Image: Current "Buckhead" T-shirt. At the $100 level and above, you'll get the next version of our shirt, PROBABLY WITH OUR NAME ON IT!
All donors are also invited to our 4th of July pizza party! Check it . . .
https://www.facebook.com/events/595991550431219/
SUCCESS! Look What We've Already Accomplished:
HOLY SHIT DUDES, WE ARE KILLING THIS. Our fundraiser has hit $1,120, no wait, $1231 raised. What does that mean? Well LEMME TELL YOU:
Gallery Lighting: FUNDED. – We love art, but sometimes our gallery doesn’t. We will now have proper gallery lighting so we can showcase the greatness of our artists.
Remaining Fire Code Needs: FUNDED. – We can buy an emergency exit door, updated emergency lighting, and fire extinguishers. Yay for not dying!
Backyard Prettification: FUNDED. – We know you love our pallets and broken plastic chairs. But how about some hand-built wood benches, tables, and maybe even outdoor lighting? How about some garden boxes? How about a FUCKING JUNGLE GYM? NOW THEY'RE COMING. Well, we'll give the jungle gym a 'maybe.'
Venture Compound Sign Hanging Committee : FUNDED. – Now we can afford to hang the awesome sign Jim built!
TV Mountain Historical Landmark Rescue Plan: FUNDED (by offline donors):
TV Mountain will be rewired and engineered for endurance so we can all continue to enjoy 15-channel, quadruple-track old-movie marathons in shuddering monochrome. We'll be cleaning up the wiring and building new shelves so we don’t die when a 35” Samsung from 1989 falls from the top row.
Check out more info on TV Mountain HERE:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/TV-Mountain/626804967334816
WHAT WE'RE STILL SHOOTING FOR:
What We Can Do If We Hit $2,000:
Sound Enhancements: It might not cover our entire wishlist, but a couple hundred could let us make some real upgrades to what you hear. Believe it or not, The Venture Compound has been using BORROWED SPEAKERS for over a year. We'd really love to have something to call our own. We'd also like to get our hands on a recording unit for RECORDING LIVE BANDS - recordings that would be released to YOU, the public.
What We Can Do If We Hit $2,400:
Piano Graveyard Service Initiative: The back left corner of the compound is currently dead space. We want to build a counter and storage area for selling band merch and refreshments, and storing tools. A deadly combination.
What We Can Do If We Hit $2,800:
Staff Communication: Because our staff sacrifice a lot of their personal earning power to the Altar of Venture, some of us are a little behind the times in terms of shiny electronic toys. Brad still uses a F*$KING FLIP PHONE for crying out loud! We need to get Brad a smart phone, get a staff computer, and get David a tablet so he can post funny cat videos on the road. We gotta step up our digi-game to keep you hip to the hot new jams! Or whatever you kids say these days! Tumbler! Onlines!
HELP US HELP YOU!
WHO WE ARE:
We are Andy Warhol’s Factory. We are CBGBs. We are the Haight-Ashbury.
We Are the Venture Compound.
We are the most exciting arts project in the Tampa Bay area. For the past year, we’ve made amazing, mind-altering art and ecstatic experiences happen for damn near zero money. Our work has been prominently featured and highly praised in regional media, and we’re looking to take everything we do to the next level. To do that, we need your help.
Your contribution will make a huge difference to the future of Tampa Bay. Every day, young and exciting artists, musicians, tech geeks, photographers, writers, and social entrepreneurs leave the area for places with (supposedly) more excitement, more opportunity, and more community – places like Austin, Portland, San Francisco, New York. Creative, dynamic people are the lifeblood of any 21st century city, the force that will help St. Petersburg and Tampa Bay become the kind of city we all want to live in, and they’re leaving, every day.
The Venture Compound’s mission is to give these people a reason to stay, and in turn to help Tampa Bay become something more than it has ever been before. We foster young artists and young arts patrons, and create a community that brings them together. We provide opportunities for performance and exhibition to untried artists who challenge the mainstream and are creating the future. We host FREE skill-building workshops in artistic technique and arts business skills, so that young artists can learn to be sustainable. As part of the Warehouse Arts District, we are redeveloping one of St. Pete’s most underutilized resources – in our wake, new warehouse arts spaces are popping up like flies.
