Saturday, July 12, 2014

Babycastles, promoting video games as an independent art form

We interviewed Ari Spool from Babycastles at their video game exhibition space about her experiences with crowdfunding. Babycastles' mission is to promote the development of video games as art form. In 2010 they began a crowdfunding campaign to fund the rent and equipment for a temporary gallery near Grand Central in Manhattan. Even though their exhibition was highly successful, they were forced to a new location. Nowadays they have moved to 24th street, also in the centre of Manhattan, where they continue running various expositions, events and workshops to promote the artistic aspects of video games. Below a video about video games as an art form from the TIME magazine, with images of the old location of Babycastles.



Their crowdfunding campaign managed to raise $9,000, largely exceeding their target of $6,000. The success can be attributed to their widespread media attention and large network of the members of Babycastles. For instance, an article in the New York Times was published and a part of their contributions was matched by the large video game enterprise IGN Entertainment.

Today the organisation is self-sustaining. Only recently they set up a membership system that allows members special privileges and free access to events. The events frequently draw more than 100 visitors, which also function as a source of income. Also the hosting of workshops contribute to their maintenance costs such as rent and exhibition equipment.

Because of crowdfunding Babycastles, managed to afford to rent their new exhibition centre. Without the initial funding they would never have been able to grow to their current size. Their workshops are attended by a diverse group of people, either from the neighbourhood or from farther away. To read more about them visit their website: www.babycastles.com.

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