This page details some of the ancient history of the Universal Patronage Project.
To check out what’s happening now, go to the UPP blog.
To donate, visit Ruby & Cash.
Here’s a little history: Our original idea started taking shape in 2006. This was what we wrote at the time:
“We want to create (facilitate the creation of) an art piece that visually represents a grassroots funding project that is somehow reflective of the communality of the internet…
Our idea is that instead of looking for one primary source to fund an art piece, we utilize our network of friends and eventually our friends’ friends to get the money for the piece.
The patronage system has been part of the art world for a long time, and it, just like the art world itself, has been rather exclusive as far as who can participate: only people with a lot of money/ connections, etc, can be patrons, and they in turn have a one-to-one relationship with a specific artist or group of artists.
In other words, certain people have a monopoly on the acquisition of art and certain other people have a monopoly on the production of art (at least art that is viewed and legitimized by the public). Also, as feminists, we feel compelled to note that only ONE of the artists on this page is a woman (that’s right: Georgia O’Keefe).
What we’d like to do is change that one-to-one relationship and diffuse it so that the funding of the art is by a large network of somehow-connected people, each of which contribute a very small amount to the production of the art.
By breaking down the whole into many different parts, we’re metaphorically allowing the patron to fund something as small as a single brushstroke.”
The idea of “micropatronage” or disintermediation isn’t a brand new one. In fact, there are a number of examples of its use in film, music, art and lifestyle.
It differs somewhat from the better known “microcredit” or “microloan” industry originated by Grameen Bank in the early part of the 21st century.
It is generally acknowledged as being a more direct peer-to-peer network of financial support where micropatrons are often rewarded for their “donation” in the form of some “reward“. In addition, recipients are not subject to the terms of a loan, including repayment schedules and interest payments.
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