Support a matching gift for better arts coverage

Thanks to 105 people we reached our crowd-funding goal five days ahead of schedule. Since then another 26 people have stepped forward to keep the campaign moving. Together, they’ve already added another $3670 to our campaign—because every donation since we reached our goal is being matched! (Thank you, Christopher Kehoe.) The campaign ends on Tuesday at midnight, so you still have a little time to show your support for the way this website keeps you informed about local performing arts; help us make it even better; and get yourself some useful perks. Allow me to explain a little more about the purpose of this match, but first I want to round up all the links you need to help you decide how you want to contribute.

1. The campaign is here.
2. Many of the perks we’re offering are explained in this video.
3. Watch the fun video we made with some of our favorite Twin Cities actors. If you haven’t seen it, it will make your Monday better.
4. Follow it up with the outtakes video here.
5. Here is a video preview of what we’re building.
6. Here is the thank you video Leah and I made after we reached our goal.

We really are incredibly grateful for your support. (Leah and I bet each other about the total amount of money we would raise. I won't tell you the exact numbers because you'll think someone too cynical but, I will just say, you really surprised one of us--one of us who wasn't me.)

What did you just fund?

Our initial $8000 ask was the difference between what we had and what we needed to pay for rebuilding the site—-not the cost of the rebuild, just the funding difference. Now that you’ve stepped forward, we’re able to finish the rebuild. Thank you (again and again). Early in the campaign, Christopher Kehoe, a local performer, asked us what we needed to make the site an even better resource for community building and support. In addition to his work as an actor and writer ( including the Fringe Festival hit Joe Dowling's William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet on the Moon. . .), Christopher has also been working diligently behind the scenes as a producer to support a stunning variety of emerging theater companies for no other reason than idealism and a love of the Minnesota theater scene. With additional funding we can purchase the equipment we need for multi-media arts reporting, and we can pay our artist-writers better for the time they take exploring these ideas in new ways. Basically, we can lay the foundations necessary to talk about your work more and in new and better ways. We believe this is the best way MinnesotaPlaylist can add to our redesign to grow audiences--by building such an exciting online platform for local performing arts that more people are drawn to it. Right now, any contribution you make will be matched by Christopher Kehoe, and together you’re helping us create a forum for real arts journalism experimentation (in addition to the practical new features we're already building).

What is better arts journalism?

What do you think? We would love your input. We also know that all good experiments are based on observations/assumptions that lead to hypothesis. We want to share our observations and beliefs with you:

• The internet has broken the conventional model of arts coverage. No one has built a new model. Yet.
• Through participation in a virtual community, people feel a stronger connection to actual communities. I have watched cooking demonstrations of food I didn’t eat, read recaps of sporting events I didn’t attend, and learned about bands whose music I will never hear. All of these things have made me feel more connected to the food, sports, and music communities and more eager to participate live.
• Artists are as much reporters about America as journalists and as much explorers of truth as scientists.

Our hypothesis is that artist-led coverage of the arts on MinnesotaPlaylist.com can increase participation and engagement at a profound and moving level. (O jeez, do I sound all high-horsed and pompousified? Sorry. I take the fact that the performing arts should also be entertaining for granted. Also, I have to admit, I find this kind of stuff entertaining. I laugh more when the guy who slips on a banana peel was reaching for an apple on the branch just out of his reach. I don’t know why, but I do. I mean, I'm laughing with him, not at him--I mean, assuming he has a sense of humor--Anyway-- ) So, what does artist-led, paradigm-shifting coverage look like? That’s the experiment. And that’s where we need you even more. Thank you for the contributions you make today and tomorrow (Remember the deadline: Tuesday at midnight)—but know that we also value your participation, your role in the community, and your ideas for a better website. Email me at [email protected] and join this conversation. Thank you, Alan Berks Co-founder MinnesotaPlaylist.com