Social | October 18 #ArtistHotline Guest Chat: Fundraising Myth Busting

This month’s Guest Chat will shatter misconceptions and empower artists to more effectively fundraise for their projects.

On October 18, 2017, the monthly Artist Professional Development Day #ArtistHotline returns to Twitter, for a new time this month, from 11:00 AM – 4:00 PM EST. As part of the jam-packed schedule for the October 18 #ArtistHotline, we’ll host a “Fundraising Myth Busting″ Guest Chat. From 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM EST, we’ll hear from Guest Tweeters Courtney Harge, an arts administrator, director, and writer, Alysa Nahmias, a film director and producer, and Gigi Rosenberg, an author, performer, and artist coach.

Fundraising: Knowledge is Power

Many members of the #ArtistHotline online community have tried their hand at fundraising for artist’s projects. Others may be brand new to the process. This Guest Chat is an opportunity for artists of all disciplines to ask questions, address any sources of confusion, and bust unhelpful misconceptions. Together, we’ll decide whether some of the common notions about fundraising, like the examples below, are true or false:

• True or False: Fundraising is only possible for artists with connections to powerful institutions.
• True or False: Artists can rely on a single income source to fund their projects.
• True or False: Mobile giving is only attractive to younger donors.
• True or False: Communications and marketing about your project can be tailored for different audiences.

What are your answers? Share during the Guest Chat using the hashtag #ArtistHotline on Twitter! Want to explore the topic before October 18? Check out the Fundraising and Applications section in NYFA’s Business of Art Directory, where you can find articles on grant writing and more.

Join the Conversation

Bring your fundraising questions and tips to the Guest Chat from 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM EST. And from 11:00 AM – 3:30 PM EST, NYFA staff, partnering organizations, and individual artists will discuss a wide variety of arts career topics, from grant applications to digital marketing. During the last half hour of the day, from 3:30 PM EST – 4:00 PM EST, Madeleine Cutrona, NYFA’s Program Officer, Fiscal Sponsorship, will join #ArtistHotline for a Staff Q&A on “Building Relationships with Individual Donors.“ 

Guest Chat Bios

Courtney Harge is an arts administrator, director, and writer originally from Saginaw, MI who has been working in service of artists for the last fifteen years. She is the founder and Producing Artistic Director of Colloquy Collective, an emerging theater company in Brooklyn, NY. Courtney is also a proud member of Women of Color in the Arts, and a 2016 alumna of both APAP’s Emerging Leaders Institute and artEquity’s Facilitator Training. She holds a Masters of Professional Studies, with Distinction, in Arts and Cultural Management from Pratt Institute. You can find more information about her at www.courtneyharge.com.

Find Harge tweeting @Arts_Courtney.

Alysa Nahmias is an award-winning director and producer, and a 2017 Sundance Institute Fellow. Her debut feature documentary Unfinished Spaces won a 2012 Independent Spirit Award, numerous film festival prizes, and is in the permanent collection at the Museum of Modern Art. Her recent producing credits include Unrest (directed by Jennifer Brea, 2017), No Light and No Land Anywhere (directed by Amber Sealey, 2016), Shield and Spear (directed by Petter Ringbom, 2014) and Afternoon of a Faun: Tanaquil Le Clercq (directed by Nancy Buirski, creative advisor Martin Scorsese, 2013). Nahmias is currently directing a film about American artist Jesse Krimes and is developing a documentary about Bauhaus luminaire Laszlo Moholy-Nagy. Learn more about Nahmias at ajnafilms.com.

Find Nahmias tweeting @alysanahmias.

Gigi Rosenberg is an author, performer, and artist coach. She wrote The Artist’s Guide to Grant Writing and coaches artists to help them find funding, blast through creative blocks and launch vibrant marketing plans. She is also editor of the national magazine Professional Artist. To download the free "5 Steps to Your Elevator Speech” visit gigirosenberg.com.

Find Rosenberg tweeting @gigirosenberg.

Inspired by the NYFA Source Hotline, #ArtistHotline is an initiative dedicated to creating an ongoing online conversation around the professional side of artistic practice. #ArtistHotline occurs on the third Wednesday of each month on Twitter. Our goal is to help artists discover the resources needed, online and off, to develop sustainable careers.

This initiative is supported by the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation.

Images, from top: Dulce Pinzon (Fellow in Photography ‘06); courtesty of Courtney Harge, Alysa Nahmias, and Gigi Rosenberg