Does it Work? Five Mindshifts Towards Crowdfunding a Professional Ballet Teaching Career (as an Adult Starter)

If you have followed this blog for a while, you already know - for all others: It happened. I made it through the two-round audition and was accepted into Canada’s National Ballet School’s Teacher Training Program 2022/2023, starting this fall. After getting cut in the first round three years ago.

While that still feels a bit surreal, I didn’t have much time to contemplate that surrealness. The next even bigger challenge followed suit: How to pay for that whole thing?

The dream ballet teaching education: Unaffordable?

As an international student, I have to pay more than double the tuition than what Canadian students have to pay. My bill is at slightly over CAD 22,000 (approx USD 17,000 or EUR 16.700). Add to that expenses for extra support for my son as I will be out of the house all day and not able to take care of him as before. Add to that not being able to work during the full-time program.

Now, you could look at these numbers and conclude: A high-quality ballet teaching certification is completely out of reach for a single parent of a disabled child.

It’s true: I don’t have that kind of money, due to my age I’m not eligible for any student financial support, and thus, traditionally, shouldn’t even attempt to apply for the program.

And here is where I believe the world as we know it is changing. Not only are career opportunities becoming more available and accessible past the typical career-entry age - their financing options are becoming more accessible, too. And the big player in this regard: Crowdfunding.

Removing financial barriers, the uncomfortable way

I actually immediately thought of crowdfunding when thinking about how to pay for such a high tuition. I liked the idea of community, it would allow me to raise the money quickly (I had a couple of months), and I was excited about the creativity that could go into such a campaign. The uncertainty of whether I could reach my goal or not felt interesting, too.

At the same time, the idea of a crowdfunding campaign felt deeply uncomfortable. The thought of transparently displaying in public that I just didn”t have that money and had no other means of getting it felt too vulnerable. Asking people to give money was something I associated with high awkwardness. In my mind, it was only for people in really precarious emergency situations, and was mine not a “luxury project”?

In the end, maybe the past years that I spent in Canada tipped me towards giving it a try. I find that people here, just like in the US, are way more chill about crowdfunding as a totally legit way of fundraising. Whereas my hesitancy and shame probably came from my German upbringing - where you either just have the money or if you don’t, then don’t buy it and either way, don’t talk about it publicly.

So I threw myself all in. Got a wonderful director friend to help me with planning the campaign story and video, worked away on my own fevereshly, and finally launched in the end of June 2022, with roughly 2.5 months to go before the start of the school year. It felt so weird to put out something that was completely out of my sphere of life experiences, with not the slightest clue whether it would work or not.

Well, let me cut the story short and say: It worked, for the most part: While the campaign has not reached its goal yet, the tuition is fully covered and the payment currently processed! (I wasn’t able to start my studies yet due to delays in student visa processing, but that is just a matter of time, see more below.) This was not only thanks to my wonderful and generous crowdfunding donors alone, but also because Canada’s National Ballet School kindly approved generous financial aid based on my specific circumstances.

Building a new world full of opportunities, and the ability to pay for them

What is remarkable is not only that I reached a financial goal that just a few months before appeared completely out of reach in my lifetime, but also how my relationship to crowdfunding evolved over the past months. The shame and vulnerability that I initially felt pretty much dissolved as I was in the deep end, while my appreciation for the power of crowdfunding significantly grew during that time. I now actually think that crowdfunding should become way more widespread as one of life’s tools to pay for things and opportunities. So by sharing my inner changes around it, I hope I can contribute to normalizing crowdfunding as away to make significant life changes a reality. Here are my five inner shifts that happened over the course of the campaign:

1) It massively increases financial equity by removing gate keepers and timelines

The usual scenario when needing a lot of money for something really amazing? Find (more) paid work. Save up. Get a loan. Apply for a grant. The common thread of all those? They either take time or require someone’s approval - or both. So if you don’t have the time or don’t get the approval, you’re out of luck: What if you don’t get the job; saving could take years or decades, your bank or grant institution could say no, application times could go forever, or you might not even be eligible to apply. With crowdfunding, things can go super fast, and because a lot of people contribute whatever they are comfortable with, it’s a very democratic process with no gatekeeper approval required. There are no formal barriers - it’s only you, your creativity, your story, your willingness to put in all the hard work in the background. It also doesn’t matter if many people say “no” - because you have all those who said “yes”.

