‘WE NEED to tell the stories of South Africans who were ordinary people, but did extraordinary things,” says Denise Newman, explaining why she and director Basil Appollis created Cold Case: Revisiting Dulcie September.
The one-woman play is centred on the life of the political activist who was assassinated in Paris, France in 1988.
The drama, which was co-written by Sylvia Vollenhoven, debuted at this year’s National Arts Festival earning Newman a Standard Bank Ovation nomination, and the play jointly won The Adelaide Tambo Award for celebrating human rights through the arts (along with The Bram Fischer Waltz).
But they couldn’t capitalise on the good press because there was no space to present the play. So, Newman booked a stage at the Baxter Theatre for May next year. But, now comes the difficult part, funding.
Having heard about this “crowdfunding thing” she thought Thundafund.com could be a way to not only source money to hire the venue and run a proper marketing campaign, but also generate interest around the play itself: “Because it means ordinary people who might be interested can contribute,” she said.
“Theatre for me is a place where you can create magic. That’s why I want kids to come in, to be able to sit still in a darkened room for an hour, which they don’t do anymore. It’s to focus on something that transports them into another place, another time and walk out and feel that they’ve shared in someone’s life, and it will be me the actress, Denise, and Dulcie, the person we are telling the story about,” said Newman.
The way she has structured their Thundafund campaign is to specify that R100 gets a contributor a ticket to a preview, while R200 sponsors a student to watch a special matinee and R300 gets you a ticket to the opening night “where you can hobnob and go to the afterparty”.
“These are tangible things, and I think the problem at the moment is that people need to know that even though the play is only happening in May, we need the funding now. Because, now we need to get it off the ground, pay the deposit, start the marketing campaign. If we don’t start our marketing campaign people don’t know about it and we play to 20, 30 people a night and this important story cannot just be neglected.
“Yes, people are always looking at stuff coming to them on the Net as a scam, but we are guaranteeing that Thundafund has a great reputation and they will walk you through the steps.”
Plus, if they don’t reach the tipping point – the point at which enough money has been raised for the project to go ahead – Thundafund returns your money.
Newman was very interested in the lessons Cape Dance Company artistic director Debbie Turner learnt from running, so far, two successful Thundafund crowdsourcing projects.
They raised enough money to commission a new dance piece, Blue, which will be the anchor of their showcase celebrating the company’s 20th anniversary at the end of the month.
One of the lessons Turner has learnt about crowdsourcing is that it is administratively a huge job: “There’s the information for the website, and you have to decide on manufacturing and administering the rewards,” she said.
Rewards are tailored around building their audience and “allowing people to invite dance back into their lives”.
“I see it as not just a fund-raising opportunity, but an investment. If it’s just fund-raising in a performance environment then ordinary people have no reason to give you money. But, if they feel ownership and you can make them feel collaboratively responsible for bringing this new work to the stage, that works,” said Turner.
Respondents to their latest campaign got to sit in on a rehearsal and watch the dancers being coached by the choreographers and their enthusiastic responses reminded Turner that a performance is nothing without an audience.
Her advice for artists who want to use the crowdfunding model is to not put an unrealistic price tag on the project, but set up realistic goals and explain what the money can be used for – such as, R200 buys a pair of ballet shoes.
“You have to get people excited about your project. You need great pictures for the website and be creative about your rewards. We have to earn our audience one person at a time,” said Turner.
• See www.thundafund.com/coldcase to see what the fuss is about.