Starter Kit. Idea 68 of 500. Cluster 3
Postcards and prints by living Sri Lankan artists, sold with the artist's name and story
The mechanism, from the book
The Zermatt water bottle. Sigiriya has not got a stone with its own name on it.
The first step
Invite three artists you know to let you print five postcards each from their work, with the artist's name and a short story on the back. Agree a split, print a small run, and sell them at a café, a guesthouse and a weekend market. Postcards sold, and one artist asking for a reprint, are the proof.
- Who pays first
- Visitors who want a postcard worth keeping, and cafés and guesthouses that want local stock that sells.
- What leaves today
- Postcards sold to visitors rarely name the artist; named local work pays a living artist every time a card sells.
Ask first
- Department of Cultural Affairs. Ask whether they know artists who would sell prints with their story.
- Inland Revenue Department. Ask how royalties paid to artists should be recorded for tax.
Check before you spend
That each artist signs an agreement on printing rights and payment, and that the artist's name and story are accurate on every card.
Find out these three numbers
- What will visitors pay for a print with the artist's story?
- What does printing one postcard cost at your quantity?
- How many artists would sign up to start?
A comparison from the book
Sigiriya. Chapter Five
"made locally, by people whose names could be on the label"
A named maker turns an ordinary card into something with a story.
The test
Does it keep value that now leaves the island, or build the proof that lets somebody else do so?
From the appendix of Why Not Sri Lanka? by Dr Maheshika Halbeisen. The idea and the mechanism are the book's; this kit was written for the site.