cARTel: Collaborative Arts LA
Our greatest achievements have grown out of the people and artists with whom we are privileged to work. Our ensemble of dedicated artists has grown over the years into a dedicated, well-rounded staff. In addition to our core team, we have worked with and showcased over 2000 artists over the past five years -- in successful productions and events that span several mediums of art including film, theatre, music, art and more. While operating with very little money, we’ve been creative and efficient with our resources, so perhaps our biggest achievement has been the fact that we’ve kept it all going! We have been fortunate to be able to do a lot with very little, never stopping, never settling and constantly taking on new challenges with vigor. For example, our Brokechella and No Budget festivals -- which today stand as our most far-reaching and well-attended events -- started very small. Brokechella started in a coffee shop, and in April 2013, 2000 people will join us downtown for a day of music, food, and art (we’ve literally had to shut down an entire street in order to accommodate everyone and everything). No Budget began in a 50-person theater with no curating process and 16 videos submitted by friends and fans; it now is in its fourth year and has a red carpet, panel discussions led by arts professionals, a sold-out 300-person theater and has been a launchpad for young artists to create work and launch meaningful relationships within the film industry. The winners of the very first No Budget festival just released a trailer for a series based on their winning film, and many past Brokechella bands have been featured as “bands” to watch and have developed large local followings. The growth is so exciting to watch and defines what success means to us.
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1 Submitted Idea
- 2013 Grants Challenge
cARTel: Collaborative Arts LAs ToDo List
Our idea is to solidify our company as a sustainable arts organization whose focus is on emerging arts professionals. We believe that in LA, there are two types of arts events: the heavily funded, well attended, and smoothly run event geared towards established artists and celebrities; and the unsupported, sparsely attended, poorly managed event for emerging artists. Our mission bridges the two: creating artistic opportunities for thrilling and boundary-pushing artists that will allow them to create on a bigger, better supported level. Now is the time for us to take the next step in our mission. Each year, we engage hundreds of artists, creators and collaborators - and in order to fully invest in artist and art administrators potential, we need the funding to be able to support them on a monetary level. But first, a little bit about us: cARTel’s attracts those not interested solely in performing or watching, but rather in sharing the experience of art with one another. Since 2007, we have produced 22 theatrical productions, 6 music and film festivals, several one-day events such as poetry readings and collaborative mixers, and 2 installation art shows featuring the work of over 2000 multimedia LA area artists. Our work has been covered by the LA Times, NBCLA, Huffington Post, LAist, LA Weekly, The Examiner, and countless blogs and digital hubs. Our Artistic Director, Negin Singh, was featured on the White House blog, “Winning the Future: Obama and Young Americans” and was named one of the top 20 Indian-American Entrepreneurs for 2012 in India Currents Magazine. Our company values include: -Affordability and accessibility. If we can’t afford the price of a ticket, we don’t put it on. -We only produce original work by daring artists and promote collaboration as the driving energy behind the creative process. -The event has to be logistically sound and provide a safe, exciting platform for the artists success. -Process is as important as product. Throughout the creation and planning process, artists and staff alike need to feel comfortable and pushed with respect, patience and fun! Where we are now: We have succeeded in creating a model that attracts artists and audiences to participate in challenging and exciting art-making that is new and comes with few guidelines. Right now, cARTel administrators and artists need to MAKE time out of their hectic schedules to support the mission, which means that though we do a lot already, we can do a LOT MORE. With appropriate funding, we will focus more of our time on expansion of our core programming, free workshops, mentorship programs, a physical space, as well as experiment with new events! Our programs: BROKECHELLA MUSIC & ARTS FESTIVAL What began at a coffee house with 50 people has now grown to a street festival for over 2000. Brokechella is a one-day extravaganza that will feature 38 of LA’s finest emerging musical talent chosen from over 300 submissions. Music, gourmet street food, art installations, boutique vendors, games, and more - all for under $10. NO BUDGET FILM FESTIVAL Beg, borrow, collaborate; NBFF takes indie filmmaking back to its roots. A red carpet event at the Downtown Independent, last year’s edition debuted the Bonus Features panel series featuring some of today’s trailblazing voices and industry heavyweights from major networks and film fests. GENDER LAB Our annual ensemble-based production returns in summer 2013 for the multimedia performance 'Gender Lab.' An ensemble of artists will use dance, visual art, poetry, food and more to create a sensory experience that asks the question, "How much of a wo/man are you?" SOUND/STAGE A quarterly live recording series at El Cid, cARTel revives the lost art of the radio play in a swanky cocktail setting. Sustainable storytelling infused with old Hollywood glamour, the LAist hailed Sound/Stage for "...resurrect[ing] all of the allure and sultry romanticism of Old Hollywood." LIVING ROOM TOUR The Living Room Tour is a touring theatre series that commissions original work and thrusts it straight into your living room. Since 2007, LRT has hit up living rooms from Hollywood to Orange County to the Valley to Monrovia and everywhere in between. The 2013 show will tour in October as the first Halloween-themed edition of LRT. EVERYBODY NOSE cARTel’s performance clown troupe creates highly collaborative theater pieces through fully-dimensional, silent clowns. Using both physical comedy and intense character work through an organic realization process, we have trained over 1000 clowns to date. Additional support will ensure free workshops for people of all ages, as well as create a new holiday work for December 2013. We have set a fundraising goal of $200,000 for this calendar year to help us sustain our growing organization which will provide for full-time staff, part-time and freelance coordinators and as a means to sustain our standard of artistic excellence.