What an incredible 24 hours it has been. As you may have noticed, our project reached its fundraising goal yesterday with several days to spare before the deadline. Then we blew right past it!



It was thrilling to see the momentum build over the past 39 days. Some of you got us started, some kept us moving, and some pushed us over the top, and I cannot thank any of you enough.



So many friends -- old and new -- helped spread the word as well, which was crucial to building our support. Some tweeted (a lot of people tweeted). Some people even blogged. Some Facebooked, some chat-away-messaged, and some even had conversations in real life! It was so amazing of all of you -- and so amazing of everyone who helped behind the scenes, from the great Kickstarter team to my varied cast of advisers and brainstormers. I'm so sorry if I've forgotten anyone here!



While the project is still open to new backers (and we still have plenty of great rewards to give out!), we're now sure to collect the funds needed help the arts programs at our two partner schools and build more projects like this one in the future. I will get the funds as soon as possible to Amanda and Paul, the art teachers we've been working with, and will be sure to let you know how they're used in their programs. I'll let you know what's next for Artloop too -- this initial project has created some new opportunities that I'm very excited about.



So stay tuned! There will be new ways to get updates to those interested once the project and these posts end, and I'll be in touch again next week once the deadline passes and your pledges are charged. That's when it will be time to talk more about rewards! There are addresses to collect, shirt sizes to get, art works to reserve, and many more fun things to take care of, so look for those directions soon.



There's also more celebrating to do, and I hope everyone who signed up for the momentous apartment launch gala from 2-5pm on Saturday, October 3rd, is getting excited! More details and reminders to come about that as well. It's sure to be a great time, and like I mentioned, feel free to invite more people while the project rewards are still open.



Thanks again to everyone for your kindness, generosity, and general awesomeness. It has been such an experience to see so many people come together and make this idea real. I could go on (and I hope I get the chance to thank and talk with many of you individually soon), but for now I'll wish you all a great weekend and thank you one more time. More to come soon.



Those arty bird "friends" from my video background thank you, too!

Thank you so much to all of you who have backed the project since my last update! The response from everyone has been amazing, and it's exciting to think about how far we've come.

But for now, it's time to focus on the home stretch! The project's funding period ends 11 days from now (11:59pm on Monday Sept 21st), and because of Kickstarter's unique setup, funds will only be collected and given to Artloop if our full $1,000 goal is met by the deadline. Hello, built-in motivation!

We passed the $500 (i.e. halfway) mark last night, and even though the funding pace will need to increase these next few days, I'm sure we can reach the goal and come through for the project's partner arts programs just as the school year hits its stride.

Everyone who's backed us has done so much already, but if you know of anyone else who might be interested in being a part of this final push (and receiving our great rewards), or if you think someone you've already contacted might need a reminder, I'd really appreciate the extra bit of help. I'm going to keep running around the city and the web making as many connections as possible -- the great feedback that I continue to receive shows the project's potential to keep spreading and building support.

Speaking of, I spent a lovely evening this week hanging three Artloop works (see image) at a place called New Work City in Soho. It's a coworking space where members with freelance or remote working situations join up to enjoy the benefits of collaborative working and sharing resources (without any cubicle or office politics drawbacks).

Loaning the works to creative, energetic organizations in the city has always been a part of the Artloop plan, and NWC was the perfect setting for our first go-around. The art looks great in their very cool space, and it will draw new attention to Artloop's fundraising while also fulfilling our general mission of increasing visibility and engagement with student art -- including a cool Twitter / blog experiment to crowdsource some titles for the three pieces! There is much more info in a post I wrote at the New Work City blog. Read it here, and feel free to comment with your own thoughts!

Thanks for reading, helping, and being awesome. Remember I'm at colin-at-artloop-dot-net if you have ideas or questions, and I'll be in touch as we get closer to our deadline -- and our goal!

Week 2 is behind us and Artloop 1.0 continues to spin along -- cheers again to everyone for helping out and spreading the word. We look forward to making even more great connections and increasing the visibility of the project and amazing work from each program, especially as school starts up again! More very soon.

In the meantime, I wanted to pass along an exciting New York Times article about Kickstarter, the brilliant website (and team) we're using to organize this project:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/25/technology/start-ups/25kick.html

I think the article really captures the site's guiding principles of micropatronage, bootstrapping, community, and personal rewards, all elements that were key to our plans for this project. It's amazing to see how Kickstarter has helped such a wide variety of causes in such a short time!

Enjoy reading, keep spreading the (NYT-approved) word, and thanks!

It's been an exciting seven days since Artloop 1.0 went live, and I want to thank all of the project's backers for getting things off to such a great start!

I'd also like to thank everyone who's been spreading the word about what we're doing. Since we don't collect a cent unless we reach our fundraising goal (almost a quarter of the way there!), it's important to build up support -- and we can't do it alone! We've received great feedback about the programs we're helping and the backer rewards available, so it will be exciting to introduce everything to more people.

Speaking of, I spent a good chunk of yesterday afternoon juking through Manhattan on an art supply run with Saul Chernick (www.saulchernick.com), a great friend of the project who's helping me get ready for the big Launch Gala in October! Those four newly-matted works down there are just a small sample of the art we're prepping to take over my apartment for a fun, unique celebration out here in Brooklyn.

Check back soon for more on the latest Artloop happenings, keep the feedback and questions coming, and thanks again for all of your help!

-Colin