Sounds ridiculous doesn’t it? But with the amount of crowd funding campaigns I’m seeing at the moment, I don’t think we are too far away from seeing silly things like this happen.
The Network of Independent Critics has been set up to ‘champion quality arts writing outside the mainstream press’. Or in other words ‘to pay for a group of bloggers to go to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival for free’. They are offering ‘rewards’ in return for donations such as signed postcards by the critics and digital bundles of all the reviews written’. Where do I sign up for these money can’t buy items?! Lol. The original campaign raised just 20% of its target amount and they have now relaunched the campaign to see if they can squeeze anymore out of people’s pockets to raise well over £4,000.
I admire people finding creative ways to express themselves but what ever happened to good old fashioned hard work to earn money? It’s costing me over £1,000 just for travel and accommodation to spend a week at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this year. Have I asked anyone else to pay for it? No. I’ve saved up the money myself by working hard (or maybe I just put it on a credit card but I’ll get around to paying it one day) and so why should people be asked to pay for other bloggers to go along as well? If you really want to go then do a sponsored silence or cake sale to raise money and don’t just expect to sit at your computer and let other people bank roll your life.
It’s the same with the many requests I receive online saying ‘please donate to help fund me going to drama school’. Now I know it’s expensive and some people don’t have that kind of money to live out their dreams but asking strangers to pay for you just seems wrong to me. If it means that much to you then you will raise the money some how but don’t expect people to just hand it to you.
In a similar fashion, over the years we have seen shows like X Factor attract thousands of wannabe pop stars, who say this is their one and only chance to make it in the industry. This annoys me because what would these people do if there were none of these reality shows? Would they just accept that they will never live out their dream of being a performer? Or would they do what millions of others do and send out tapes of them singing to record companies and go the old fashioned route of hard work and determination?
There are so many worthwhile fundraising campaigns out there, raising money to help people with disabilities or people who need life saving operations. I think it is disrespectful to these people who can really benefit in their life from donations, to take the money away from them just so you can go and have a bit of fun or avoid putting in the time and effort.
I sound like Katie Hopkins today don’t I! Rant over!
West End Wilma