ChiBrations Media Platform

• • 3ARTS MATCH
  • 104% contributed

The sports world has ESPN. Chefs and food lovers have The Food Network. ChiBrations will be the media network for Chicago artists and its scene. Through this campaign I am seeking to raise money to conduct research and to execute a signature pilot episode to preview programming that will drive our future platform. This pilot episode will explore the impact that open mics and jam sessions have on the development of various artists in Chicago and will share how these underground events strengthen our artistic communities.

About This Project

Today, I'm nearing my tenth year as a full-time artist in Chicago, and I am grateful for the abundance of opportunity this city has afforded me in growing and developing into a successful mid-level creative and entrepreneur. What’s most important to me is giving back to the artist scene in a way that’s impactful and revolutionary.

Chicago is overflowing with artists and art makers and it’s both thrilling and overwhelming to be a part of such a bustling scene. Our scene is vibrant, yet decentralized so for artists, there are obvious difficulties in promoting new works and performances, connecting with one another for collaboration, and accessing resources to support our brilliant ideas. In Black Chicago, creatives have another layer of difficulty due to environmental struggles, lack of spaces and places in our neighborhoods to be creative, and basic access to funds and information. We need a space that will celebrate and empower artists more substantially to better the future of our community capital.

ChiBrations is my solution to this problem. It is an online artist-led platform that centralizes the Chicago creative community through performance art and storytelling, and assists artists who are looking for direct resources and avenues to connect their work to the city they love. We prioritize artists of color in various sectors of performing arts, including but not limited to: music, dance, theater, poetry, comedy, etc.. We will partner with artist-curators for the developmental phase of our initiative. These thought leaders are essential to our development, not only for their experience in Chicago’s scene, but for the value of their communities that come along with them.

Ultimately, ChiBrations will centralize the artist scene by operating as: a COMMUNITY CALENDAR that prioritizes creative community events such as jam sessions, improv nights, and open mics; a PROGRAMMING & MEDIA HOUSE where artist events and live streams can be curated and amplified, along with curated interviews, panels and documentation of the scene; a SHARING PLATFORM for creative video and storytelling through artist submissions; and a RESOURCE CENTER for artists to find grants & other financial opportunities, get professional development, as well as discover residency programs, housing, and teaching opportunities.

This particular campaign will fund the first-phase development of the online infrastructure, and will cover payment for curators and technical facilitators of this pilot episode. Our initial goal of $6,000 will provide critical seed money to produce the pilot, which will be used to generate additional resources and partnerships. If we’re successful with this campaign we hope to reach for a stretch goal to make our pilot as robust as possible and ready for release by Winter 2023. Thank you for your support!

Thank yous

Contribute any amount or choose from the levels below.

• $20
  Shoutout and Thank You online ($20.00 is tax deductible.)
• $75
  Handwritten Thank You note and ChiBrations sticker, plus online shoutout ($74.00 is tax deductible.)
• $150
  ChiBrations T-Shirt, plus everything above ($139.00 is tax deductible.)
• $300
  Signed photo of Sam Thousand by Chicago-based photographer, Seed Lynn, plus everything above ($189.00 is tax deductible.)
• $500
  Early access to Chibrations App (Beta), plus everything above ($389.00 is tax deductible.)
• $1000
  Private Livestream performance, plus everything above ($739.00 is tax deductible.)
• $2500
  Custom song written for/about a person of your choice, or a Jingle for a business or event (30sec max), plus everything above ($239.00 is tax deductible.)

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Sam Thousand

Southwest Airlines Awardee

Sam Thousand (formally known as Sam Trump) is a multi-instrumentalist, singer/writer, producer/composer and a 3Arts Award recipient with 15+ years of experience in live performance art, curation, and self management. Since picking up the trumpet at age 7, his artistry …

View Sam Thousand's profile

• 2 updates
• 48 supporters

• Update 1: Final Stretch

  Posted on August 14, 2023

  

  Seed Lynn  

  Greetings, 

  This is Sam Thousand! I hope this message finds you well.

