‘The Newtowner’ Kick Starts Fundraising With Kickstarter

By Nancy K. Crevier

With a press of the computer button and the “Pop!” of a Champagne bottle, editor Georgia Monaghan launched the Kickstarter crowdfunding platform for The Newtowner magazine, Monday morning, November 12, at demi-tasse café in Sandy Hook Center.

“The countdown has begun!” she announced to supporters gathered at the café for the midmorning launch of the site that she and Newtowner staff members hope will generate enough pledges to fund the next issue of Newtown’s nonprofit arts and literary magazine. Resident George Paik had won the honor of launching the site that morning, with a “Kick Start” $70 pledge, but insisted that the privilege belonged to Ms Monaghan.

“Our first goal is $7,000,” said Ms Monaghan, the cost of putting out one issue of the glossy-paged quarterly that premiered the winter of 2010. “But really,” she emphasized, “we would like to raise $14,000, and of course, we’d like to go further.”

Following a great response to the Carneval Masked Ball fundraiser sponsored by The Newtowner in February 2012, staff members began brainstorming other means of raising money to support future issues of the magazine.

“Ads are great,” said Ms Monaghan, but advertising would take up more than half of the magazine if The Newtowner were to rely solely on advertisements for funding. “Our readers have told us how much they like that the ads we do run are not intrusive. We want to preserve the quality of the magazine,” she said.

When local author Chris Belden, an associate of hers, told of his success with a Kickstarter project, Ms Monaghan looked into it as a potential for fundraising for the magazine. What she found is that Kickstarter is devoted to fundraising for creative projects. Poetry editor Lisa Schwartz and special events coordinator Sheryl Fatse agreed that Kickstarter would work as a means to raise money needed to publish the magazine. They picked a day and a place to launch the site, and then decided to invite readers and community members to join them at demi-tasse to celebrate the moment. “[Kickstarter] is perfect for The Newtowner,” Ms Monaghan said, and a great way to get a lot of people to contribute any amount.

For a contribution as little as $1, donors will be listed in the next issue as a “Friend of The Newtowner,” said Ms Monaghan. Donations of $25 and up are eligible for various incentives, including lunches with and critiques by fiction and poetry editors at the magazine, free issues of the magazine, framed and matted prints of past cover art, or a photography workshop session with photographer and art director Darren Wagner.

The caveat with Kickstarter, said Ms Monaghan, is that the goal must be reached by the date the fundraiser ends, in this case, December 17. “If we don’t receive pledges of at least $7,000, we don’t get anything,” she said. In researching the platform, though, she found evidence that most users surpass the set goal, and she is confident that Newtown residents will assist the magazine in this effort.

“Our mission is to celebrate the creative community,” said Ms Monaghan, “and we’re more than a magazine. We are really a community of people who love the arts, and that’s the majority of Newtown, I would say.”

Additionally, The Newtowner stands out from other “high-brow, post-collegiate” literary magazines in several respects, said the editor.

“One thing unique to us, is that we partner with Garner Correctional Institution, through the support of Garner head librarian Mark Aldrich. Our staff regularly attends readings at the prison,” she said. “We see the arts as something that can change peoples’ lives. There is an editorial relationship with the inmates there, through Mark. It’s a growing experience for the prisoners who are part of the Creative Writing groups, taught by Chris Belden, and the Applied Theater groups led by Mark,” Ms Monaghan said.

Mr Aldrich, who was present at the Kickstarter launch, agreed as to the value of The Newtowner relationship with Garner prisoners.

“What they tell us after our eight-week sessions is that they’ve learned people skills and cooperation. They have learned to open up, to find ways to express what they feel,” he said. The skills they learn through submitting works, editing, and being edited are all skills that roll over into the outside world, Mr Aldrich said.

“By The Newtowner publishing their works,” said Ms Monaghan, “they are getting publishing credit. It values their creative expressions.”

The second way in which The Newtowner contributes to the community, she said, is through the inclusion in each issue of a youth expression section for art, literature, and photography by young people from elementary to high school ages.

“We also have youth editors who are mentored by our editors, and who select and edit the youth pieces,” Ms Monaghan said. The young people learn editorial skills, people skills, and communication skills that they will take with them through life.

“It’s hard to find other magazines that regularly publish the works of youth. To be published in a magazine that is distributed all over the nation and in Canada is big,” she said.

The Newtowner has also instituted an annual High School Poetry Award, the first of which was awarded by Connecticut Poet Laureate Dick Allen, at the Newtown Arts Festival, in September.

The Newtowner is pleased to promote Newtown artists and writers, especially, but submissions are accepted from anywhere in the world, if they “speak to our Newtown community,” Ms Monaghan said. “Creativity is part of what makes us human, and we want every age group, every demographic to have a voice,” she said.

The Newtowner is a community endeavor that supports the community, stressed Ms Monaghan, and she is hopeful that the $7,000 goal will be reached in this next month, resulting in the publication of the winter issue, after the first of the year. By midafternoon of launching day, pledges of $240 had already been received.

 “We would love,” said Ms Monaghan, “to have our goals smashed to smithereens.”

To pledge support for The Newtowner, visit thenewtownermagazine.com. A link to Kickstarter is on the main page. Pledges must be made before midnight, Monday, December 17.