Welcome to ICA LA’s SOLAR Channel
We’re embarking on an ambitious goal to become the first solar-powered art museum. This is the beginning of an ongoing process of instituting green technology and sustainable practices across all areas of our museum’s operations. In the first of a series of conversations on the subject of environmental responsibility and ICA LA’s own solar journey, Samuel Vasquez, Deputy Director, Institute of Contemporary Art , Los Angeles (ICA LA) talks with Senior Director of Arts at Kickstarter, Patton Hindle.
Samuel: Hi everyone, welcome to the ICA LA’s Solar Channel. This is our first video. I’m very happy to welcome Patton Hindle, Senior Director of Arts at Kickstarter.
Patton: Thank you for having me!
S: This is really important for us: we launched our #icalagoessolar campaign with Kickstarter to help us become the first fully solar-powered art museum.
P: Back it! Make sure you back it!
S: The museum launched an ambitious goal of going 100% solar because we’re in this state of global climate change. There’s nowhere to hide from it. It’s collective behavior that got us here, and what better way to deal with collective behavior by collective problem solving. So we partnered with Kickstarter, a global crowdfunding platform, to help us go solar. Could you tell our audience a little bit about your role at Kickstarter and what appealed to you about our project?
P: Sure! I’m the Senior Director of Arts at Kickstarter, which means I and my team oversee the visual and performing arts projects on the platform. What you may or may not know about Kickstarter is that we’re a Public Benefit Corporation. What that means is that we hold our mission above the needs of our shareholders. It’s about how to be an influential business outside of just dollars - so we think about what’s our cultural impact? What’s our social impact? - and within that, we care a lot about climate change and sustainability. It made perfect sense for us as an organization to partner, but also because ICA LA is a major arts institution… and you’ll be the first museum to go completely solar which is just exciting!
S: We will be! Before your visit to the museum today, we were talking about how installing 206 solar panels on our roof is not the only step to becoming 100% solar-powered. It’s a process, and we really have to look at all of our operations and see where we can cut back on our energy usage. For example, right now, we have these beautiful skylights - our lights should be off, but they’re not. So, little things like that. At Kickstarter, you were saying, that you do have some energy-saving measures.
P: Yeah we do. We were able to build our space several years ago, so we installed a lot of energy-saving measures. We compost as a business, recycle heavily, and we have our own water filtration system, which puts the water back in that we’re collecting from our rooftop garden. We’re doing what we can. We also buy a lot of carbon offsets for people like me who have to travel. So, we do things to try and mitigate our impact on the environment.
S: Go buy your carbon offsets everyone! I’d like to know what has been one of the most memorable projects that you’ve hosted at Kickstarter?
P: I’ve been with Kickstarter for two years and the biggest project that I’ve worked on - and probably the largest-scale art project that we’ve ever really done - was when For Freedoms launched their 50 States initiative with us in 2018. Hank Willis Thomas and Eric Gottesman of For Freedoms came to me in the fall of 2017 saying they wanted to run a campaign that sort of mimicked the election campaign. The 50 State Initiative was to put an artist-assigned billboard in every single state in advance of the midterm elections. So, we broke the rules of our platform and put out 52 concurrent campaigns, which is insane. So, one for every state, plus Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico. All 52 projects were successful. They had a goal of $3,000.00, which was the average cost for a billboard, and actually, all of the funds from that project covered the billboard costs across the country, which is amazing. The organisation then did town hall meetings and had exhibitions with over 220 partners. We’ll see what they do in 2020 – I know they have some stuff coming up which is very exciting.
P: Sure! I’m the Senior Director of Arts at Kickstarter, which means I and my team oversee the visual and performing arts projects on the platform. What you may or may not know about Kickstarter is that we’re a Public Benefit Corporation. What that means is that we hold our mission above the needs of our shareholders. It’s about how to be an influential business outside of just dollars - so we think about what’s our cultural impact? What’s our social impact? - and within that, we care a lot about climate change and sustainability. It made perfect sense for us as an organization to partner, but also because ICA LA is a major arts institution… and you’ll be the first museum to go completely solar which is just exciting!
