Performance Space
A giving appeal with a difference brought Liveworks Festival to life in Sydney.
Opening and closing of the Liveworks festival. Photo: Heidrun Lohr.
Established over 25 years ago, Sydney’s Performance Space has forged a national and international reputation for championing interdisciplinary arts.
In attempting to deliver the ‘best ever’ Liveworks Festival – a three day event featuring a large number of artists working across experimental theatre, live art, dance and installation - the team needed a major cash injection.
In 2005 they meet with Artsupport Australia’s Director, Louise Walsh, who provided strategic advice about contacting individuals in the Performance Space community and in 2009 they appointed a part-time philanthropy manager for two years to drive the philanthropic fund-raising programs.
The team hired ‘Motivational Super Guru, Rip Whitening’ to be the face of its Giving Appeal, sending a series of amusing videos to its database (see Rip’s three-part seminar series on the theory of Donorgy here: http://tiny.cc/uhkck.)
‘The video performance was an extension of a work performed by the artist earlier in the year,’ explains Liveworks Director, Daniel Brine. ‘By creating a quirky, tongue in cheek call to action the campaign appealed directly to the community around Performance Space and made people laugh.’
More than $17,000 in private contributions was raised in the 2010 appeal.
This amount made a significant difference to the delivery of this unique biennial festival, which the editor of street press publication, Brag, described as, ‘The best Sydney art/cultural event of 2010.’
Alongside its successful work with trusts and foundations, individual giving now provides significant support to Performance Space’s diverse program.
Visit: www.performancespace.com.au
Published 2011
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