Listen. It sucks to have a vision in your mind that you can’t complete because you’re broke. Especially if you are a magic-creating, community-minded, conscious, freedom-seeking revolutionary human. I’ve made two dance films that have changed my life & both were made possible by OPM, other people’s money. Both wouldn’t happened without OPM.OPM (I really like saying OPM) created a foundation for the group of women & group of Black men I worked with to connect to each other & themselves, to create liberatory messages, and extremely importantly, to be paid fairly for their work. So what could YOU accomplish by crowdfunding?
1. Obviously, you’ll get the money you need to finally complete the project. You may have had an idea for three days or 13 years, but when you finally complete that project, you will feel powerful. On shoot day, when I walked into that white studio and saw the boys sit down I almost cried. Why? Because something in my mind was now showing up in real life. It never would have existed without my mind. whoa. I’m not an LOA fanatic but there is something to be said about the power of creating something that only existed in your mind. It’s um, it feels like magic, kinda like you’re… a god.
2. You’ll be held accountable by people who will stalk your project. After your crowdfunding campaign is over, people will ask you about your project. Every other dance class I go to someone asks me how Black Man in America is going and when it’s coming out. You’ll be held accountable for completing it. That’s …. nice.
3. You’ll get fired up and confident about your project and your life as a creator once you know that others are fans. A lot of us artists and creators live in a delusion that people don’t like us or the stuff we are making. I’m definitely guilty of this. Once people started giving to Black Man in America and even now that people are congratulating us on creating it, it feels like, wow, maybe I can be a filmmaker. Maybe I can be a director. Maybe I have everything I need to create captivating art and experiences. Doing a crowdfunding project means allowing other people to support you and express how excited they are about your project/s. Uhhhhh, yes please.
avoid putting off your biggest visions. get my step-by-step guide on how we raised $18K
To read my beastly step-by-step guide explaining how we crowdfunded $18K with no following or fanbase, click to view this awesomely detailed post I wrote 🙂
a little backstory
It was a chilly January 2018 day in the current dimension when 30-year-old unnecessarily educated Justina, queer artist child of black Panamanian immigrants, learned she had three months until her cushy job would let her go. Stunned that her comfortable safety net had broken, she stared at the email for 60 seconds before she resumed binge-watching Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee. Two weeks later, she had a nervous break down. BUT. Finally, she will play. She will create. And hopefully never work again. Oh, and now she has a journal. More on her/me here.
my money journal: crowdfunding edition
This, my money journal, is a reflection on my successes & failures to make money doing what I actually love. I want to share it with you cuz… I bet you’re on this journey too. In the first series of my money journal, I’m sharing my first big success as an artist. At the end of 2016, I was listening to my boyfriend’s song Black Man in America when a vision for a dance film struck me. Five Black men seated at a white table with guns. Don’t worry. It is nuanced. By January 2017, I was storyboarding. By June, my boyfriend was on board, we determined we needed $16,000 to bring it to life, and we launched our crowdfunding campaign. With no fan base and no real fundraising experience. On August 6th, we filmed. I was freaking out. I had opened a credit card just for this project, was $4,000 in debt and owed our cast and crew $7,000 more. I was all in. By August 20th, 400 backers had given a total of $18,000 for Black Man in America to come to life, exceeding our goal. In this crowdfunding series of my money journal, I’m going to share how we did it, because – imagine what you could do with $5K ,$10K, $20K to bring your visions to life. It’s our tiiiiiiiiime. (Shine bright, shine far…)
