For those who know me, you would know that I have some reservations when it comes to the social media. There are however, moments when I hail the positive power of it. Case in point, Yagruma, a Cuban site which helps Cuban artists find funding for their work.
Yagruma is a Spain based crowd-funding platform to fund projects by independent Cuban artist. For those who do not know what crowd-funding is, it is a mechanism to finance projects, causes, etc through micro donations. Unlike investing, backers don’t obtain ownership rights for their contributions. In return, backers obtain rewards such as receiving a copy of the artwork produced, public recognition, etc. Yagruma works where artists post on the site the project that they wish to realise and the cost of it. Visitors to the site then contribute funds to a project of their liking and the artist is able to create his/her work.
This is a great help to artists in Cuba where funding for art projects is generally difficult to achieve. It would be great of such an initiative is introduced to Trinidad and Tobago where, although we swim in a pool of money, support of the arts is not as fervent as it could be.
