Starving Artist No More
Donation protected
I need your help to make Artunity come alive in a dynamic way in 2020! This isn't just for me, it will empower artists across the world and generations of artists to come. If we can raise this money quickly, I can pay local developer Travis Sutton to finish the execution of this stripped-down version of Artunity and have it live by Feb. 17th. If you aren't familiar with how I believe Artunity can put to rest the cliche' of the starving artist, please take a minute and read my most recent press release. Make sure and get to the bottom to see how your donation could mean a CHANCE TO WIN an original piece of my artwork. Starving Artist No More Artunity creates the opportunity to donate to an artist for a chance to win original art.
Founder Jay Weinberg set out to bring his vision for Artunity to life as he was living the starving artist cliche. “I needed $150 to pay my energy bill so I posted an illustration online and asked 15 people to donate $10. Once I reached my goal of $150, I randomly selected someone to win the drawing.” The power of the sharing economy means that artists can make more money for their work and fund it faster. It also creates an opportunity for people who would love to support their favorite artists but can’t afford to spend as much. Artunity launched a prototype in 2017 but it was quickly apparent that it could not scale. “I raised $100K from investors to try and build this robust platform that I had dreamed up and it just wasn’t enough.”, Weinberg says. Eventually, Artunity looks like “Instagram meets GoFundMe with a Las Vegas twist”. Artunity found a new breath of life in 2019 as Weinberg imagined a stripped-down version of the app could be built as a basic website.
Weinberg's new design for a demo was then coded by his friend Nate Ungrodt resulting in Artunity placing in the Top 100 globally and winning the People’s Choice Award for Startup of the Year. “This new version we are working on will be something that can scale and allow me to bring over artists with established followings to start proving the most dynamic aspect of opportunity that Artunity creates.”.
Artists like Toria Casarro (26k followers) and Dan Chase (74K) have already expressed their excitement. Chase told Weinberg “It’s a cool idea for sure. Let me know when you’re ready. I’ll definitely give it a go.” Weinberg reached out to Chase after seeing that he made a post about how he was abandoning his Instagram page because it wasn’t working as a business tool for him in spite of his large following. Toria is equally excited about funding her work and has expressed potentially doing a series only available on Artunity.
“The demo version of Artunity was great for showing how the site will look when it’s live, but I need some help getting the code up to speed.”, says Weinberg. “I’m currently trying to raise $3000 to be able to pay local developer Travis Sutton to finish the coding and to have enough to pay for Artunity trademark fees.”. For every donation made ( in $10 denominations), the donor will have a chance to win a piece of Weinberg’s original art once Artunity is live. Donating $10 would mean 1 in 150 chance of winning. “I like the idea that raising $1500 on a piece of art is exactly 10 times what I raised on the first illustration that sparked this idea. If I can do that on 2 pieces of artwork then I can raise enough to finally move Artunity forward in a huge way.” Anyone that donates $30 or more will receive a free print of the image and 3 chances to win the original.
Your donations matter. Not just to helping Weinberg prove the concept, and not only by validating the value of his work as an artist and entrepreneur but by helping build a good thing that will impact future generations of artists and their families. Art. Unity. Opportunity. With Artunity we will put to rest the cliche of the starving artist.
Founder Jay Weinberg set out to bring his vision for Artunity to life as he was living the starving artist cliche. “I needed $150 to pay my energy bill so I posted an illustration online and asked 15 people to donate $10. Once I reached my goal of $150, I randomly selected someone to win the drawing.” The power of the sharing economy means that artists can make more money for their work and fund it faster. It also creates an opportunity for people who would love to support their favorite artists but can’t afford to spend as much. Artunity launched a prototype in 2017 but it was quickly apparent that it could not scale. “I raised $100K from investors to try and build this robust platform that I had dreamed up and it just wasn’t enough.”, Weinberg says. Eventually, Artunity looks like “Instagram meets GoFundMe with a Las Vegas twist”. Artunity found a new breath of life in 2019 as Weinberg imagined a stripped-down version of the app could be built as a basic website.
Weinberg's new design for a demo was then coded by his friend Nate Ungrodt resulting in Artunity placing in the Top 100 globally and winning the People’s Choice Award for Startup of the Year. “This new version we are working on will be something that can scale and allow me to bring over artists with established followings to start proving the most dynamic aspect of opportunity that Artunity creates.”.
Artists like Toria Casarro (26k followers) and Dan Chase (74K) have already expressed their excitement. Chase told Weinberg “It’s a cool idea for sure. Let me know when you’re ready. I’ll definitely give it a go.” Weinberg reached out to Chase after seeing that he made a post about how he was abandoning his Instagram page because it wasn’t working as a business tool for him in spite of his large following. Toria is equally excited about funding her work and has expressed potentially doing a series only available on Artunity.
“The demo version of Artunity was great for showing how the site will look when it’s live, but I need some help getting the code up to speed.”, says Weinberg. “I’m currently trying to raise $3000 to be able to pay local developer Travis Sutton to finish the coding and to have enough to pay for Artunity trademark fees.”. For every donation made ( in $10 denominations), the donor will have a chance to win a piece of Weinberg’s original art once Artunity is live. Donating $10 would mean 1 in 150 chance of winning. “I like the idea that raising $1500 on a piece of art is exactly 10 times what I raised on the first illustration that sparked this idea. If I can do that on 2 pieces of artwork then I can raise enough to finally move Artunity forward in a huge way.” Anyone that donates $30 or more will receive a free print of the image and 3 chances to win the original.
Your donations matter. Not just to helping Weinberg prove the concept, and not only by validating the value of his work as an artist and entrepreneur but by helping build a good thing that will impact future generations of artists and their families. Art. Unity. Opportunity. With Artunity we will put to rest the cliche of the starving artist.
Organiser
Jay Weinberg
Organiser
LaPorte, IN
