Kickstarter

During the day, artists will present their work and talk about how they get their creativity online. At night we'll put on one amazing show. Come be a part of it.

Art matters. And it’s hard. So we’re bringing a bunch of amazing people together to talk about how they make their art, get it online, and build a career.

We’re artists ourselves. And the changing digital tools, the power (or not) of the old system, and the pressures of the economy are all big, scary issues for us. We’re building RUCKUS NYC to help each other find a way forward.

Come spend the day with us, meet people, hear about some new ideas, and have some of your own. It’s going to be a mix of panel discussions about big topics, and shorter talks by individual artists, who’ll tell us about the guts of their careers and creative processes. We’re also bringing in people from companies like Tumblr and Fractured Atlas, who can help you use their platforms for your art.

RUCKUS NYC is designed to help you make art and get it out to your audience. These are some of our presenters, with more being added every week:

• Janet Brusselbach, Painter, Teleportraiture
• Jack Cavicchi, Writer, Designer, eBook publisher
• Kevin Clark, Composer, Producer
• Pablo Defendini, Designer, Product Manager for Creative Edge
• Thomas Deneuville, Composer, Founder of icareifyoulisten
• Lainie Fefferman, Founder of Exapno
• Rachel Fershleiser, Literary outreach for Tumblr
• Nick Fox-Gieg, Eyebeam fellow
• Selena Juneau-Vogel, Fractured Atlas, Manager of Artful.ly
• Stephen Neary, Story Artist, Blue Sky Studios
• Victoria Nece, Animator and Designer, The Documentary Group
• Lisa Niedermeyer, Fractured Atlas, Manager of NYC Performing Arts Spaces
• Sara Eileen Hames, Editor-in-Chief, twenty-four magazine
• Annie Werner, Arts outreach for Tumblr

We also have a special treat for all the conference attendees! Interactive game designer Casey Middaugh is creating a networking game for us to help you find new collaborators and opportunities in the audience at RUCKUS NYC.

We’re not going to come together and talk about art all day without putting on one hell of a show. When the last session finishes, we’ll give you time to get some dinner, and then the curtain will go up.

The RUCKUS NYC show will have everything. Or at least as much as we can fit onto a stage in a single evening. Chamber music, animated films, rock bands, dancers and digital projections will all play a part. You’ll get short tastes of a lot of different things - the best of what we have to offer.

And don't worry, there's going to be an awesome afterparty.

Even if you can't make it to Cooper Union in person, we still want you to be a part of this. That's why your concert ticket also gives you a link to a live stream of the show. Here are some of our performers:

• Deb Oh & The Cavaliers, Piano-driven Rock
• Chad David, Comedian, Master of Ceremonies
• Florent Ghys, Composer, Bassist
• Zach Herchen, Acting Alto Saxophone
• Adam Hopkins, Jazz Bass
• Sylvana Joyce & The Moment, Gypsy Rock
• Kings, Queercore Alt-Country
• New Morse Code, New Chamber Music for Marimba & Cello
• Jody Redhage, Cellist, Singer, Composer

Hello. We're Kevin Clark, Zach Herchen, and Victoria Nece. Kevin and Zach have been putting concerts like this together for over five years, programming different styles of music, film, and theater side by side. Last January, joined by Victoria and a lot of new collaborators, we produced the first Ruckus show at Exapno New Music Community Center in Brooklyn.

There was a huge crowd. Everyone had a blast. But during the afternoon’s sound check we had two dozen artists without much to do. So we created the conference, and RUCKUS NYC, to put all that talent -- and all that time -- to good use.

RUCKUS NYC is for working artists and people building careers in the arts, so we want to keep it cheap. But our performers and presenters are also working artists, and they deserve to be paid for all their hard work.

It’s a difficult balance to strike, but every time someone like you backs RUCKUS NYC it gets a little easier. The bigger our audience, the more professionally we can run the event, and the more we can pay the artists who are presenting and performing. Everything left over is going to them, too.

The more of us there are the better this will work, so bring your friends!