Fund-Raising: A Challenge

http://www.usaprojects.org/project/respecting_my_elders

This is the first time i’ve tried something like this - to raise money. “Crowd-sourcing" they call it- a little bit from a lot of people. I’ve come to some conclusions:

1. It’s Hard Work. First of all figuring out who you know and how to ask nicely. Making, condensing and organizing lists of all the people I have ever had an email correspondence with. It does take a Village.

2. Asking for money. The hardest thing to do. Difficult for anyone but probably harder for an Artist: it brings up all sorts of self-doubts, even with the hubris of “I-Must-Create-This-And-The-World-Needs-To-See-It.”

3. Time constraints. Ostensibly short, 90 days is a long time to angst. In the first few days and weeks my good/best friends and buddies pledged their support for my project... I so appreciate that. Then, not much.

4. Three months is actually a long period of time, day-to-day, to worry. It is good to have everything in place (see #1) and a schedule. My friend Lisa, who successfully funded a project on Kickstarter (and for a lot less than I am asking for) told me she didn’t sleep for 90 days. I’m sleeping, but not soundly.

5. My holiday from teaching, a blessed month, would have been a lot more relaxing if I had had less to worry about.

6. Despite all of the above, I do believe “Respecting My Elders” is a project worthy of support and attention and that I will somehow be able to collect all the funds requested. Part of the anxiety stems from the fact that if I don’t raise all the money I won’t get any of it, and will have to start again. But at least it won’t be from Square One.

how to make conversation with a genius

photographing edward albee; reportedly reclusive playwright who is so well known as to be feared....i have never been so nervous in my life. though the truth is he is a lovely caring man who gave me the gift of some of his time, in his space filled with marvelous art. 

like a teenager on a first date,
i brought him flowers and showered him with chattered compliments and references.

post #2. MoMA Report

William Kentridge: Five Themes

Marina Abramovic: The Artist is Present

Blockbuster shows, loud, crowded, dense. Awe-inspiring.

Kentridge a genius of ideas and technique with more than a twinge of humor, his moving pictures are that and more. Especially loved the drawings on book pages. And his homage to magic.

Abramovic’s retrospective and current performance Super Sadly Scarily Serious, the only humor the audience reaction to her Body of Work, (pun intended). The one-page stories next to her Biography explained much of her psychological extremism; what I wondered about was the psyches of her Re-enactors.

I did not participate in her performance except as an Observer. Not enough patience to wait in line & be videotaped in the process. Maybe I’ll go again first thing on a midweek morning, and wear my lipstick.