Trust Art has been described as “a stock market for art projects” but it’s also about cultural renewal. The basic idea is that investors can fund projects proposed by artists and after a year the resulting artwork is auctioned off an the investors split the proceeds 50/50 with the artist. In the mean time, the art project not only produces art, but helps to build up a local community.
Skewville, the New York artists best known for throwing wooden shoes onto power lines, have propsed one of Trust Art’s inugural projects: The Street Art Urban Revitalization Program. Their project proposes to find 10 rundown and ill-maintained buildings in Bushwick that can be covered in murals by local artists. The project is meant to promote the local artists and make the local buildings look nicer, since right now there are a good number of abandoned or poorly maintained buildings in Bushwick.
At the end of the project, there will be work sold at auction, which is where the investors have the potential to make their money back.
Definitely a cool project. Hopefully Skewville can raise the $65,000 they are looking for.