field - Invention Session #2: Joe's Pub

No more Grants and Grandma: Alternatives to traditional fundraising: Microfinance, venture capitalism, patient capital, art investment funds and other ways to make money for your art
Tuesday, September 30, 2008, 11:30am-1pm
Joe’s Pub

If the majority of New York's ambitious performing artists will never attain financial stability from grants and individual donations, what are some other ways we can build financial stability? What are microfinance, venture capitalism, entrepreneurship, patient capital and investment funds? What do these things mean and how can we successfully modify them to meet our singular needs? Hear from experts in these fields and learn how you can appropriate their solutions for your art-making.

Join The Field and Joe’s Pub in a lively discussion about new ways to make money. Learn about The Field’s Economic Revitalization for Performing Artists (ERPA) project and how you can apply to participate in ERPA.

Moderated by Jonah Bokaer

Panelists:

• Catherine Barnett, Vice President, Project Enterprise

• Chris Elam, Artistic Director, Misnomer Dance Theater

• Heather Rees, NYC Venture Philanthropy Fund

• Esther Robinson, Filmmaker and Founder, ArtHome; former Director of Film/Video & Performing Arts for the Creative Capital Foundation

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Biographies

Catherine Barnett assists the Executive Director in all aspects of running Project Enterprise. She oversees PE’s program operations citywide, pertaining to recruitment, training and ongoing technical assistance to PE's member entrepreneurs. At various times during her career at PE, she served as a Center Manager in Harlem, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx; and oversaw PE’s individual donor strategy. Ms. Barnett has eight years of experience in marketing and corporate communications. While earning her MBA she designed marketing research plans for several minority and women-owned businesses. Previously, Ms. Barnett was a volunteer with the Sisters Lending Circle program of the Central Brooklyn Partnership, helping the program develop and implement a curriculum, identify necessary financial and community resources, and facilitate weekly meetings of low-income women entrepreneurs in Brooklyn, NY. She is fluent in Spanish and French and holds an MBA from the Stern School of Business at New York University and a BA from the University of Pennsylvania.

Jonah Bokaer is an award-winning choreographer and media artist. While working as a dancer in the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, Bokaer completed a double concentration in Visual & Media Studies The New School, through combined studies at Cornell University, Parson School of Design, and NYU Performance Studies. He presently creates his own choreography, digital art, and installations in Brooklyn, New York, which have been presented throughout the United States and abroad, including venues in Denmark, France, Germany, Switzerland, Thailand, and elsewhere. Bokaer also choreographs the Operas of theater artist Robert Wilson. Concurrent to dancing and choreographing, Bokaer was involved with the conception and development of two non-profit cultural institutions in Brooklyn: Chez Bushwick (Founding Director, www.chezbushwick.net) and CPR - Center for Performance Research (Co-Founder, www.cprnyc.org). Both organizations maintain an aggressive commitment to serving creative New Yorkers at affordable prices, while harnessing the power of economic development to sustain affordable workspace in New York City at the municipal level. Fundraising has been adventurous, highly unconventional, and sustainable for both organizations. Bokaer is a 2008-2009 Young Leader of the French American Foundation, the in 2007 Gallery Installation Fellow of Dance Theater Workshop, and a 2006-2007 grantee of the Foundation for Contemporary Arts. He currently serves on the Board of Dance Theater Workshop, the Artists Advisory Board of Danspace Project, and the Advisory Committee of Dance/NYC.

Chris Elam founded Misnomer Dance Theater, a NYC-based modern dance company founded in 1998. Misnomer was noted by the New York Times for creating “one of the top ten dance performances in NYC for 2006”, a show that earned Misnomer a position as one of “25 to Watch” for 2007 in Dance Magazine. Misnomer has performed in over 250 theaters in the USA, Indonesia, Turkey, Ireland, Brazil, France, and the Ukraine, and has presented 6 NYC seasons with support from frequent residencies, most notably at the Baryshnikov Arts Center, NYU’s Skirball Center, and The Joyce Theater Foundation. Elam’s artistic voice was recognized by his nomination for the national 2008 Alpert Awards for Excellence in Choreography, while the breadth of his work is exemplified by the range of his artistic collaborators, including the musical artist Bjork, the documentary team at the Sundance Channel, the Danish Dance Theatre, and Apple Computers. In addition, Elam’s work with Misnomer has led to the development of innovative online models to help performing artists make better use of web technologies. Elam advocates methodologies that bring audiences deeper into the performing arts experience and in 2008 is speaking on the subject of technology’s influence on audience engagement at conferences held by Fortune Magazine, Technology in the Arts, Arts & Business Council of NY, Dance USA, and PopTech. These efforts both complement and advance the company’s core artistic vision, which is, broadly, to engage its dancers and audiences in the experience and understanding of human interaction and intimacy. Elam is an active teacher, having worked in over fifteen universities, and is a world traveler, who has lived for extended periods within numerous dance communities worldwide ranging from Indonesia to Cuba. He received his undergraduate from Brown University and graduate degree from New York University. Please join Misnomer for the World Premiere of BEING TOGETHER, three original dances choreographed on the Summer Stages Dance / Baryshnikov Arts Center residency, with live original music by Evan Ziporyn. The show runs December 4-7 & 11-14 at the Joyce SoHo (tickets: www.joyce.org). There is a benefit performance and reception on December 5th. To learn more about Misnomer, and join of e-newsletter email list, please visit www.misnomer.org.

