Christopher Finlayson, Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage in New Zealand, has welcomed Boosted, the Arts Foundation’s new philanthropic crowdfunding platform, saying it will encourage greater private sector giving to strengthen the arts sector.
“Boosted is a great example of the innovative thinking by Arts sector participants to allow the public to become more involved in supporting the arts,” Mr Finlayson said. “The Arts Foundation is to be congratulated on its determination to generate new streams of incomes for the arts.”
Boosted is similar to other crowd-funding websites, but is dedicated to promoting arts projects exclusively.
“Significantly, because recipient projects will be funded through the Arts Foundation, donors will be eligible for the government’s tax rebates to encourage charitable giving,” Mr Finlayson said.
“The success of crowd-funding overseas has shown that the public often wants to contribute to creative projects, and the sector needs to provide a convenient way to let them do so,” Mr Finlayson said.
Previous research on the levels of giving and sponsorship for the cultural sector revealed that on average government contributed 80% of funding, and private individuals only 3%.
“It is important that we encourage increased private sector giving in addition to, not instead of, existing levels of public support for the arts and cultural organisations,” he said.
