Well, we've done it. We started our very own nonprofit corporation called Aripa Arte. The whole point of Aripa Arte is to create a mechanism to help contemporary Romanian visual artists develop and expand their art businesses in an economy that is depressed. Anyone involved in running an art business knows how fickle and volatile such an endeavor can be. Take those difficulties, and apply them in a small country, where the diaspora has removed an entire generation, and where the economic opportunities are limited, and there is little hope for the majority of artists to survive off their creative talents.
Aripa Arte is an attempt to level the playing field a bit for those creative entrepreneurs. Through education, support, funding, and networking opportunities, Aripa Arte can both support those art organizations and institutions already in existence in Romania, as well as directly benefit those emerging and mid-career artists and their practices.
So what happens next? As I mentioned, we opened the nonprofit corporation here in the state of Texas, but the actuall tax free status is granted by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). So we have submitted all of the paperwork requesting tax-free status, and have been asked for some additional information by our caseworker. I guess that means now we just sit back and wait. It's possible that we can set up a website, and open a bank account, and create things like this blog and social media accounts, but what we can't do yet is ask for money. Until we have been granted the 501(c)3 tax free status, anyone who gives us money cannot deduct the donation from their annual taxes. That's a pretty significant problem when you're a nonprofit company. We do not want to discourage anyone from giving, but we also don't want to surprise them when they are expecting a tax write off. My guess is that we can do a bit of marketing, but we don't want to market ourselves too well. What a strange place to be in! We know that the tax free status will come, once we can answer all of the questions asked of us by the IRS, so we should probably just enjoy the quiet before the storm. Things are going to speed up exponentially when that acceptance letter comes.
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