A COMMITTEE OF ONE was created to address a great void in the realm of American arts funding. In the United States, if an artist wants to practice his/her craft, s/he generally only has a few options to fund that work:

1.  Pay out of pocket
2.  Find an individual benefactor
3.  Qualify for a grant or fellowship
4.  Produce commercially for a client

While options 1 and 2 may be viable for smaller works, as the scale of a project increases, so does the budget. Larger projects are therefore forced to submit to the long – and generally unreliable – process of grant seeking, or to give up a large degree of creative control in order to secure commercial funding for the piece.

For established artists, the situation can be less problematic: Grant-writing foundations tend to look more favorably on artists who have a body of work behind them. Commercial funders tend to trust an artist’s vision more when they are reassured by a thick portfolio. However, for an artist just starting out, or for one who works across many disciplines, it can be frustratingly difficult to convince others that a project is not only worthy, but also viable.

This is where A COMMITTEE OF ONE steps in. By focusing our efforts on supporting the work of early-career artists, we hope to discover and nurture talent that might otherwise be crushed by these overwhelming financial pressures. Submitted projects are evaluated not based on prior work but rather on the solidity of the current vision and production plan. Once accepted for production, we work with the artist to discover the project’s core niche audience and assist in focusing fundraising drives toward that base. We also assist in connecting the project with our network of like-minded artists and technicians to find creative partners with a shared vision.

Once the money has been raised and support partners have been found, we take on the left-brain side of production in order to allow the artists the creative freedom to fulfill their vision. Scheduling, organizing, disbursement of funds, etc. are taken off the artist’s mind to allow for a free working environment within the motivating deadlines agreed upon at the project’s inception.

A COMMITTEE OF ONE is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. For more information, check out the Fractured Atlas website.