Micro-financing for Theater

We're creating ~ think social networking meets venture philanthropy ~ a micro-financing funding model based on the Nobel prize winning Grameen bank.
What is the Grameen bank?
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For $100 you'll get:

    * Part ownership of a new theater production, produced by Galapagos Art Space

    * Part ownership in a racehorse* at Belmont Racetrack. We'll go visit the horse and watch her race.

    * Two tickets to the production, and you'll be invited to readings of the work and to rehearsals. You'll get to meet the director and the actors at a special cocktail party Galapagos Art Space will organize.

    * A special ticket - at cost - to go skydiving with us.

What if we discover the next "Rent", or the next "A Chorus Line"? What if the theater piece we select one day goes to Broadway?

   * As an owner of the work you'll own a share of the profits.

Why are we doing this?

    * More than 25% of the once two hundred Off-Off-Broadway theaters have closed in the last five years. And that was during an unprecedented economic boom.

    * We estimate that another 25% will disappear in this economic crisis, within the next sixteen months.

We think that’s unacceptable, and we’d like to present a funding model we think undercuts that loss trajectory and cracks open the egg of new thinking about theaters relationship to funding and community. If we’re able to prove this model then we’re able to prove that artists can control and create their own conditions, and not rely on ‘the kindness of strangers’ to survive.

Why is finding innovative ways to fund theater important for New York City?

    * New York doesn't compete to bring the best and brightest to its most important industries with a network of fine running paths or wonderful bike trails. We don't compete for tourists with mountain views.

      We compete with culture.

    * Other cities, cities like Berlin or London, want our best and brightest - the ones our meritocracy would obviously miss the most - and they'll get them if our artists can't set their foot on a stage or get their work on a wall. New York can be expensive, you can – through a faltering economy - even begin to subtract the freelance employment that many artists rely on, but New York City must include opportunity in it's narrative or it's only expensive.

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The next step:

We're looking for the right theater piece to begin this program with.

In the meantime, if you have questions, or thoughts, or you'd like to participate:

If you are an artist, email us at <artist@galapagosartspace.com>

No experience necessary! If you'd like to produce theater, email <producer@galapagosartspace.com>

Warm regards,

Robert Elmes
Director, Galapagos Art Space

* We’ll have part ownership of a small-farm racehorse. We’ll partner with socially conscious owners and cheer for our happy horse!