the startupist

Last week a woman named Rachel Perrie pledged to a film project called Cargo. At that moment she became the millionth person to have ever backed a Kickstarter project…  …Kickstarter backers have now pledged more than $100 million to projects. To put this in some context, the 2011 fiscal year budget for the National Endowment for the Arts is $154 million. At the current pace of more than $2 million in pledges each week, Kickstarter backers are pledging more than $100 million a year.

Kickstarter’s growth has exploded over the past year. More designers, producers, musicians, photographers, and artists of all other types are getting funded than ever before - to the tune of a projected$100,000,000+ per year.  Where organizations like the NEA cannot fund every great creative project, Kickstarter has stepped in to supplement, support, and sustain the creativity and art for future generations.

Kickstarter is not just a trendy “crowdfunding platform”.  It is the new endowment for the arts created for and sustained by the people.