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Today, we introduce you to Art Curator Grid – one of the nominees for the Digital Innovation in Art Award 2021. With their approach to networking and resources for art professionals, they are fierce competitors! Can this be the next winner of this award?  

Art Curator Grid 

Art Curator Grid is a type of social media for art professionals. The idea is to develop a community and offer a platform suited for all exchanges related to art – whether it is exhibitions, projects, publications, or anything else related to the sphere. Having seen excellent success pre-pandemic, the platform was propelled to even more impressive levels of accomplishments within the pandemic and post-pandemic world. Art Curator Grid identified a need for a unique solution that would be adopted by, and get consensus from, professionals. It did so by creating digital visual mapping, which enabled them to display the art while including additional information and content.  

As well as their platform, they organize events, creating a safe space for the challenges that were brought up by the pandemic. Pushing the envelope further, they recently launched The Plus Partnership, a digital content series, where a range of international art organizations participated in the webinar, Instagram takeovers and partnership content, exploring critical topics in contemporary arts and culture. During these exchanges, they noticed how pertinent a problem a lack of funding served.  

“Art Curator Grid aims to contribute to the digital revolution in the art world by creating a platform that brings curators, institutions and artists and art audiences closer together with user-friendly solutions. In this age of distance, Art Curator Grid is a go-to centralized resource where curators can build and present their work and institutions can effectively manage, promote, and archive their programming, all of this with our innovative tools. Very soon, we will launch a revolutionary fundraising platform that will help all these key figures find the money for their projects online.” – Pauline Foessel, Founder & Director, Art Curator Grid 

A critical issue they noticed since the beginning of their platform is that of finding a stable source of funds to get projects into the light of day. The “revolutionary” solution proposed by Art Curator Grid is reward-based crowdfunding, a sort of philanthropy and source of funding that very few institutions have dabbled in so far. As of September, they will collaborate with more than 30 institutions to raise funds for projects. It will be interesting to follow their progress and which projects this will allow funding.