Heather Rees established Venture Philanthropy Fund in early 2008 to address funding challenges for social entrepreneurs while engaging fellow New Yorkers as social investors. Prior to her foray into philanthropy, Heather enjoyed working between the for- and non-profit sectors including her years of designing and implementing development projects and programs, establishing campus organizations and working on socio-economic issues worldwide. She has also worked as a consultant and volunteer with organizations such as the Fair Trade Foundation, Artisans United for the Development of Atitlan and the Business Council for Peace. Heather received her bachelor's degree in Political Science from UNC-Chapel Hill and a MSc in Gender, Development and Globalization from the London School of Economics.

Esther Robinson has worked on behalf of America's artists for over 14 years in many capacities, including foundation program officer, television and film producer, and technology entrepreneur. She is the founder of ArtHome, a non-profit business that helps artists and their communities build assets and equity through financial literacy and home-ownership. From 1999 to 2006 Esther was the Director of Film/Video and Performing Arts for the Creative Capital Foundation and one of the principal architects of its innovative grant-making system. Established in 1999, Creative Capital provides funding to individual artists in media, performing, and visual arts, as well as emerging fields such as internet art, digital media, and work that combines science and creativity. Transforming the traditional role of grant-maker, Creative Capital pioneered a multi-faceted system of support for artists that includes working in long-term partnerships, providing advisory services and professional development assistance as well as traditional financial support. Esther's experience at Creative Capital made her intimately aware of the financial reality of working artists’ lives. Her close collaboration nationally with funders and artists and her annual adjudication of up to 1800 Creative Capital grant proposals (of which only two dozen would see funding), led her to question whether traditional grantmaking was the most effective way to support a stable and thriving culture sector in America. Recognizing the crucial role that financial solvency and home ownership had played in the lives of successful artists she had met across the country, Esther became convinced that home-buyer education and financial literacy should be vital components of a new support system for the arts. Determined to build a program that makes measurable change in the lives of individual artists, has broad impact regardless of aesthetic or cultural trends, and that builds vital communities both in and outside the cultural sector, Esther founded ArtHome. While developing ArtHome, Esther spent two years researching home-buying programs, low-income loan products, financial literacy curriculum and low-income wealth building strategies. She has built a strong advisory board of artists, arts funders, community development leaders, artist housing experts, bankers, and financial experts. She has been involved in numerous community development conferences and pursued professional development opportunities in financial literacy and homebuyer education. These have included intensive training through NeighborWorks(r) America's Training Division, where she acquired skills to deliver a comprehensive homebuyer education program based on the curriculum that NeighborWorks organizations use to turn prospective homebuyers into homeowners. Prior to this in 1995, Esther realized the goal of producing a national television series before her 25th birthday with Alive TV, a PBS series dedicated to alternative film, video, animation and experimental documentary. She was series producer for two full seasons at Alive TV including the eleven country co-production, Still/Here, a Cable Ace award nominee in 1996. In addition, she oversaw acquisitions, new program development and created the Alive TV web site. In 1998, Esther co-founded Wavelength Releasing, a company formed specifically to address new forms of content production, distribution, and exhibition. Wavelength Releasing partnered with esteemed companies such as CYBERSTAR (a division of LORAL), Texas Instruments, The Independent Film Channel, and others. Its projects were profiled in The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Variety, on CNN financial News and over 100 other print and media outlets. Wavelength Releasing was responsible for the first fully digital film release, executed via satellite to five cities in October 1998. It was also responsible for the highly successful multi-platform release of The Last Broadcast - the first ever desktop feature - a $900 movie that went on to gross over a million US. dollars internationally. Wavelength Releasing served as a new media consultant for the 1999 Sundance Film Festival. Concurrently in 1998, Esther produced the feature documentary HomePage with acclaimed filmmaker Doug Block, which screened in competition at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival, Rotterdam Film Festival, SXSW, and more. It also aired domestically on HBO/CINEMAX and ZDF/ARTE in Europe, and over a dozen countries internationally. In addition to ArtHome, Esther is also finishing her first film: The Danny Williams Story (working title). This feature-length documentary chronicles her search to uncover the facts surrounding the mysterious 1966 disappearance of her uncle, Danny Williams and her discovery of 20 never-before-seen films made by her uncle while at the Warhol Factory.

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