#Patron21

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The Last Days of Patron21

Dear artists and art-supporters,

I have some very big news to announce to you guys as well as a special Christmas gift (please read the bold sections so you don’t miss it). Over the past few months, it has become increasingly apparent that Patron21 as a tool for art funding has reached a period of stasis. Our amazing developers have full time jobs and families (both have new children on the way!) and I have recently started graduate school. At this point, future development and evolution of our service is extremely slow going. 

Patron21 began as an idea and was brought to life through determination and long unpaid hours. We did not start up with funding, instead we relied heavily on resourcefulness, inspiration, and the support of our communities. We accomplished exactly what we set out to do and birthed a helpful and timely service. At this point, though, we cannot ignore the fact that similar services have cropped up, created by companies that have millions of dollars in investments and full-time teams of people dedicated to furthering the goal of creating a practical tool for sustainable funding. As our goal from the outset has been to help artists, it is with that intention that we are phasing out Patron21 and recommending our users to Patreon. 

I have had several conversations with Patreon CEO Jack Conte as well as VP of Operations Tyler Palmer and I am absolutely convinced that they are bringing forth and evolving a service that can fulfill what Patron21 has offered as well as taking it to the next level. They have assured me that they will do what they can to help you guys make the switch and answer any questions you may have. Additionally, we’ve talked of ways we can work together in the future and the door has been left open for collaboration.

The details of our move are this - we will no longer be accepting new subscriptions, however, we will continue to honor and support all subscriptions until they expire (expiration is set as one year from subscription date). At that point, patrons will still be able to cancel current subscriptions, but will not be able to start new ones.

And now for the gift! Starting Jan 1st, we will eliminate our service fee in all transactions. This means that the 7.5% we have been taking will drop to 0% until the expiration of the subscription. To summarize, we will not be accepting new subscriptions in 2015, but any already existing subscriptions or new ones created this month will not have any service charge for the remainder of their duration. Make sense?  

Acknowledgements: And now, I just want to give a quick shout out to the people who have made this project so rewarding and successful. Adam Anderson was the first one to hear of the idea and the first one to encourage me to follow through. He has been a support throughout the entire process and I can’t thank him enough. Tim Arthur was the first developer on board and he has been in the trenches with Patron21 the whole time. He’s an amazing programmer and one of the coolest guys I know. Jon Cox was the second developer to join up and among his many contributions was the complicated program for all of our financial processing. He’s also my brother and I couldn’t have asked for a better one. These guys are true collaborators and terrific people to work with. 

I also want to thank Matt Aurand and Jamison Sevits for the huge roles they played early on with the development of the site and in my slow process of figuring out how to manage a project of this scope. They put up with a lot of my growing pains and continue to be two of my best friends. Two advisors who have been helpful above and beyond what I could have hoped for are Jonathan Sexton and Nathan Loyer. Genuine, generous, intelligent, and so encouraging. I owe a LOT to them both. Two advocates that I have tremendous gratitude for are Adam Gottlieb and Sarah Sexton. They are both amazing forces within their communities and I look forward to continuing to see their lights shine. 

Lastly but not leastly, I want to thank all of you for participating in this experiment. I have been validated both in the efficacy of this funding model and floored by the enthusiasm of this community. When it comes right down to it, we got this ball rolling - a new industry born out of a small little indie company and it’s indie artist community. Thank you, thank you thank you and may you continue to find support wherever your creative paths take you.

[robotseatcandy]

Poetry i speak my heartbeat on yr eardrum i drop it -- all people are poets & poets are prophets when you speak yr truth, god's speakin thru you (we were made to communicate & that's what we do) yr voice is yr voice & nobody else can reach for it / teach for it -- only yrself so show what you know that is known just to you -- poet, speak Poetry, & know it is true.

Adam Gottlieb

This guy went to my college and he is such a beautiful soul. He also makes music! Check out his Patron21 page. If you don't know what Patron21 is, look it up, it's a really cool space to support/produce/share art.

[kasperkavalaris]

My sis #KillingIt at The Solarium in a #Patron21 event this past weekend (at The Solarium)

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My latest interview with April's Artist of the Month, Meg Anderson. Meg joins us from Berkeley via the power of the internet to talk about moving to the Bay Area and using a loop pedal has changed her creative process as well as how she defines her personal success.

[patron21]

This is How We Do It

In honor of our inaugural Patron21 event last Friday in Chicago, I want to share some thoughts that came percolating out of the experience. 

Our mission is not to fund artists, it's to fund badasses. A lot of attention is given to arts funding and artist funding. I think this may be missing the larger point. We don't want to see "artists" thrive, we want to see those artists who move us, touch us, and inspire us to thrive. Those are the people who we will share our resources with when we could pirate their work for free.

