Crowdfunding is the art of rallying your community to fund your project.

Crowdfunding is not about you. It’s about the community around what you do. Your crowd. And there’s a difference between your audience and your crowd. Your crowd are the people personally, financially, and emotionally invested in you successfully completing your art project. They’re with you for the journey. They’re with you for your career.

Māpura Studios is a creative space and art therapy centre in central Auckland Tāmaki Makaurau. The project works with over 200 adults and children every week, offering art classes and art therapy programmes for people living with disability and diversity. The studio is also the only organisation that is contracted to deliver art therapy programmes to inmates at Auckland Prison – changing paths and making an impact through art and creativity.

A crowdfunding campaign needs a ton of content. For the 30 or so days of funding, you’ll be coaxing, cajoling and flirting with your crowd, asking for money, and you’ve got to come up with a fresh way to ask every day. You’ve got to keep it interesting, enticing and exciting.