The Australia Council for the Arts with its philanthropic arm, Artsupport Australia, has commenced its national crowdfunding roadshow as part of a strategy to explore the opportunities in crowdfunding for cultural and creative projects.
The roadshow is the culmination of a multi-stage strategy which included a pilot mentoring phase by Artsupport Australia for a group of crowdfunding projects, and the Australia Council commissioning the first piece of research in Australia into barriers and motivations of donors to crowdfunding projects in the cultural and creative sectors.
Caroline Vu, NSW Manager of Artsupport Australia said:
With crowdfunding reaching a tipping point in Australia, there’s huge potential to increase individual giving to arts and culture...the key to this is improving the understanding and skills of the sector; leading to better and more successful campaigns. As the success rate for crowdfunding projects increases, people will become more confident that crowdfunding truly enables creative ideas to become reality.
While crowdfunding has existed for many years in various forms, the rise in online crowdfunding platforms, combined with the reach of social media, has provided the perfect storm for this form of fundraising.
Caroline Vu and Elliott Bledsoe, Digital Content Officer of the Australia Council will be visiting nine cities during the roadshow, which has attracted over 1,000 registrations so far and reached capacity in some locations. The sessions will outline:
- Practical tips on how to run successful campaigns, including setting targets; planning campaigns; developing compelling pitches; and spreading the word.
- What to do when it all looks like it's going wrong and ultimately, how to turn one-time backers into lifetime supporters.
- Case studies from people who have been successful with crowdfunding.
- Findings of the commissioned research undertaken by Queensland University of Technology Creative Industries.
For full details and a summary of the research findings go to the Australia Council website.