ARTSblog: Funding & Changing Business Models

Ian David Moss and Dianne Debicella of Fractured Atlas, and Dennis Scholl of the Knight Foundation started off the discussion on how different funding strategies and new business models can be employed to support creative ventures, and provide “risk-funding” artists need to launch a new project or artistic enterprise.

Fractured Atlas’ programs support arts groups as well as individual artists in all disciplines across the country. Their fiscal sponsorship program serves about 2,500 artists and arts groups nationally.

They also provide management counseling, and invariably the subject of whether to start a nonprofit will come up. Ian’s thoughts on the question is built on the premise that the 501(c)(3) model—with its governance structure, accountability to the mission, and the community and system of checks and balances—is designed for permanence. If you accept that, then the question becomes “if the founder leaves, is there a reason for this organization to exist?”

The Knight Foundation Arts Program’s approach under the leadership of Dennis Scholl is an intriguing blend of swashbuckling venture capital investment, strategically employed to embed the arts into the fabric of the community.