Goshen, New York June 27th, 2015 — Freelance photographer Simon Narborough is turning to the Internet to raise funds for his latest assignment, Music-Connections:Therapy Healing and Reconnection, a photo documentary about music as a means of therapy in post-conflict zones. With funding as the first major obstacle to getting any assignment off the ground, current economic conditions don’t make the job any easier. Photographers have to become more innovative in their fundraising efforts, and the independent creative community has embraced sites like Kickstarter.com.
In line with Kickstarter.com guidelines, artists have a set number of days to raise all the funds, or the project receives nothing. Narborough has a 28-day fundraising window, from start to finish. If the allotted budget ($15,000 US) isn’t raised before July 26th, all pledges are cancelled and the photo documentary will not be funded.
When asked about why Kickstarter was appealing, Narborough noted, “Kickstarter is probably the leading crowd sourcing site for the creative community. With its links to social media sites, its ability to spread the word quickly online is invaluable.” Another advantage is that Kickstarter enables each project the convenience of receiving funds from anywhere in the world.
Narborough entered the online fundraising pool a little bit at a time. “I have supported another project in the past and I had a good experience with it. Seeing the success of other photographic projects I plucked up the courage to put my own photo documentary on the line,” he said.
Narborough’s photo documentary Music-Connections:Therapy Healing and Reconnection, examines the work of Musicians without Borders who operate teams in post-conflict countries to help victims of war and civil unrest rebuild their lives and their communities through the power of music. If the initial funding goal is reached, Narborough will be traveling to Rwanda and Kosovo, however if the goal is exceeded he would like to expand the scope of the assignment to include Palestine and Tanzania.”It all depends on the generosity of the project supporters”, he said, “certainly the work that being done in these countries is making a difference, and I think shining a photographic light on the great work that these teams do under difficult circumstances is very worthwhile”.
If the photo documentary is successfully funded, Narborough expects to deliver a slide show by the middle of October and will be seeking venues to exhibit the work from that time.