Cities have always been centers for innovation. From the earliest marketplaces of Mesopotamia to fast moving billion dollar startups like Uber and Airbnb, economic innovations seeded in cities have changed the world. But in addition to disrupting economies cities have also been home to many cultural innovations. The Paris Salon gave birth to the Salon des Refusés, to impressionism and eventually contemporary art as we know it today. New York’s Stonewall Riots lead to the first Pride Marches, to global Pride Parades and very recently to equal rights for same sex partnerships in many countries. Cities continue to push us all forward economically and culturally.
In recent years however city politicians have started to attract and subsidize something called startup culture. Startup culture comprises an ecosystem of technology companies, workers and venture capitalists working together to drive economic growth and opportunity. At the same time, in many cities around the world, funding for traditional arts and culture has been scaled back – the role of the artist in our society has been marginalized.
In light of this new reality, we believe artists have an opportunity to think differently about their practice and funding so that they might take advantage of this quickly changing landscape.
Many communities build a startup ecosystem by first founding a Seed Accelerator. Seed Accelerators, also known as startup accelerators, are short, cohort-based programs, that include a small financial investment, mentorship and education that culminate in a public pitch event or demo day. Seed Accelerators like Y Combinator have been very successful at creating a large community of fast growing startups very quickly.
Lean Artist is the world’s first Seed Accelerator for Artists. We are creating a new model for funding early stage culture by investing 3000€ in 10 emerging artists learning to build culturally disruptive startups in place of artworks. Artist entrepreneurs will spend 3 days working intensively with Famous New Media Artist Jeremy Bailey and guest mentors learning the leading methodologies used by the world’s most innovative technology companies to quickly build and refine innovative startups that confront cultural problems facing the city of Hamburg.
The 2 day workshop will culminate in an event, where artists will present their startups to an exclusive invite only audience.
But Lean Artist doesn’t end on demo day. In exchange for shared equity in each other’s startups Famous New Media Artist Jeremy Bailey and Lean Artist alumni will continue to help each other for life and beyond.
Lean artist was created for A/D/A HAMBURG.
Jeremy Bailey is a Toronto-based self-proclaimed Famous New Media Artist. "Since the early noughties Bailey has ploughed a compelling, and often hilarious, road through the various developments of digital communications technologies."(Morgan Quaintance, Rhizome) Bailey has performed and exhibited all over the world, from bathrooms in Buffalo to museums in Moscow. For more visit jeremybailey.net
Our first cohort runs August 26-28, 2016 in Hamburg Germany. Application Deadline August 7, Only 10 artists will be accepted.
Apply NowFeel free to email to ask questions or provide feedback, or to just say hello!