Keeping the Dream Alive

 

Rachel de Graaf

 

Gen Y has fewer dollars than the rich, but is far more willing to drop them in order to support things we love.

 

Australia’s cultural landscape is in danger. If things continue to follow the pattern of recent years, a pattern that consists of galleries closing and budget cuts to the arts, it won’t be long until this landscape starts to look more like the outback; remote, arid and devoid of life.  We live in a country with a wealth of local culture and talent, but because our wealthy would rather watch themselves creep higher up the rich list than invest in the arts, it’s time for someone else to keep the dream alive.

 

In Cate Blanchett’s timeless speech championing the arts, delivered in 2010 to the Performing Arts Market in Adelaide, she poetically explains the importance of the arts to Australia. “The arts operate at the core of human identity and existence… After gravity, culture is the thing that holds humanity in place, in an otherwise constantly shifting and, let’s face it, tiny outcrop in the middle of an infinity of nowhere.”

 

Philanthropy, which etymologically means ‘the love of humanity’, requires a degree of community awareness and sharing that our wealthy elite simply don’t possess. 

 

Indeed, the way we approach driving art philanthropy must be overhauled and in order to speak to a new audience.  But who else can we look to, and by what means can we engage them?

 

Enter Gen Y (or the ‘Millenial’).  You may be thinking it counter-intuitive to approach the generation self-proclaimed as the ‘privileged poor’ but, what they lack in dollars, they make up for in share of voice and downright passion. Let’s also not forget that, by 2020, they will comprise half of the workforce. So while they may not be able to give much now, what they can give is a little money and a lot of online advocacy.  

 

Despite the host of (often unfair) stereotypes that continues to plague Gen Y, it’s hard to avoid the studies that reveal their philanthropic, conscious-driven approach to consumption. An American study, the 2014 Millenial Impact Report, published this month, revealed 87% gave a financial gift to nonprofits last year.

 

According to the report, Gen Y craves ‘’intimate involvement with the causes they support.”  They give, but not blindly. And they want to benefit from their generosity via professional development opportunities, networking or skills that assist with their portfolio.

 

With this in mind, arts organisations must appeal to their sensibilities.  While the industry as a whole still has a long way to go, there are a few that have already recognised this potential– and the wider arts community can learn a lot from their strategies.

Institutions and festivals, including the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia and Art Month Sydney, both run annual programs for young philanthropists that provide a taste of supporting arts institutions and events.

The success of these programs lies in their ability to appeal to the top three reasons why young people choose to get involved in a cause – passion, meeting people and enhancing their expertise. 

Though it is via online advocacy and crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter and Indiegogo where the really exciting stuff is happening. It’s no understatement that they have revolutionised the way entrepreneurs and other organisations have transformed what began as an intangible dream into something concrete. Only in recent months, however, has the arts industry started to cotton on to their immense potential to mobilise large groups and inspire donations to projects with meaning.

The shareable nature of crowdfunding, combined with the host of exciting and bespoke incentives to donate, is aligned with the very reasons why Gen Y donate – by offering the intimate involvement they crave in exchange for dollars.

Gallery 4a and Alaska Projects are two Sydney spaces that have successfully used the platforms to help make their dreams come alive. This month, Gallery 4a used Kickstarter to share their dream of raising $20,000 in order to bring out Yangjiang Group – one of China’s most exciting artist groups. With four days left of their campaign, they successfully exceeded their target to ensure their dream becomes a reality. 

 

These new platforms are something to get excited about, but the next question we must ask ourselves is how can the wider arts community maximise the potential of crowdfunding, and how can the industry work collectively to bring dreams to life together? 

 

Who knows, if all goes well, maybe it will even prompt a democratization of the art market and inspire a mass interest in the arts. Either way, we can rest assured knowing our dreams are alive and well, and we have our peers to help support them. 

 

 

Simone Douglas, Eternal, Return fall, 2014, archival inkjet print, 99 x 74 cm/ Image courtesy of the artist and Artereal Gallery, Sydney