Startup Weekend Seattle
Startup Weekend Art is a 54-hour event designed to encourage technological and business model innovation. On the 3rd-5th October, technologists, artists, entrepreneurs, designers and mobile developers will all get together to build real solutions to the art world’s most pressing problems. We spoke with Luba Elliott, director of Startup Weekend Art London, about the event.
1.Who are you?
We are a team of 5 digital artists, cultural entrepreneurs and business consultants passionate about transforming the arts through technological and business model innovation.
2.How come you are running Startup Weekend Art?
The art market has remained almost unchanged over the past few hundred years. If you are serious about buying art, chances are you will go to a gallery, art dealer or auction house. Same as you would if you lived in 1759. There are few industry-standard technological solutions to distributing, funding and discovering art and culture. Our aim is to change that. With a market size of $60.8 billion and plenty of technological developments to draw on, the visual arts industry is the perfect space to create financially sustainable and technologically innovative companies that will go on to become market leaders.
3.How did you get such amazingly cool Judges, Mentors, and Coaches?
Surprisingly, it was quite straightforward. We found entrepreneurs, arts professionals and investors to be very willing to support our event and become an integral part of our wider team. Some even started approaching us directly, so in a short space of time we were able to secure a diverse panel of judges and coaches representing museums, start-ups and commercial art organisations.
4. So what is Startup Weekend Art?
Startup Weekend Art is a 54-hour event during which entrepreneurs, artists, designers and developers work on creating a tech-based business for the arts industry from scratch. All in the space of one weekend, attendees go from pitching an idea on Friday night to presenting a working product on Sunday. It is the perfect place to start a business, test ideas and meet potential co-founders.
5.If you had $54,000 to buy some art who would you buy?
Tomás Saraceno. He draws inspiration from nature and science, incorporates both themes into his art and creates installations which are out of this world.
6.So what do you get if you buy a ticket to the event?
Your ticket includes coaching from experienced entrepreneurs from companies such as ArtStack, Sedition and RiseArt, access to 3D-printing and Google Glass as well as the chance to present to the leading names in arts and technology including Artfinder, V&A and Techstars. It goes without saying that there’ll be plenty of food and drink to keep you going over the weekend.
7. Have there been any success stories in previous Startup Weekend events?
Yes! Some have raised substantial investments such as the services marketplace Zaarly ($14 million) and the dog-sitting platform Rover ($12 million).
8. Can you get someone to invest in the global roll out of FAD and its expansion both horizontally and vertically?
Try Rocket Internet. They’ll create a FAD News TV-channel in the Philippines for you. Just give them a couple of days notice.
9. How do I get a ticket ??
Grab one here: http://bit.ly/1yiIoD1
Startup Weekend Art London
UP Global
Friday, October 3rd, 2014 at 6:30 PM – Sunday, October 5th, 2014 at 9:30 PM (BST)
London, United Kingdom
