Owners
What it's all about
For a year now (since January 2007) I have been running a website found at the domain www.furshounen.com , which is a site designed to raise issues of Animal Rights and sell artwork (and hopefully other media such as books and music), to support Animal Charities, including but not limited to the WWF, the WSPA and the RSPCA. So far I although I have had some ‘social’ success (i.e. more visitors to the site each month) I have had very little success achieving my original goals.
The main themes of the site are anthropomorphic/zoomorphic art or ‘furry’ artwork- the ‘furry’ subculture is a growing community in west, although mainly the US, and much maligned as superficial and perverse. However the practice of using animal characters or totems not only as a cultural device, but also to express oneself and one’s spiritual harmony with animals, dates back as far as there have been human beings on Earth.
I thought it would be particularly appropriate to use anthropomorphic characters as a way to promote animal rights issues, and also to capture this growing market, which is just taking off in the UK.
Some of my work contains adult themes- however none of the images or textural documents are illegal under UK act, and all sections containing these themes are clearly marked for the protection of minors. I feel that the use of adult content to promote charitable causes is a long overdue.
What's needed to make it a reality
One of the reasons I believe I have not had many sales is the fact that my website ‘shop’ is very basic, with limited options and little possibility for expansion. With money to pay a company to assist making an integrated store for my website, I can add many new products as well as easy options for the buyer to choose which charity she or he wishes to donate.
Equipment - £300 (e.g. Book binding machine, Button Badge maker, graphics tablet)
I have many ideas for products to sell on my site and am already developing some of them- but for others I do require special, often expensive equipment to produce them to a high level.
Art Materials - £50 (e.g. paints, canvas, paper, modelling clay)
Advertising - £50
Advertising on the internet and elsewhere is of course extremely useful-although I can gain many customers through personal interaction, this does have an upper limit- a financial head-start to this would be much appreciated.
Total requested for support £450
Comments
Since you're at the University of Derby and it's one of the unis Junction49's working with in partnership you can apply for up to £750 funding to run your project. Contact your volunteer support officer (Alex) for access to funding, training and support.
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