There are more and more and more ways to be successful than ever before. As a friend recently articulated, we are no longer saddled with the dichotomy of being either a superstar or a loser. Artists are inventing new ways to succeed every day. There has never been a better time to take risks and try an innovative approach to getting what you want and what you need.

The gift of supporting an artist is not just for the artist, but for future fans. If an artist's work moves you, what better gift can you give than enabling that artist to impact others in the same way? Helping an artist continue to bring their gifts to a larger audience may be even more significant than giving that artist money as a thank you.

When everyone chips in to create something powerful, everyone gets thanked. One of the most amazing thing about the night was that at some point, I saw every person thanking someone profusely as well as being thanked by someone else. The audience, the artists, the venue, and the organizers all played absolutely critical roles and we all did each other a huge favor by showing up and doing our part. We deserve the credit.

(Of course, a special thank you to Kev Artist, Adam Gottlieb, Ariel Candide, and the Chicago Solarium!)

photo by Rossi Dimitrova

[patron21]

A beautiful demo-ed track from Jamison Sevits. There is tons of great music on his profile - if you like this, there is a treasure trove for you.

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Part 2 of my interview with Kevartist, live from Royal Coffee in Chicago. In this edition, Kevin talks about coming back from the numinous realm to berth his imagery as well as what it means to him to be courageous as an artist.

[patron21]

February Artist of the Month - Kevin Anderson

This month, we praise the talents and insights of Chicago-based artist, Kevin Anderson. Part illustrator and comic-creator, part mystic and philosopher, Kevin uses his idiosyncratic perspective and style to create a vast body of visual poetry. We invite you to come along with us as we explore the work of this photojournalist of the 5th dimension.

[patron21]

You want to experience pure bliss this morning? Check out this jam by our Artist of the Month. Instead of buying that extra latte this month, put it in Mr. Jimmy's coffers and you will receive gems like this delivered right into your inbox every month! View his profile and see more reasons why he should be on your list - http://patron21.com/users/mrjimmyrowland 

[patron21]

The Yoke's On You

I recently had a conversation with a dear friend we'll just call "Parrish". As many of you know, the word "Yoga" translates as "yoke". In considering our own histories, Parrish and I reflected on different times we had yoked ourselves to certain practices. It may be going to dance classes, practicing an instrument for 4 hours everyday, taking time to write first thing every morning, or any practice that is of primary importance day to day. That is, in fact, the important bit - that it's an every day affair.

As we continued talking, Parrish and I discovered the benefits that had come out of yoking ourselves to something meaningful were the times when quantum leaps of personal and professional growth happened even though the quantum leaps may have taken place over several months or a year.

The only question then is, what are you yoked to? And more importantly, what do you want to be yoked to? 

[patron21]

November's Artist of the Month - Lisa Frank

November’s Artist of the Month is dancer, community builder, performance artist, filmmaker, and lifestyle adventurer, Lisa Frank. After several years of studying, creating, teaching and performing in Chicago, Lisa and her partner Sam Goodman took off on an extended cross-country adventure that recently landed them in San Diego. Lisa is currently in the inaugural year of a new Dance Theater graduate program at UCSD.

I know that around the same time I had a similar experience, you broke from the workaday, day-job world and took a leap into seeing what would happen when you didn’t have the safety net of a restaurant gig. I’m wondering if you could say a little bit about what the experience was like for you in making that decision.

Mmm, yeah. I love talking about that. It’s definitely inspiring to people who hate their job and don’t know what to do (laughs). I guess I had just been working so much that I wasn’t dancing or doing anything that I loved anymore. I was so exhausted from working at these bars and restaurants that it was sucking everything away from me, sucking my life energy away from me.

It started with a chain of events, actually. One day I was just fed up that I wasn’t doing the things I loved anymore so I decided to get my shift changed so that I could at least go one time a week and dance. So I changed my shift and got to have Sundays off so I could go to the Contact Improv jam again. That was the first step in remembering what was really important to me and doing it - I was so unhappy that I had to. As soon as that happened it sparked everything else to fall into place.

I went to the Contact jam and met some new people who lived in this artist loft, this old ballroom called the Archer Ballroom. I visited there and really loved being a part of that community. It was all these artists who had just graduated from Oberlin and were working on things together, rehearsing in the space, having shows - running this underground venue. The more I hung out with them, the more I realized how good it felt to be around people who are creative and making art and living in this way. It clashed with the world that I was living in - hating my job, living paycheck to paycheck - and I had this breakdown one day. I think it was building up, though. I had a couple of breakdowns where I felt like I could just run out the door while I was at work and never come back. But when I had the visceral feeling of not wanting to move and wanting to just cry and not go to work, having these people that cared about me and were supportive of me... You know, I actually got support from Sam [Goodman]. He said, “if you don’t like your job, quit your job.” It was really scary because I had a little money, but not much and he said, “I’ll spot you your rent for a month while you figure it out.” Just that little bit, that $300, bought my freedom. During that month I had time to think about what I wanted. I had time to consider what my path was and decide whether or not I wanted to go back to school - which I did. I also had my feelers out and that’s when I talked to a woman I knew who was looking for somebody to teach dance in this program she was in charge of. I said, “hey, I can teach dance and so can my partner.” That’s when we started Imaginary Friends, which is an afterschool dance and physical theater program.

