Earlier this week, Ian announced some big changes to the Createquity site, including our first-ever fundraising campaign to help us transform our work. As an all-volunteer effort to date, Createquity has never asked for your financial support before, and now we’re hoping readers like you will donate to help us raise $10,000 – a big challenge for us. So, what will your (tax-deductible!) donation pay for?
- The design and implementation of our new, mobile-friendly website. Our current site was last updated in 2009 and needs a facelift to take advantage of contemporary technologies, including easy access via phones and tablets where more and more of our readership is migrating. We’ll also need to rework the way content is organized on Createquity to support our new editorial direction.
- Our upcoming in-person planning retreat in July. Our team has already been working hard over digital communications (so many video conference calls!) to prepare for the launch, but there is no substitute for spending a full day together. We’ll use the time to make some of our most important and far-reaching decisions about where we’re going to prioritize our research efforts over the next 12 months and beyond.
- A cash reserve. In contemplating these changes, we’ve often found ourselves saying that it was time for Createquity to “go big or go home.” For us, going big means not just streamlining the editorial process to make more effective change, but professionalizing Createquity on the operational side. In addition to paying our people for the first time, this transition will involve various startup expenses like filing fees, software purchases, etc., and as any arts manager knows, it’s important to ensure smooth operations in the face of unpredictable (i.e., totally new!) revenue streams. Any funds we raise over and above our budget for the above two priorities will go towards ensuring Createquity’s sustainability.
In addition to my time, I’ve personally donated some of my own hard-earned, nonprofit-salary cash to the Createquity campaign because I deeply believe in the value of this project. I’ve been consistently impressed by the integrity of Ian and the Createquity team in publishing only the the highest-quality prose and most trustworthy analysis, something I imagine most of you value, too. More than most, Createquity is essentially prestige-blind: it has given young thinkers like me a chance at a public audience through the Createquity Fellowship, and served as a forum for insightful dialogue on both established and emerging ideas.
The next iteration of Createquity is going to be even more exciting, as we bring all of the site’s intellectual and cultural resources to bear on the thorniest problems facing the arts. This is an incredibly ambitious project, with the goal of transforming the field from the inside out through persistent truth-seeking. And instead of relegating that process to an anonymous conference room, we’re going to share as much of our thinking on Createquity as possible so that we can learn, debate, and experiment together as we move forward. It’s an investment that benefits us all. Won’t you donate to help make it happen?