Art Grants: Alternatives to Dollars

[Zhust]

I have been a recipient of a Burning Man art grant (2005, for the Bike With 2 Brains) and I'm working with my friend Sondra Carr on her grant-funded Facing Our Fears project. In reading the "NO GOOD MUSIC IN 2006 thread, it occurred to me that a valuable resource comes from non-financial sources -- in their case, transportation is hard to come by.

Here's the specific example: in working on the Facing Our Fears project, I took on the task of figuring out how to make a transportable (i.e. minimum space), easy-to-set-up and tear-down, cheap (using as much scrap material as possible) 7-foot-high deck for the center of the mountain of faces. I took the template (a design made by the computer at the hardware store for a stationary deck) and transcribed it into my own CAD software and made modifications so it could be mostly assembled off-site, transported, set up on-site, torn down, and transported back to be used again.

So although we have funding to buy lumber and bolts, we're short on structural expertise, deck building, and blueprint-making. I'm doing my best on the CAD software and although the drawings look pretty with all the dimensions laid out, the information on how the whole thing works is not being conveyed. I'm fortunate to be able to consult with my dad who's a mechanical and electrical engineer by trade to get advice on whether my linkages will support the weight of hundreds of people dancing -- things look pretty good to me, but I insist that someone else looks at it and points out things that could go wrong. As long as a few people with some expertise have looked at it, hit me with some hard questions "what if" questions and I can answer them all, then I'll be satisfied it's strong enough.

But my point is to work on a "grant" program which gives awards of resources, knowledge, and access to experts instead of cash. It's sort-of an extension on the partipatory, "do-ocracy" nature of Burning Man, although it could be done for art projects outside Burning Man.

For instance, if you wanted to build a big metal sculpture, what if you could get a grant to ask questions and get advice from a professional metal sculptor, or a welder, or a structural engineer? What if you could get a grant to get your project transported? In other words, not the cash-equivalent, but the actual work?

At this point I'm just brainstorming, so let me just open up the floor for whoever ...

[spectabillis]

well fuck me because i shouldnt be spending time on posting here, too many things to do. but this was one of the best posts/ideas that i have seen resurfaced on the board in weeks, if not months.


the spirit of this helps to address sooooo many concerns and problems the event faces. look at the current controversy surrounding some prominent sound-camps deciding cost is just too much. look at how that sparked debate around what and who should be the recipiants of art-grants... and that controversy has been around FOREVER! look at the whole do-ocracy thing, consider the rising cost of both gas and ticket prices...

i have heard people throw around similar ideas in the past, so what it takes is several enthusiastic people to join together and drive it themselves. sure, the org's help would greatly help in driving it foreward but you cant really rely on it competing with the org's resources for other programs. there were other things like the crucible and such... there is the artery... but its all very fragmented and specific.

[Zhust]

this was one of the best posts/ideas that i have seen resurfaced on the board in weeks, if not months.

Gosh, thanks ...

the spirit of this helps to address sooooo many concerns and problems the event faces.
[...]
what it takes is several enthusiastic people to join together and drive it themselves. sure, the org's help would greatly help in driving it foreward but you cant really rely on it competing with the org's resources for other programs. there were other things like the crucible and such... there is the artery... but its all very fragmented and specific.

As someone whose posts often insist that others take action rather than request others to do so, as soon as I wrote it I knew I'd have to be involved somehow.

My thought is to have something that is separate from Burning Man, although being seeded from it, it would naturally be disproportionately Burning-Man-centric. I don't see any reason why this wouldn't be applicable to any artistic endeavor. Also, it steps outside that finance-focused, 501.3(c) mindset. I mean it could be as simple as getting people with skills together with people who need those skills. But by calling it a grant process, you can mediate and not overload the "skilled" with too many requests.

P.S. If that spam "list of links" is still there, the "Ignore User" feature works like a champ; you just need to reload the page.

[theCryptofishist]

A start might be to collect interested people with skills and make a list (or database) thereof. Geographical location might also be pertinent (for live inspections/help.)

[Zhust]

This feels like a job for "later" as in "after the man burns."

But yes, a database would be a good start. I'd like to understand what exactly I'd be doing first and let the technology follow. In other words, I want to ponder what _I_ would want if I were to offer expertise, and what _I_ would want if I were to search for expertise.

I think this is a definite go, just on the back burner for now.

[spectabillis]

it sounds like participation requires a specific geographic location.

[Bob]

.....my point is to work on a "grant" program which gives awards of resources, knowledge, and access to experts instead of cash. It's sort-of an extension on the partipatory, "do-ocracy" nature of Burning Man, although it could be done for art projects outside Burning Man.....

Honestly, I think it's a Bad Idea.

I was one of those "experts" for a few years, in the sense that the theme camp department referred in-camp projects identified in the theme camp applications to me that exceeded an informal measure of scariness, had me initiate a cursory email or phone exchange to see whether those people more-or-less knew what they were doing from a construction standpoint, and tour around camp during the event while structures were going up to flag things like three-tier scaffolding pinned with six-inch stakes and suchlike for them and the Rangers. I'm sure they currently have someone on tap who could provide similar informal feedback to campers or artist types.

It's entirely different to formalize a consulting service mediated by the org -- for one thing, anybody licensed elsewhere than Nevada to provide such services might be putting themselves at legal risk. And from my experience with DPW, artists who don't own responsibility for their projects from startup to cleanup often tend to leave a bit of a mess behind.