CUBE PROJECTS

As of May, 2020 CUBE PROJECTS will be housed in Brick at Blue Star Arts Complex-- a 4,800 square feet of indoor gallery and market space in the urban core of San Antonio, Texas.  Incubator programs are offered to emerging and transitioning artists to help jump start their careers and/or take their art and business in another direction. The Micro Business Market Support & Incubator Program hopes to continue our support by raising money to help fund these initiatives.

In May, 2020 we expanded our ability to raise money to keep these programs going through our new 501c3 -- CUBE PROJECTS.

Our 100+ Sunday, Vintage, Vegan, and First Friday Markets have provided a space for many merchants/artists to sell their products.  We are seeking grant money available to help local entrepreneurs and artists, over the next 12 months, get their products back to market by being able to sell at Brick Markets for free.
Our mission at Brick has always been to provide services and space to the artist community along with supporting our micro entrepreneurs at a very low price, and now with Cube Projects # 83-3027157 we would like to offer these services for free to all artists/merchants.  Our arts and merchant markets have pumped millions dollars back into the downtown and near downtown economies through sales of their art work and products since 2014 - though hard hit by the 2020 Covid19 pandemic.

Obtaining some form of subsidy would be a significant win for the entrepreneurs and artists of San Antonio and Bexar county, and will hopefully ensure the continuation of their businesses. The artists keep 100% of the income from the sale of their work, so they can start to build their own business income. Eliminating the $40 fee per market would be a tremendous gain to their bottom line and also give them a chance to get back in the game. 

Funding needed :
To subsidize artist and merchant fees (up to 50 micro entrepreneurs/artists for 100 markets at $40) for the next 12 months -  $200,000. ($4,000/vendor/ per year)

Merchant/Artist Demographics:  60% woman owned
                                                    65%  people of color

As the next Texas state-wide shutdown looms again during COVID 19, we are pivoting to help our market vendors ride out the storm. Our in-person markets have been closed since March 13, 2020. We are currently creating a fulfillment center platform to offer local micro businesses an opportunity to display, sell, and provide delivery of their products online in a real time format.

In a recent call for vendors, we had well over 200 posts of interest from local micro businesses in a 24-hour timeframe. This represents the need and the urgency to help these micro entrepreneurs and artists sell their products and keep their businesses going in a safe environment.

We have a beta launch scheduled for the end of this month. Our website/platform will be on its way, but could use a boost in funding to provide all the photos/videos, coding, and marketing required to help our local businesses enter a seamless, virtual environment. Providing this platform will enable them to sell their products in a real time format just like they did at the in person markets.

Ultimately, we would like to provide this service at no cost to our vendors. A subsidy would ensure the continuation of their businesses.

Help us launch Brick Public Market through the Cube Projects non profit program to give micro businesses a chance to get back in the game.

Funding needed :
1. To subsidize business fee to participate (up to 60 micro entrepreneurs) in the program for the next 12 months - $50,000
2. Improve the online fulfillment platform so we can sell more products and include more businesses - $30,000

Cube Projects will serve as the platform manager, point of sale, fulfillment and delivery service.