We are a small group of outsider artists, musicians, writers, photographers, and organizers. We have started from nothing – no money, no prestige – and we have made an impact. We are looking to make our footprint bigger – to introduce new eyes and ears to the world we are creating, to explore new possibilities, and to help people see St. Petersburg and Tampa Bay in a new way.
We took the bold step of creating something new. We aren’t looking to be rewarded for it – we’re just looking to keep it going.
What People Are Saying About The Venture Compound:
“Tonight’s show at the Venture Compound was easily the most cleansing and overall clairvoyant experience I’ve had in years.” – Human Fluid Rot
“This was an extraordinary, stunning performance and Mystery Play. One of the best acts I have ever seen in Saint Petersburg at any price. Sometimes all our expectations and rules need to be shattered so we can reconfigure ourselves.” – Art Taco
“Last night was life changing. I owe everyone who came to The Venture Compound my gratitude and well wishes.” – Robert Wilson Brantley III
“This is the best venue in the Tampa Bay area for inspired and underground music.” – Iatro Glitch
“The Venture Compound is better than any youth serum on the market! Just one treatment made us feel more youthful, intelligent, and ALIVE!” – Wendy Sells
“Man, you guys must be getting desperate.” – Ben Holley
The Media Loves Us:
http://cltampa.com/tampa/moving-into-st-petes-burgeoning-warehouse-arts-district/Content?oid=3592919#.UXR_y7VQErU
http://www.83degreesmedia.com/features/venture041613.aspx
http://www.articulatesuncoast.com/blogs/fringe/13-fringe/62-hypnotic-noise-at-venture-compound
What Your Money Will Be Going To:
Zoning Use Change: $1000 – We are currently working with the city to get legal in every way possible. This includes needing to get our building rezoned for assembly. The city is ready to work with us, and we’re hoping to get as much volunteer help as possible, but this still promises to be an expensive and intense process. We need blueprints drawn up and may need to consult with specialists. The above number is a very rough estimate.
Rewiring the Compound: $1,500 - We need better electrical infrastructure. There have been repeated shorts and blowouts in the current system. This money would allow us to install additional outlets/circuits for TV Mountain, the stage, and the gallery.
Projector and Screen: $800 - Another thing we've been borrowing. For the upcoming Venture Film Fest, we'd really like to have our own!
PIZZA PARTY PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT - ALL DONORS will be invited to a PRIVATE pizza party to rub shoulders with St. Pete's Lower Crust. Yum!
Mural Paint: $500 - We love our graffiti'd walls. And we'd like to keep them fresh. But paint ain't free, you know!
We also have many, MANY ideas for ways we’d like to make the Compound bigger and better. As we get closer to stretch goal territory, we’ll be getting more specific about what each level will help us to accomplish, but here are a couple teasers:
-Very Dangerous Welded Metal Signage!
-Artist Fellowship/Commission Program!
-Lighting Rigs Designed to Melt Your Eyes!
-Child-Traumatizing Sculpture Garden!
-Champagne Room! (Disclaimer: Do Not Use Champagne Room As Murder Room)
-More/better murals (both here and elsewhere in town!)
-Taking the risk of bringing bands with minimum guarantees (inside baseball!))
-And maybe, just maybe . . . Buying our building.
We're living the dream, people. Dream with us!
Addenda:
Local Hiring:
As you consider your donation, know that the Venture Compound is committed to sourcing materials and labor local to St. Petersburg, with locally owned businesses. Dollars spent locally have three times the economic impact of dollars spent with national chains. This money will go back into the community in more ways than one.
Nonprofit Donations:
The Venture Compound's 501c(3) nonprofit status is pending. Once this status is official, contributions will retroactively qualify as charitable donations for tax purposes. If you plan to claim your donation as charitable, please contribute using Paypal. Contributions by credit card will not be able to qualify as a tax deduction.
What Else Can I Do?
The Venture Compound doesn’t just need your money – it also needs your BLOOD. Or at least some help every once in a while. We’re especially eager to connect with people with design skills, mechanical or electrical skills, or local government know-how, but we also just need hands. Email venturecompoundbooking@gmail.com for information on volunteer opportunities!