  Our campaign has gotten some great traction throughout our nearly 40-day day stretch with a wide range of donations, including some unique custome amounts :)

  We attained the 3Arts Match at the end of July, which helped us tremendously, and we are currently 77% funded with just over $1300 to raise in our last 6 days.

  I am asking YOU to please support us today!

  We are in a time where revolutionary action for artists is imperative, and ChiBrations believes this neccessary action includes artist-led platforms like what we are creating. Please join us as we develop a platform to affirm, empower, and support Chicago creatives.

  Donation start at $20. We appreciate your consideration. 

  Update 2: The ChiBrations App is Launching Jan'24

  Posted on January 05, 2024

  

   

  Peace, love and Happy New Year!

  This is Sam Thousand with an update for the ChiBrations Media Platform 3AP.

  Lots of magic has been made since we’ve received the greenlight from your support. Our first step was to establish the initial phase of development for our new platform and its online infrastructure. FYI, I carefully campaigned this idea as a "platform" because I wasn't sure if it would end up as a website or an app. However, I really wanted an app. And now, we have one and it will be launching this month! 

  I've teamed up with a good Chicago friend and colleague from The Black Podcast App to help me realize our dream. The ChiBrations App has been in Beta since October and we have ran over 30 test versions to get the app perfect for launch. In part, your funds helped us establish the infrastructure to create a simple, yet robust app design to centralize the performing arts community by amplifying Open Mics and Jam Sessions throughout Greater Chicago. For the local artist, this app will be their guide in navigating the scene to network, perform, and discover spaces and inspiration in other artists. For the local curator, this app will directly connect their event(s) to an ever-growing community of artists on the search for safe spaces to expand their creative preactices - and to also just get together with other creatives and have fun. 

  App Features:

  • Monthly calendar view of Open Mics and Jam Sessions

  • Event submission form 

  • Virtual map with locations and event descriptions

  • List view of all events with filter option

  We can't wait for you to see the Chibrations App, and we can't wait to share it with the artist community. In November I went on IG and asked if there was a need for something like this, and the community responded with a resounding Yes! Just look at all of those comments.

  ***

  This is just the first phase a very big idea. We want the ChiBrations app to centralize the scene through networking, performance art and storytelling, and assist artists who are looking for direct resources and avenues to connect their work to the city they love. Our next steps, once we stabilize after launch will be to intitiate production of our pilot episode to bring you lots of media and artist stories. We hope to have that ready before Spr'24. 

  Follow ChiBrations and keep up as we launch the ChiBrations App this month, and initiate programming to get the word out.

  Instagram | Facebook

   

• Thank you to the following for contributing to 3Arts with the recommendation that we support this project.

  • Timothy "Solomon" Bowser

  • Anonymous Supporter

  • Henry Wishcamper

  • David Calzaretta

  • Anonymous Supporter

  • JoAnne Bush

  • Ginger Farley

  • Carmen Ross

  • Jay Taylor

  • Andre Guichard

  • Julian Reid

  • Kimberly Manuel-Dickens

  • Ebony Harris

  • elgin Smith

  • Ross Fumagalli

  • Jo Cattell

  • Allison Pasquesi

  • Lola Wright

  • Manny Strong

  • Anonymous Supporter

  • Liv Peterson

  • Tavv Johnson

  • Bryce Conner

  • Paige Brown

  • Joshua Ishmon

  • Tammie McClendon

  • John Pena

  • Jake Austen

  • Ashley O’Shay

  • Sebastian Buffa

  • Anonymous Supporter

  • Cheryl Reese

  • David Ben-Porat

  • Sara Slawnik

  • Helen Akons

  • Effie Greer

  • Rachel Oliver

  • Jaleesa Scott

  • Pleshette Strong

  • Michael Allen

  • elgin Smith

  • Dawanda L Lomax

  • Esther Grimm

  • Rose Parisi

  • Cam Be

  • Darnell Kendricks

  • alice dubose

  • Kyle Hayes

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