We were still really struggling, there was a lot of dumpster diving in those days, but we had more time. All of a sudden, I was way more free and way happier to not have these jobs to go to that I hated. I still didn’t have money, but at least I wasn’t doing what I didn’t want to do with my time. During that transition is when I realized how our lives are very valuable and we shouldn’t let other people tell us how to spend our time if we can come up with creative ways to get through that. I started thinking more in terms of how I can make money doing what I like. Though teaching children was not what I wanted for my future forever, it was definitely more inspiring and more life-giving, energy-giving than what I was doing before.

Then when it was time to leave Chicago, it reminded me of how scary it was to leave those jobs I didn’t like. There was the safety net of Imaginary Friends or we could jump off into the unknown and see what happened. We took the leap and I bounced around for a year before I knew any answers. But I wouldn’t change it, it was really good.

There is this way of riding the wave of letting things happen. Letting people come in and out of your lives. To people who may not be so comfortable with this way of life, how would you share your experience of how it worked out for you and how you have facilitated it working out.

I can start with the generosity of the people living at the [Archer] Ballroom. When I first met everybody at the ballroom, they were all so welcoming. They wanted to have this community space where artists could collaborate and rehearse and perform, without having to pay a lot of money So I fell into this group of people who were very generous and very warm. I also had this with the Contact Improv community. They have definitely been a life changer for me. Everywhere I go, if I go to the Contact jam I will find friends. I’ll find community.

So when I started living at the Ballroom, they were so welcoming that I started learning how to welcome people into this beautiful place that we all shared. We welcomed travelers, people who were touring, people from Chicago who just wanted to rehearse there. In a sense we opened our home to all these people who wouldn’t have had a chance to use the space if we were trying to keep it all to ourselves. I really learned what it was like to share with people there.

When we went on our tour [with performance group, Oos Imaginary], a lot of family and friends helped support us. If they couldn’t give money or supplies, they gave us a place to stay. When you’ve been traveling and you don’t know where you’re going to stay next and you find out that someone has arranged for you to stay with some friend of the community who loves art - it is the most amazing gift you can ever get. When we would bring our improv show to these towns and these cities, a lot of the time people were really excited about what we were doing because they didn’t have that type of art in their city. For example, everyone loved us in Nashville. They said, “please come back, we don’t see this kind of stuff.” I think they were just really inspired by what we were doing and all we were doing was investigating what we loved and sharing it. When we are being open and real with ourselves and we share that and show other people, it inspires people to also have that in their lives.

The more people I get to know and the more I learn about having relationships and friendships, the more I realize how necessary it is to share what you have with each other. It comes around - when we were generous with people at the Ballroom, we received generosity from people when we were in the world travelling around. I think it’s less scary to rely on people for support when you know you would return the favor when you can. Especially when you know that when you’re meeting people and you’re making friends, you really care about what you’re doing, you really care about the people that you’re meeting. And you’re genuinely interested in them. I think when you approach the world in this way - with a curiosity and an openness - people respond to that and have a tendency to want to share with you. I’m also really grateful and say gratitude prayers. I’ve noticed that the more grateful I can be, the more I have to be grateful for.

I think that the way our larger society works is with a fierce individualism. There’s this sentiment when people say you have to have a job you don’t like because “that’s just the way life is”. It seems that this is due to or results from a situation where people don’t feel comfortable asking for help or even sometimes a fair exchange of value - this seems especially true in the arts. As if it’s shameful to need the help of someone else, even though in very obvious ways, we all need the help of someone else. We all need farmers to grow food, truckers to bring it to us... there’s not many scenarios where you aren’t relying on other people. There are these structures in place, like money and storefronts, where we don’t have to feel like we’re asking for something. But this lifestyle you’re describing seems a lot more about people relying on and trusting each other. Did this come naturally or was it hard to make that transition?

I had a little money saved up, so I didn’t have to totally rely on others. But even as Sam and I started teaching, we were still pretty broke. However, once we felt like we knew what we were doing, we felt like we deserved to be making more. So we asked for a raise and got it. I really have Sam to thank for that. He taught me through his own actions how much he valued his time. I learned about asking for what’s fair. And it’s scary! It’s hard. I’m still trying to get better at it.