2) It’s a powerful tool for women and for changing patriarchal economic structures

Financial inaccessibility impacts women to a higher degree - because they statistically do more care work and are paid less, and because our economy is still built around patriarchal structures and dynamics. So I think crowdfunding is a particulary powerful game changer for women and for any kind of idea that challenges the (patriarchal) status quo. In my case, it was challenging ageism - in other words, creating a world in which anyone can start ballet at any age and still make a career in it. In my situation as the main caregiver to a child with a disability, crowdfunding was an absolutely life-saving idea, as I wouldn’t have been able to raise the money so quickly in any other way, and I could do so without going into debt, which would have been a liability considering my caregiving responsibilities.

3) Sharing a story and connection vs. shame

I was initially so afraid of “begging” for money - and then it turned out that I was actually just sharing my story, connecting with people, and then thanking them for their kind and generous donations. As much and hard as I looked, there was absolutely nothing shameful about that! Everyone had a choice if they wanted to give or not, and how much they gave. And when I said it didn’t matter how small the amount, it really did feel that way. In the end I find that my crowdfunding campaign became a way of co-creating something bigger than just my access to a high-level ballet program. It really is about creating a new world where everyone has more access to the things that are truly meaningful to them - regardless of age and socio-economic background. It is about having conversations about how this world could look like and the donation become a building block of it.

4) The beauty of community-based economy

I was so afraid of awkwardness that I didn’t even expect the beautiful community that would form around this campaign! It started with my friends who were the first to donate, but then grew wider circles as my campaign made appearances in the local media and beyond. I was touched by how many people cared and drew inspiration from my building a ballet-teaching career as an adult ballet starter. Again, it wasn’t so much only about the ballet part - but rather the “late building” part that resonated with many. I was also deeply touched by how many in this crowdfunding community donated a second time when time was getting tight and I was a couple €/$1000s short. Every time I write an update for the campaign it feels like a letter to friends and I feel all the people who donated around me. I got so many kind comments, responses, notes. That is the type of world and beyond-transactional “economy” I long for - co-operative, meaningful, genuine, and caring.

5) Making peace with myself

I think my most stubborn and central belief around crowdfunding was “if I had just worked and saved more in my life, I wouldn’t need to bother people with a crowdfunding campaign”. That was fueled by some experiences early on in the campaign where some of my social media posts in some groups were deleted as spam, or a friend told me that other friends were critical of my crowdfunding efforts. So I had a choice to make: Would I keep feeling bad and invest in those self-undermining ideas - that whole crap that crowdfunding is the “cheap“ way out, and that it’s a harrassment to people? Ugh. Honestly, enough of that. First of all, a crowdfunding campaign is actually super hard work. And second, with time I realized that enough people were not bothered at all - quite the contrary, they were delighted and happy to see me fly with it. So I decided that all was ok, and that I would enjoy the process as much as I could. And I did. I still do!

The campaing hit a major milestone in the end of August, when it fully covered the tuition. Fast forward to now, roughly six weeks into the school year. My campaign has somewhat a plateaued since that milestone, which is certainly due to the current circumstances: Unfortunately I didn’t get to start the Teacher Training Program due to my study permit application still pending. I therefore had to defer my enrollment until next year. Because of all the administrative work around this over the past weeks, I didn’t have the time to work at the campaign as much as before. The deferral also put a break into further media interest, so there was less visibility for the campaign overall. But I still continue to raise for additional support for my son when I am in school and will re-start my efforts as the date draws nearer. The whole delay has honestly been a huge disappointment, but there is nothing I can do about it other than to roll with it. Patience is always learned the hard way :)

So: Yes, it does work. You absolutely can crowdfund a ballet-related career, even at an advanced age. And not only that, it actually works in a powerful and equitable way. I hope to see more campaigns in the ballet world and beyond and would be happy to help in any way I can!

Thank you so much for being a reader of this blog, and possibly also one of my crowdfunding supporters! I appreciate your interest and help so much. Have you ever crowdfunded, or looked down on crowdfunding, or are you considering it for a future project, ballet-related or not? What are your thoughts and feelings around it? If you ever decide to crowdfund for one of your big goals, please absolutely let me know and tell me if I can help in any way. Lots of love and to more changing the world!