West Bloomfield Art Gallery Turns to Crowdsourcing for Pedestals

The Janice Charach Gallery in the Jewish Community Center of Metropolitan Detroit has almost hit its fundraising goal for a campaign launched Thursday on a new crowdsourcing website. 

As of late Friday, the gallery's page at power2give.org showed donors have contributed 96 percent of the $10,000 needed to have new pedestals created by local artists. In a video posted on the Youtube social media site, gallery director Terri Stearn explains why the campaign was launched. 

"We have a problem here at the gallery," she said. "We have these old pedestals. I've been here for seven years, these pedestals have been here for 22."

Donations made through live2give.org will be matched by the New York-based Ford Foundation.

According to Crain's Detroit, Arts & Science Council in North Carolina created the website as "a forum for arts groups to raise money on a project-by-project basis". Metro Detroit nonprofits that have listed projects are members of CultureSource, a professional organization for southeast Michigan arts groups. 

Even if organizations don't meet their fundraising targets, they will receive all the funds donated.