In the times where we had to rely on people, there was a trust built up. They knew that if they helped us we would do something with what we were given. They trusted that we actually needed help and that the help they gave us would help propel us forward. By giving us just a little bit of support they were actually giving a huge gift. Sometimes you just need a little bit to get ahead and then you can really do something.

It’s less scary to ask for help when you know that you’re going to do something great with it. It’s about holding yourself accountable for the help that you’re being given. If you’re going to do something great with the help you receive and you trust yourself, it’s less scary to ask - when you know that you’re going to give something back to the world. Then you are actually just passing it on.

You can find more about Lisa and her art on her Patron21 profile and her website.

[patron21]

In and Out

A quick lesson learned from years of practicing improvisation:

You must define the box before you can think, act, or be outside of it. 

Sometimes a blank canvas is death. Sometimes an infinite number of options is the reason decisions don't happen. There is plenty of room for creativity in the box and when you truly run out of ideas, then you can worry about outside of the box.

For a beautiful take on this, see Lars von Trier's "The Five Obstructions".

-jeremy

[patron21]

30 Something

I have noticed two scary, funny, necessary(?) things happen when dreamers and artists hit their late 20's/early 30's. 

1. They settle for less than they aspire to, often without even making a big push to really go after what they want for themselves. The rationalization is that the dream was immature, unreachable, naive and that now I'm an adult and need to act like (all the other) adults do.

2. They hang on to a dead dream long after it ceases to be what they truly desire. The rationalization here is that they've come to far to change course or that changing their mind is the result of fear and, by golly, they're fearless.

I am in no place to judge or make recommendations one way or the other, it's just something I have noticed. You've probably noticed it, too. Maybe the rationalizations are even true? It breaks my heart a little each time I see it, though... 

jeremy

[patron21]

Lessons from Dad

When I was in high school, my dad and I started having our first philosophical talks. We would go on the back porch and spend an hour or two diving into the questions that drove us. Though I was only a kid, he was very respectful of my early speculations and always encouraged me to come to my own conclusions. These talks were in part responsible for me going on to get a degree in philosophy. I have always loved the deep conversations that seem to be leading toward the ultimate keys to understanding life. As much as I have continued to appreciate these talks over the years, the theories, reflections, and insights that have come up are not the most important and life changing lessons I've learned from Dad.

Dad is an adventurer. It would take far too many words and completely lose the scope of this blog to get into the way he has moved through his life. However, I can summarize by saying that he cares. He cares enough to change jobs every time a new opportunity comes up to do more good to more people. He cares enough to have worked 60+ hour weeks for the past 30+ years. He cares enough to be exceedingly human in a job that doesn't always require humanity. He cares enough to not be a bureaucrat, to fight the status quo, and to be a creator when he could get away with being a maintainer. All these things I have learned from watching my dad, not by philosophizing with him. He is a living breathing example to all who know him of someone who will never stop working to create better world.

Just last week, he told me that he was undertaking a huge project to dramatically improve patient care at several cancer centers in the area. He said if it works it will be an enormous achievement and if it doesn't it could cost him his job. At just a few years from retirement, it absolutely blew my mind that he would take such a gamble. But that's just the way he works. He's made a career out of taking calculated risks where the payoff is worth it - because it makes the world a better more loving place.

Father's Day is not only a time to reflect on our fathers, but also our lineage going back back back. Undoubtedly, everyone has champions and heroes in their line. I suggest we honor those heroes by redoubling our efforts to carry their torch.

-jeremy

[patron21]

How to Catch More Fish with a Small Net

A comparison of two different ways for an artist to reach an audience. 

1. To advertise, blog, tweet, post, re-post, and use every available media to reach as many strangers as possible. Essentially, to cast a net out and pull it in toward you to see what you've caught.

2. To reach out to those people already close to you, to those who already care about you and your work. Communicating with those people who love you for who you are as much as what you make - the people who already want to help and maybe just need to know how. These are people who believe in you and are ready to get excited and share the work you are doing with others who are close to them. This motion is not reeling in, but reaching out.

The first method hopes for a fractional conversion rate. Probably single digits or less. The second method aspires to a conversion rate over 100%. 

[patron21]

Opening Day Lessons

Some lessons learned from our first couple days of beta testing (in no particular order):

If something can go wrong, it will for somebody. (Even if it has never gone wrong for you.)

Never underestimate the power of intuitive design. Never underestimate the headache of un-intuitive design.

Just because something made sense when you built it, doesn't mean it will make sense to someone who's never seen it before.

Be at least as patient as the people who are doing your testing.

Notice the trend? By all counts, it is actually going very well. Testing is the time to figure out the wrinkles and smooth 'em out. And so far our issues have been small, irritating issues causing roadblocks for users. Luckily, they're all fixable (and quickly fixable, I believe). If I can just hold on to that last lesson as I anxiously await everything working efficiently...

Thanks again, to the brave souls enduring the hiccups.