HBO Remarks (excerpted)
By Ruby Lerner, December 3, 2002

In 2001, Creative Capital celebrated its first three years of supporting innovative artists with an event at HBO in New York. In 2002, another event was staged there to honor Creative Capital's funders and the artists they support. Presenting artists included Alison Cornyn and Sue Johnson (360 Degrees), Elena del Rivero ([Swi:t] Home. One year of my life), Sandi DuBowski (Trembling Before G-d), Beverly McIver (The Liberation of Mammy), and Pamela Z (Voci).

On behalf of the board, staff, the event committee, Arch Gillies, Colleen Keegan and Sheila Nevins, and the National Artists Committee, I want to welcome you as Creative Capital celebrates the end of its 4th year of operations by honoring the funders who have made Creative Capital possible and the artists with whom we've had the privilege to work.

We are here tonight to honor Creative Capital's funders, who have taken a chance on a bold, new idea and supplied the working capital that has allowed us to develop an entity that is, to our knowledge, unique in the history of support for artists.

We are proud to be the vehicle through which philanthropists and artists can come together.

If I could ask all the Creative Capital artists who are here tonight to stand; will you all join me in recognizing the artists and now join me in thanking the funders for making their support possible.

The artists here tonight are only some of those supported by Creative Capital. To date, the organization has committed more than $2.5 million to 158 projects in all disciplines, from choreographers and puppeteers, to filmmakers and installation artists, to internet and robotics artists. Creative Capital grantees are from 24 states and the District of Columbia, and the roster is quite culturally diverse as well: 42 percent self-identify as something other than European American. More than 60 of those funded artists have won other major grants, awards and fellowships totaling more than $2 million since receiving their initial Creative Capital awards.

As many of you know, after National Endowment for the Arts fellowships were eliminated for most individual artists, a group of concerned foundation representatives and individuals, under the leadership of Arch Gillies and The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, came together to form Creative Capital in 1999. The organization's design was also influenced by what was happening in the venture capital world and in the newly evolving field of venture philanthropy. Some of those core concepts are:

• Willingness to make a long-term commitment to a project;
• An interest in capacity building;
• A willingness to provide additional capital, beyond the initial award;
• A willingness to provide technical assistance and advisory services in addition to money;
• An interest in attracting outside investors to a project;
• An interest in measurable outcomes;
• And of course, for venture capital and for Creative Capital, a financial return on the investment, in our case, proportional to our contribution to the project.

Could these ideas work in the cultural arena?

We've evolved an extensive four-part system to translate these core concepts into practical application in support of individual artists. In a few minutes, you'll hear from several artists directly about their work and experiences with this system of support.

Creative Capital seeks to:

Provide Support for the Project: First, we meet with each artist individually to discuss project goals, and at the artist's request, we are available for follow-up meetings.

Second, we provide financial support to the project beyond our initial grant, in several different categories. We're using money in an interesting way--all money is not the same.

Third, each artist has a page on the Creative Capital website, and we encourage people to use it extensively. Several artists have been curated into shows as a result, and at least one artist that we know of is working with a composer who contacted her as a result of seeing her work on the Creative Capital website.

As a complement to the web presence, we do quarterly promotional e-mailings about the artists' public presentations to around 11,000 people.

And finally, if an artist feels that the project might have commercial possibilities, we help them to develop business plans.

Provide Support to the Individual: Because we constantly ask ourselves what support will be residual to the artist long after Creative Capital is out of the picture, we assist people with building skills in the areas of fundraising, public relations and marketing, and especially, strategic planning, for the Creative Capital project, but also career and life planning. We couldn't have developed this program without the extraordinary Colleen Keegan, whose work has meant so much to so many and who has been such a gift to Creative Capital.

What is really exciting now is that Alyson Pou, our Director of Programs and
Services, is building a Professional Development Program that will train about 16 Creative Capital artists who have been through our workshops to go out and train artists throughout the country. This is a way to make what we are learning available to a much broader community than we would ever be able to fund directly. If this works, it will provide income to the participating artists and to Creative Capital.

Nurture the Community: Our goal is to help to foster relationships for the grantees that can extend beyond the grant period as another important residual benefit, that's both relationships with other artists and relationships with arts professionals. To address this area, Creative Capital has held three retreats to date and as one artist remarked, "that was the most amazing month I've ever spent in two days"--mostly because the artists' work is so inspiring.

Very tangible opportunities to present and exhibit work and do residencies have come out of the retreats, you'll hear about some of those tonight; artists have been creating opportunities for each other, and the generous arts professionals we bring end up providing advice and assistance long after the retreat has ended.

Engage the Public: Next year, we are taking a year off from grantmaking to spend the year promoting the 158 projects that we've already funded. We've commissioned articles about each project, which will be put together both by discipline and by theme. And we'll be revving up the website. It will become the Creative Capital Channel; you saw samples of what we're working on as you entered the auditorium. We want to test whether putting some energy into promotion, if making an "information intervention" can do one of two things: assist the projects we've funded in maximizing their impact as well as creating new opportunities for the funded artists.

Stay tuned at www.creative-capital.org.

