Back the Renaissance.

Markets can scale products, but they can’t invent culture. Patrons back Relational, the studio and incubator where founders and artists are building what comes next.

Let's talk patronage → See the Support Menu →
A big blocky gray machine with one eye stares at a little dotted chart, looking the wrong way. Behind it, in its blind spot, small noodle-limbed characters do the real work: one pours tea for a tired friend, two steady a ladder while a wizard hangs a lime lantern, one plants a sprout.

The most important work of our time doesn't look like a startup.

As AI and automation reshape how we work, learn, and live, our deepest bottleneck isn't technical; it's relational.

When the ground shifts this fast, mainstream institutions spend their energy stabilizing the old structure. Investing in the edge has always fallen to patrons and artists: the people willing to play with new ways of being to discover who we're becoming next.

How do we gather when the internet isolates us? How do we govern, care for each other, and find meaning when the old scripts of work and identity dissolve?

A wave of Relational Founders & Artists is already running the live experiments: new civic rituals, touring methodologies, revived local scenes. But the market is quantitative-first. It can price software and supply chains, yet it's blind to care, community, and cultural R&D. Force these pioneers to act like startups, or starve them in grant cycles, and the magic dies before it takes root.

We don't need another accelerator. We need a Renaissance. And Renaissances are built on patronage.

A patron in a crown and a host in a beret each hold up a post of a big striped hammock. In the sagging middle, three founders and artists take it easy: one sketches, one strums a guitar, one dozes under a wizard hat with eyes closed.

Relational projects generate Cultural ROI

Think of it as preventive care for society. When people are in healthy relationship with themselves, their partners, their neighbors, and their city, they catch each other when they fall, take creative risks, and actually want to raise kids where they live.

Patronage gives Relational slack: the time and runway to convene, produce and build a scene without scrambling to survive. From there, we help founders and artists find slack of their own.

Slack is the investment. Culture is the return.

How patronage works here

  1. A patron in a gold crown, eyes closed and pleased, tosses a gold coin high overhead, one hand on hip.

    Patrons provide escape velocity

    Patrons back Relational with money or in-kind support up front, creating a protected environment of serious play.

  2. A determined host in a green beret strides forward holding up a glowing lantern and waving someone in.

    We convene & produce

    Kristen and Dave bring founders and artists together and work with each one-on-one to shape their story and bring forward what their project needs.

  3. A slightly nervous founder in a starry wizard hat holds out a long unrolled scroll of colorful squiggles.

    Founders learn to ask

    Each founder and artist writes their own Support Menu: an honest list of what their project needs, so the right people can find them.

  4. A grinning founder in an antenna hat walks back carrying a potted sprout.

    It comes back around

    There are no contracts, just a promise. When a project takes off, its founder brings money, mentorship, and know-how back into the scene for the next wave.

Questions Patrons Ask

What does my support pay for?

It resources the founding cohort: one-on-one producing, salons and dinners in five cities, the retreat, embedded writers and visual producers, the zine, and the fiscal and design work that keeps it all running. The full list is in the Support Menu above.

Can I back a specific founder or artist?

Yes. Your patronage of Relational keeps the scene running, and we’re glad to introduce you to founders and artists whose Support Menus match what you care about. Anything you give them directly goes straight to their project.

Is it tax-deductible?

Yes. We work with a fiscal sponsor, so your gift is tax-deductible to the extent the law allows.

Can I give in-kind instead of money?

Yes. A space for a salon or retreat, production help, a skill or an introduction can matter as much as a check. Tell us what you can bring →

What do I get back?

A seat at the table, not a perks package. Patrons are invited into salons and showcases, see the work while it’s still taking shape, and get to know the founders and artists they’re making room for.

How do I start?

With a conversation. Book a time below, or send us an email and we’ll find a time to talk.

Come Sit at the Table.

We're convening the founding cohort of Relational: 6 to 10 founders and artists building the next chapter of culture. A founding cohort only happens once.

Every Renaissance had its patrons. If you've been looking for the people leading the next wave of relational culture, you've found us.

Let's talk patronage →Book a conversation about backing the founding cohort. Send us an email →kristen@relational.org
Noodle-limbed characters sit along both sides of a long table, deep in conversation over cups and bowls, a lime lantern in the middle. At the end, one stands and gestures warmly to an empty yellow chair.