Page 120 - AC/E Digital Culture Annual Report 2016

120Important factors include how the networks are woven (who is connected to who and how these people help disseminate and, of course, fund the project), the attractiveness or signi canceof the proposal, its presentation (how it is communicated is an exponentially important factor – that is, the need to make it known to people who have never heard about the project and/or creator or team of organisers and to convince them or gain their con dence so that they give money), the communication and PR strategy and the design of rewards. The good news is that all that needs to be invested is basically a lot of time and creativity, and few resources are initially required.Rewards are an important feature. They are the perks backers receive and are usually related toif not part of the project. For example, especially in the case of festivals, a crowdfunding campaign is usually approached as a campaign for presales of tickets and merchandise, packs or VIP passes. This is sometimes called crowdticketing.15Crowdticketing is normally conducted via these platforms, though the festival’s own website can also be used. We take crowdticketing to mean a method that involves selling a minimum number of tickets in order to fund and make possiblean event. This needs to be made clear in the process, which must be transparent, in order to encourage followers to become involved. It therefore di ers from advance ticket sales in that the purpose of making tickets available in advance is not for users’ convenience but to make possible the event and involve users.We will now take a look at the case of Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where crowdfunding is put toa di erent use. This festival is a huge event in which the performing arts take over the whole of the Scottish city (more than 3,000 shows were performed in 2015) and is funded through other means.It is an out of the ordinary festival. It is shaped by the joint, collective organisation of manyshows with the simultaneous involvement of many agents. However, the interesting feature is its receptiveness to proposals for shows and the participation of the companies of performers, as it provides opportunities especially to those that are just starting out. It is the artists who must take the initiative and raise funds to be able to participate. It thus has a di erent focus to other festivals as it is organised and structured and grows with the hundreds and thousands of people who take part, whereas the organisation simply deals with the management and coordination side.Companies and artists interested in participating (all budgets are limited, and this is especiallytrue of such a colossal event) are granted a space on a crowdfunding platform exclusivelyfor artists wishing to take part in the festival, Crowdfunder.co.uk.16 In other words, audiences fund the expenses of the companies they wish to see together with the company’s followers who want them to achieve their goal.It might therefore be said that the festival carries out crowdfunding per show, and that this is an indirect way of partially gauging people’s interest (though it is not, and never should be, the only way) and of allowing the audience as backers to choose what content they want to see.But not all of the audience’s decisions canbe made through funding if our aim is for them to take part to some degree. It is possible to experiment with a variety of levels2. NT BEFORE AND DURING THE FESTIVALFocus: Use of New Digital Technologies at Cultural Festivals