Our approach has already begun to attract interest from other nonprofits and philanthropists. For example, as a result of last summer's retreat, DiverseWorks in Houston will produce a similar event for Texas artists with our guidance; also in Texas, people setting up a music foundation in Austin have been studying Creative Capital as a model; and I will be heading to the Southeast in the late winter to consult with a foundation considering setting up a similar program.

We have big challenges ahead. As many of you know, in 2000, after just our second year of operation, The Warhol Foundation, recognizing that it would be impossible for an organization like this to have to depend solely on the vagaries of year-by-year fundraising, generously committed $10 million to help us launch an Endowment Campaign to ensure that we could become a permanent part of the funding landscape for individual artists. I would like to thank the Warhol Foundation for its leadership, and I would like to personally thank Joel Wachs and Wynn Kramarsky for their guidance.

We must MATCH that $10 million--on behalf of artists throughout the country, we MUST match that $10 million, and that means we will need both the good will and concrete assistance of everyone in this room, as we need both support for the endowment and long term commitments; we need continued financial support from our current funders, as well as commitments from people just learning about us now.

Excerpts from grantee persentations:

from Sandi DuBowski (Trembling Before G-d):
“Over eight years with Trembling Before G-d, I have received support from over 30 foundations. But I love Creative Capital like family. Creative Capital is visionary like no other. They are philanthropy's revolutionaries - bold, challenging, smart, and dedicated to us artists 24-7. When the National Endowment for the Arts fell, and it appeared a huge chunk of funding would disappear for art of movement and meaning, Creative Capital ignited, revved up and has not stopped. Ruby alone has been the most lovable force of nature, and the staff, all working artists, are unstoppable and an inspiration. Their office for me is a second home (I think they are even afraid I may move in). In a culture that devalues art, they taught me to value what I do and what I love and gave me skills, networks, and consistent support to dream my biggest dreams. I look forward to a day where I can write a check to Creative Capital to help support other artists in the way that Creative Capital has supported me. I cannot think of a foundation that deserves it more.”

Elena del Rivero ([Swi:t] Home. One year of my life):
“On signing my contract with Creative Capital after receiving their grant in 2001, I read in small print that the artists were supposed to have insurance for their work and work space. I was about to leave for Spain and told Kyle, my husband, that I was going to buy the insurance. He suggested not to hurry, as no one would blame me for waiting until my return a month later. I said I was going to do it even if it was not a perfect policy. He got so angry that he left the house. Upon his return, he asked me what I had thought, and I replied “The check is going out tomorrow.” It was August 25th. I left for Spain on September 5th. And my building and my work were heavily damaged on 9/11. Thanks to Creative Capital, I was able to have a studio and to create a laboratory to clean my work before conservation experts assessed the damage. I owe this and much more to Creative Capital. For example, I learned at the retreats to speak up and present to institutions and curators without fearing rejection... I gained ‘chutzpah’ I did not have previously.”

from Beverly McIver (The Liberation of Mammy):
“Creative Capital has taught me to set goals, dream big, and believe that the sky is the limit. Over the past two years, I have experienced great success. I am a Guggenheim Fellow and currently a Radcliffe Fellow at Harvard University. It was another Creative Capital grantee, Barbara Hammer, who told me of the Radcliffe Fellowship. Barbara was a Radcliffe fellow the previous year and kindly wrote me a letter of recommendation for the fellowship. In the December issue of Art in America, my work is reviewed. These are several of the goals inscribed in my Creative Capital Strategic Planning notebook. I am living my dreams, and I am thankful.”

From Sue Johnson and Alison Cornyn (360 Degrees):
“With 360degrees.org – Perspectives on the US Criminal Justice System, we were considering the web as a space for public discourse – a place to examine prison issues in the United States. We conceived of the idea four years ago and see the four-fold increase of the prison population as one of the critical national issues of our day.... Creative Capital was an early funder to 360degrees.org and played a key role in its growth. They took a huge risk when people were asking us questions like: ‘You’re investigating the entire U.S. Criminal Justice System?’ and ‘You call this art?’ New York State Council on the Arts, New York Council for the Humanities, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting have contributed to this project, and we are appreciative to all our funders. It has been Creative Capital that has nurtured us, challenged us to bring the project to the next level, asked us what we needed to have balanced lives (which we’re still working on) and helped us to convince others that what is ‘art’ can also be public engagement and civic journalism.”

From Pamela Z (Voci):
“Although I often tour my smaller concert-style work, one of the problems I'm grappling with now is having created large works and then not being able to find the support or resources to mount them again at other venues. I'm thrilled beyond expectations by the wealth of information and contacts made available to me by this remarkable Creative Capital program, and I'm feeling optimistic that more doors will open with regard to this new piece as well as the earlier works. When I was awarded the Creative Capital grant, I was grateful to be receiving financial support, but I had no idea how extensive and meaningful the non-financial part of the award would be. One example of this support is the Creative Capital retreat I attended this past summer. I went away with a great deal of valuable information from the workshops and consultations with generous arts professionals, I was given some good contacts who may be able to begin helping me with some of my booking and administrative goals, and I was hugely inspired by many of the artist presentations.”