About
We’ve all been there: asked to be in a show but can’t afford the fabrication, framing or shipping; are in a show but there’s no money for a catalog or other permanent documentation so our work goes up, comes down, and disappears in a month—art production costs money! So we got to thinking: what if we solicited $10 donations to give grants to artists? After all, only 100 $10 donations would result in a $1000 grant—that’s less than a dollar per month (but you can give as much and as often as you like)!
Carla’s grandfather, an extremely frugal man who saved everything, would pick up every penny on the street and he’d say, ‘after all, Wrigley became a millionaire selling 1¢ sticks of gum.’ Through direct e-mailing, websites, and word-of-mouth we believe we can collect enough pennies in $10 donations to make a difference—who needs the spoils of corporate robber-barons to support the arts?! We have faith and after all, we hail from great state of California, the 7th largest economy in the world and ranked 50th in per capita arts funding (less than 3¢ annually). While people of means can give as much as they like (and we encourage them!), we believe this will ultimately be sustained through small donations that most of us can afford to make year after year.
Our goal is to make positive, sustainable change in the art world using different models of support.*
1. What is cadre?
cadre is simply Carla Williams and Deir dre Visser’s ongoing collaborative project which encompasses everything from curatorial collaboration to art projects to the cadre art grant. We needed a name that incorporated us both, obviously, and liked the definition of cadre and thought it appropriate for what we’d like to achieve vis à vis the art world. And Deirla just made no sense.
2. When do you accept donations?
We accept donations year-round! Though there is a deadline to apply for the grant, there is no deadline for making a donation.
3. Can I be automatically set up to make a monthly donation?
Yes! Click here to sign up for an automatic $10 per month payment plan.
4. Are donations tax deductible?
Not at this time. The reason checks are to be made out to one of us is that we have opted not to seek 501(c)(3) non-profit status at this time. It’s time-consuming and involved, and for now, we wanted to keep it as simple as possible and to operate like a clearing house for donations—money in, money out. The only deductions being taken are fees for Paypal donations.
5. What kinds of art does the grant support?
This is a visual arts grant—works in all media are eligible. While we don’t support traditional performing arts projects, we do support performance artists. You can always E-mail us if you have any questions.
6. Is this a pyramid scheme?
This one surprises us—though this question or a variant comes up often enough we have to address it. No, this isn’t a pyramid scheme; we outline above very clearly how we solicit money and how we give it away, and we certainly aren’t promising or even suggesting a payday for everyone who donates. Folks are naturally suspicious, it seems, but what we’re really finding is they also don’t like to use the click-through links from E-mails. Those people, I’m afraid, we cannot help—we can’t re-explain everything in every E-mail campaign. Then no one would read it.
7. Is this grant just for California artists?
No—anyone who donates is eligible to apply.