RANGELY I Perhaps the only thing better than reaching a goal is exceeding it.
On Sunday afternoon, the Friends of The TANK and dozens of TANK supporters knew that feeling for the second time in three years. Nearly 700 local and national backers and donors in 19 countries worldwide made the Open The TANK Kickstarter funding goal—raise $57,000 in three weeks to turn Rangely’s TANK into an International Center for Sonic Arts—a reality. Then they exceeded the projected goal amount by more than $4,000.
The final tally: $61,315.
“We will hold our grand opening in June, when we can look forward to hearing new voices in The TANK, new projects, educational programs and new inspirations,” said a Tanksounds Facebook post following the fundraising push.
For this week, at least, organizers plan to relax a bit and celebrate the campaign’s success before getting back to business: opening The TANK.
Part of this newest learning curve will mean solidifying what a never-before-done Center for Sonic Arts looks like in practice, not just theory.
“We’ve been talking about a dream so far,” Friends of the TANK organizer Bruce Odland said. “What will it be like? How can we best offer people the experience of The TANK? We have until the summer solstice or thereabouts until the grand opening. It’s time to do the hard work of organizing to put something sustainable in place.”
Odland said that unlike other fundraising efforts, Kickstarter draws donors who not only want to see a project succeed but who plan to experience it for themselves. Rangely and Rio Blanco County, he said, will see that play out in the form of musicians, artists, educators, sound engineers and “sonic tourists” drawn to hear The TANK’s reverberations firsthand.
Now, in the week after the Kickstarter’s conclusion, Odland reflects on the campaign, which elicited a range of emotions for the dozens of promoters dedicated to the cause.
“(During the campaign), you can’t allow yourself to be destabilized by doubt,” he said. “Now that we did it, it’s too late to doubt. I’m more grateful than amazed at our success because I know in my body how much work it took. All of us pushed this boulder up the hill.”
Amazement may still have its place. Of the 44,811 music projects ever launched on Kickstarter, just over 13,000 of them were fully funded. Among those projects asking for funds between $20,000 and $99,000, only 1,129 were successful. Given those odds, Open the TANK had an approximately 1 in 44 chance of succeeding.
Ever the sound artist, Odland continues to visualize The TANK’s newest story in terms of reverberations.
“In the past, we’ve been TANK-ocentric,” he said. “We’re just starting to notice the things around us—the people, the land. We’re still trying to find out what’s outside The TANK and get ourselves out there. The reverberations continue to move outward, and we’re just now learning about many of you who supported us. So thank you.”