S: We will be! Before your visit to the museum today, we were talking about how installing 206 solar panels on our roof is not the only step to becoming 100% solar-powered. It’s a process, and we really have to look at all of our operations and see where we can cut back on our energy usage. For example, right now, we have these beautiful skylights - our lights should be off, but they’re not. So, little things like that. At Kickstarter, you were saying, that you do have some energy-saving measures.
P: Yeah we do. We were able to build our space several years ago, so we installed a lot of energy-saving measures. We compost as a business, recycle heavily, and we have our own water filtration system, which puts the water back in that we’re collecting from our rooftop garden. We’re doing what we can. We also buy a lot of carbon offsets for people like me who have to travel. So, we do things to try and mitigate our impact on the environment.
S: Go buy your carbon offsets everyone! I’d like to know what has been one of the most memorable projects that you’ve hosted at Kickstarter?
P: I’ve been with Kickstarter for two years and the biggest project that I’ve worked on - and probably the largest-scale art project that we’ve ever really done - was when For Freedoms launched their 50 States initiative with us in 2018. Hank Willis Thomas and Eric Gottesman of For Freedoms came to me in the fall of 2017 saying they wanted to run a campaign that sort of mimicked the election campaign. The 50 State Initiative was to put an artist-assigned billboard in every single state in advance of the midterm elections. So, we broke the rules of our platform and put out 52 concurrent campaigns, which is insane. So, one for every state, plus Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico. All 52 projects were successful. They had a goal of $3,000.00, which was the average cost for a billboard, and actually, all of the funds from that project covered the billboard costs across the country, which is amazing. The organisation then did town hall meetings and had exhibitions with over 220 partners. We’ll see what they do in 2020 – I know they have some stuff coming up which is very exciting.
Patton Hindle, Senior Director of Arts at Kickstarter. Photo: Lauren Renner
S: One of the things that I would like to encourage everyone to do is to make a personal pledge to offset their carbon footprint. If I may put you on the spot, I’d like to ask what is your carbon promise that we can share with our audience?
P: My parents may hate this, but I’m not going to have a child.
S: That’s a big promise.
P: It’s a big promise! Everyone watching this will know that two main problems for climate change are flying a lot, which unfortunately I have to do, and having a child. Those are the biggest imprints that we can make. If we cut one of those things out or trim one of them down – and we can’t trim down a child - then it’s really an all-or-nothing pledge.
S: Thank you very much for your time and honesty Patton.
P: Thank you for having me!
P: My parents may hate this, but I’m not going to have a child.
S: That’s a big promise.
P: It’s a big promise! Everyone watching this will know that two main problems for climate change are flying a lot, which unfortunately I have to do, and having a child. Those are the biggest imprints that we can make. If we cut one of those things out or trim one of them down – and we can’t trim down a child - then it’s really an all-or-nothing pledge.
S: Thank you very much for your time and honesty Patton.
P: Thank you for having me!
To learn more about Kickstarter’s art projects visit kickstarter.com/arts + visit ICA LA’s Solar campaign on Kickstarter here. The campaign lasts for only 30 days – support us today!
Located in the Downtown Arts District, ICA LA is an admission-free museum, driven by a core ethos—that contemporary art is a powerful tool for social change. We are committed to creating exhibitions, programs, and community partnerships that foster artistic experimentation and explore the most important issues of our time. Our goal to become the first solar-powered art museum is the beginning of an ongoing process of instituting green technology and sustainable practices across all areas of our museum’s operations | #icala
Located in the Downtown Arts District, ICA LA is an admission-free museum, driven by a core ethos—that contemporary art is a powerful tool for social change. We are committed to creating exhibitions, programs, and community partnerships that foster artistic experimentation and explore the most important issues of our time. Our goal to become the first solar-powered art museum is the beginning of an ongoing process of instituting green technology and sustainable practices across all areas of our museum’s operations | #icala