composer FAIL #34?
I'm not sure if I should list this as a composer FAIL: this is not a rejection letter I received from a composition competition, but I'm posting this anyway.
Bummer.
Yes, I did not make my goal of raising $2000 for my July concert "They Came...from the FUTURE!!!" At first I found this failure disheartening because I thought I could raise the funds in three weeks; I thought more people would contribute. I was also disappointed in myself for not starting this fundraising campaign earlier, and thought "the Man" (my term for school) was keeping me down. If I didn't have to take classes, I could spend more time fundraising or...writing music like I'm supposed to.
But after a few hours of frustration, I realized that this fundraising campaign wasn't a complete failure. I mean, for my first fundraising attempt, I raised around $800! (I'm including a couple of cash contributions I received AND an in-kind donation. Yes folks, someone is letting me use their portable electric keyboard, so this will reduce my instrumental rental costs.)
I hope this will be enough to go to local arts organizations and prove to them there is interest in my project. Maybe they'll be able to match funds? Who knows.
Also, I do not see this as a complete failure because I learned a few things about fundraising for my own cause. Like, it's okay to ask people for money, especially if it's for a good cause. As a friend stated in an email, "People will give if and when they can. It's for a cause, not for your vacation to a tropical island. People want a chance to support their people and the things they believe in. Consider yourself the 'tropical rain forest' of new composers...."
Ha! I like that.
I also should have given myself more time to raise funds (less than a month will probably not cut it), and I shouldn't have completely relied on social networking sites. (I think my dad appreciated the good old-fashioned email I sent him asking for funds. Then again, maybe he's used to it by now....)
Anyway, if you contributed, I can't thank you enough—you know who you are. I promise I will put on a good show!
[In case you're wondering, this is Michael Fiday's reinactment of Beethoven writing the "Moonlight Sonata" with Countess Giulietta Guicciardi supervising.]