Official Matters About Primtings

Primtings Campaign has met its goal of raising L$251,251 — in 10 days! It all started with this letter from Ina Centaur, posted to the Primtings blog on Oct 9. The letter hinted at the soul-moving background of Primtings Museum — how it was started by a SL artist without any external funding, and how it’s managed to survive three years purely through support from the SL community — Primtings has managed to upkeep a sim-sized museum while keeping true to the quixotic ideals of that founding artist — a free and open museum. The letter also tried establishing a primting – prim’d painting – as a unique new form of art, “beyond mere replica.”

Residents of SL who have been to Primtings Museum can appreciate its significant contribution to both the virtual art world and to RL education — and edification beyond. Founder Ina Centaur describes this experience as, “Once you visit Primtings, you remember it. For life. For good.”

Along with a series of three different IM advocation messages, Ina Centaur’s letter was sent  as a notecard with LM to about 5,500 visitors to Primtings Museum since 2008 (minus those who opted out). Here’s for tracking the Campaign, starting from the first Primtings Messenger IM (All times in PST):

October 9 @ 8 AM: Primtings Campaign needs your help to keep Primtings open for the next 6 months. Enclosed is an open letter to our current and future patrons. Help us raise tier by Oct 21 deadline! – http://campaign.primtings.com or TP to the Primtings sim to donate

Subsequently, L$84,056 was donated via 102 donations by 91 unique avatars (datetime>=’2010-10-09′ AND datetime<=’2010-10-14 12:00:00′).  As you can tell from the campaign metrics graph below, the donation rate started slowing down midweek. A second IM was sent:

October 14 @ noon: Since its beginning, Primtings has been an open museum – despite being sim-sized, artists are not charged commission or upfront; visitors are not charged fees. Primtings Campaign, beyond the ‘3d paintings’, is about keeping that idealistic principle of ‘art for art’ alive. We are entirely dependent on your donation – we are at our halfway point with 7 days left. Please help keep Primtings going – http://campaign.primtings.com has the latest campaign details.

This second period raised L$102,371 via 57 donations by 52 unique avatars (datetime>’2010-10-14 12:00:00′ AND datetime<=’2010-10-19 16:30:00′). With two days left, and L$40k off, Primtings might or might not make it! A third and final IM was sent:

October 19 @ 4:30 PM: Did you know that some of our exhibits are created by SL artists who have passed away? These primtings will be lost forever if Primtings closes down! 48 hours left in Primtings Campaign with less than L$40,000 needed to reach Primtings Campaign’s goal of L$251,251 to pay 6 month’s nonprofit tier to keep Primtings alive for 6 more months. Please help us make this last stretch! Check out http://campaign.primtings.com for the up-to-the-second-barring-SL-lag campaign total.

In the hours since then and now, 15 unique avatars made 18 donations, totaling L$35,720. (datetime>’2010-10-19 16:30:00′ )

As of this writing at 10PM PST on October 19, Primtings Campaign has broken over its goal to L$253,796 (starting at L$31,149 remaining from the previous round, before campaign start).

The graph below shows the pCampaign Donations Total by Day — starting from October 9, when the campaign message was first sent. The size of each dot represents the number of transactions per day. Data is from the Primtings Campaign API (Totals for 2010b and Transactions for 2010b)

Primtings Campaign launched in early 2010, and was  the only source of funds for the Museum’s first 6 months of sim tier in 2010. New to this round was the suggestion by a Primtings Board member of putting donation kiosks right next to each Primting. This “Primtings Donate Anywhere [inside Primtings sim]” contributed L$86,314 via 121 donations (109 unique avatars) to the 2010b pCampaign Total. These any-donation-amount bins included donations ranging from L$1 to L$10,000.

2010-10-20 L$238,756 was cashed out at L$260:US$1 for $885 to meet 6 months nonprofit island sim tier.

A live running list of donations since the beginning of pCampaign (2010a and b) with patron names anonymized is available via the pCampaign API here.

Dear Patron,

Primtings Museum has, over its three years on SL, reached out to thousands of SL residents in a positive and constructive way. Touted by some as one of the “wonders of SL”, Primtings Museum is host to nearly three dozen “primtings” – prim’d paintings – by a range of artists. These are unique SL interpretations of famous art pieces that have defined RL culture – each primting is beyond just a testament to a SL artist’s skill, but it’s also innovative in an original way, a new piece of art. Visitors discover a primting in an organic, interactive way, while seamlessly learning art history. It’s awesome in the sense that had someone else started it – say, an NEA or RL Arts Council funded project – it would have taken a budget of US$50,000 or more, but it was started by an artist, and so much more became possible.

Yet, despite its scope as a sim-sized open-submissions museum, it’s a project dedicated 100% to the art itself – with absolutely no commercial element. Selected artists have their works displayed “for the merit of it” – they are charged with neither commission nor setup fee. Patrons, from students to educators to art connoisseurs to SL tourists, are not charged for admissions, either. It’s through a pro bono effort that the entire endeavor came to be – from the founding infrastructure to the website and directory at http://Primtings.com to the formidable build and wonder on SL. Primtings, since the beginning of its existence, has been an open museum – in spirit and in practice. Primtings Museum is completely dependent on the support of its patrons.

Primtings extends its philosophy of openness to its major fundraiser – Primtings Campaign – as well. Every single monetary transaction in Primtings Campaign – the receipt of individual donations and the usage of, have been transparent, each usage publicly recorded at http://campaign.Primtings.com

Rarely, do you see quixotic virtues like this actually happen in reality – beyond just beautiful idea, but tangible, accessible anywhere in the world by signing online and TP-ing to Primtings sim. But, funding this dream – it’s possible through numbers – Primtings Museum would not have survived the first half of 2010, without its dozens of patrons, but it did. It can happen again.

I am asking for your help – your support of Primtings museum, its idealistic vision and its outreach of creativity and art history education to SL. We have little more than ten days left, with an absolute deadline of October 21. We need to be able to raise at least L$200,000 more to pay tier for 6 months. We can do it – with your help.

Ina Centaur
Founder, Curator and Director,
Primtings Museum