Press Release - GAC to Teach Art of Crowd-Sourcing

Crowd source funding has been in the news lately thanks to the success of the Kickstarter campaign for a movie based on the cult classic TV show Veronica Mars. But what is "crowd sourcing," and how is it done? How can you do it? Answers to these and other questions are in the offing at the Guelph Cultural Connections Conference on Saturday April 6th.

The Guelph Arts Council is presenting the event and has sent around the below press release.

Guelph, ON   March 27, 2013--  Guelph Arts Council and the City of Guelph are pleased to present the Guelph Cultural Connections Conference on Saturday, April 6 from 1-7pm at the River Run Centre. This conference will concentrate on providing participants with the tools to engage with their community, develop, and enhance partnerships with community members, businesses, and organizations.

The daytime workshops will concentrate on providing participants with the tools and resources to makes partnerships and projects happen. The second half of the conference will focus on putting ideas into action. The speed networking portion of the event, which will take place from 4:30-5:00pm, will see participants swapping contacts, information, and ideas. This will be followed by the launch of a crowd sourcing program. This pilot program is the brain child of Peter Bradley, Station Manager of CRFU. After attending a similar event in Detroit, Peter brought the idea to the Guelph Arts Council. The idea resonated with Executive Director Sonya Poweska who believes that there should be more opportunities for innovative, creative, and artistic individuals to source funding from their local community.

The crowd sourcing part of the evening will run from 5:00-7:00pm and will include a full dinner. Prior to dinner, participants are encouraged to submit a 150 word written pitch. This pitch will be analyzed by a team of community members including a representative from CFRU and Guelph Arts Council.  Those responsible for the top five written submissions will be invited to share their idea with the audience, who will vote for their top pick. “The winner will be buoyed by the community support that the vote represents,” says Bradley. “While the other candidates will still have an opportunity to create a dialogue around their idea and possibly find some support for their project through other means.” The crowd favorite will receive a cash prize of $500 which will be sourced from the audience by way of their admission fee into the conference.

Although artists are free to use the money to fund their project in any way they see fit, there are some guidelines to participation. The top pitch must either come from a Guelph resident or the project must take place in Guelph. And although there is no reporting in place, we would like to invite the top pick to speak at the next event and share with the audience how they have used the money to fund their project.

The conference registration fee is $20 for Guelph Arts Council members and $25 for non-members. To register for the Cultural Connections Conference or for more information, go to http://culturalconnectionsguelph.eventbrite.ca/