This is a large project that is already well underway. The team behind it includes Alfred Moesker, of Cardano Hotel Ginebra Barcelona and several others who have been working on the platform for over six months. It was formerly known as cNFT Hubs and is undergoing a bit of a rebranding and expansion. It has been operational since December of 2021 and supports a global artistic community as well as a number of charitable causes. In order to do so they have implemented a backend payment splitter that automatically separates and sends revenue to the artist, the charity of choice and the platform when an NFT is purchased.
Art Suite wants to build an art experience that is reflective of Cardano’s global community. The platform offers an NFT page, an auction page, a social impact page, an artist onboarding page, and an events page. Many of the events are held at Hotel Cardano in Spain. In addition to supporting art and artists, they hope to bring new users to Cardano. There is no doubt that Cardano’s share of the NFT market is still small, relative to the larger crypto market. Art Suite hopes to address this by creating an NFT platform that combines high end art, charitable causes and community events. To facilitate platform growth, they have several different Catalyst proposals in multiple categories. They feel that they will be able to manage the many deliverables as they have a team in place, and the platform is already operational. Note, this is a high-level overview of the diversity and scope of their proposals. Much greater detail, particularly in regard to timeframes and budgets can be found in the actual proposals. Additionally, you can view The Art Suite platform here.
Proposal 1
Growing and Marketing the Platform in Dapps, Products and Integrations
Scaling Art Suite NFT4Good Platform (ideascale.com)
The goal is to build and market this platform to create a signature Cardano experience that will attract both artists and collectors. Specifically, the funding will be used to:
- Customize the software
- Automate the artist onboarding process to guarantee rapid growth
- Rebranding of the platform
- Market the platform
- Create new synergies and partnerships
- Support many new social impact projects around the world
In the last six months the platform has grown to include almost 50 artists. It also supports a number of charitable causes and non-profit organizations. This funding will be used to take the project to the next level by focusing on the mid to high level art market and developing countries. The team feels that Art Suite’s unique ability to allow both artists and collectors revenue transparency while supporting non-profit causes will attract a new, diverse audience. Additionally, they intend to work with a marketing company to contact fine art galleries and art brokers. They are also, through a partnership with NFTMakerPro, now able to accept Mastercard and Visa.
Budget
Total Budget Requested: 258,900 USD
This amount will provide 12 months of support so that the team can focus on growing a global community. The budget overview is as follows:
- Software Development and upgrades 18,000
- Team Salary 60,900
- Marketing 162,000
- Other expenses such as travel, etc 18000
Timeframe
They anticipate the implementation of a software upgrade in July 2022, with the new design and branding arriving at the end of July. August and September will be spent implementing and rolling out the changes. They also plan to present the finished version at CNFTCON in October. After that the focus will be onboarding artists, building partnerships and growing the brand.
Proposal 2
Art Suite Multichain Events – To recruit artists and collectors from other platforms
Cross Chain Collaboration Category
The Art Suite Multi-Chain NFT Events (ideascale.com)
Cardano’s artistic community is fairly early in its development. The Art Suite Team wants to create a series of events that encourage cross chain collaboration and educate artists about the Cardano ecosystem. The idea is to use the knowledge from earlier events to create a template that can be used globally in conjunction with agent artists. Additionally they will create standardized educational material in multiple languages. This will help to educate and grow a global community.
Past events have allowed them to meet artists that are focused on other ecosystems, such as Ethereum. The intent of this proposal is to learn from their experience with other cryptocurrencies and to educate artists about the benefits of working with Cardano. They will focus on interoperability, collaboration and education.
Budget
Budget Requested for this proposal: 90,000
This amount will allow them to host a minimum of 14 events over a 12-month period. The budget breakdown per event is:
Advertisement = 500 US $
Event Staff = 500 US $
Renting a suitable space = 500 US$
Travel Expenses = 500 US$
Catering = 1000 US$
Technical equipment = 2000 US$
TOTAL = 5000 US$ per event. This totals 70,000 USD An additional 20,000 has been requested for salaries and other expenses.
Timeframe:
August – September 2022:
Put together a playbook for these types of events. Create standard digital educational material.
Refine a template budget for the creation of an event. Consolidate and build on existing relationships with artist collectives and NFT communities.
October – November 2022:
Host the first events which will be organized with the new Event Playbook.
From December 2022:
Organize at least one event every month in capital cities in Europe
From August 2023:
The events are self – sustainable and able to operate at a profit (develop partnerships and sponsorships) and will now extend to other continents like Africa, North and South America, Asia.
Proposal 3
Hire Art Suite Coordinator in Africa (ideascale.com)
Grow Africa, Grow Cardano Category
This funding will be used to build on the existing model of on the ground agents who will recruit and educate artists in their area. A coordinator will work with people in their communities The team already has one coordinator in place and will use the project funding to onboard additional team members in diverse locations. The goal is to find artist agents in a minimum of 10 African countries to begin with. These art markets are very underdeveloped and represent a significant growth opportunity for both artists and Cardano. Specifically, this coordinator will:
- Locate and educate any suitable artist agents in Africa that recognize themselves in the Cardano spirit.
- Create educational material the African artist agents can use in any meetings or workshops they might organize
- Coach agents in online meetings
Budget 15,000
the annual salary for a coordinator and startup expenses
Timeframe: within 6 – 8 weeks of funding the new coordinator will be onboarded and ready to recruit artists to the platform.
Proposal 4
Cardano Art Course Bangladesh – To educate the population of 165 million about Cardano
In the Grow East Asia, Grow Cardano Category
Art Suite Cardano Course Bangladesh (ideascale.com)
Bangladesh is a country of both enormous challenges and opportunities. A high percentage of the population is young and the poverty rate is declining. The Art Suite team sees this as an opportune moment to begin education about the opportunities that Cardano, Digital art and NFTs offer. The team will create and host a series of workshops about blockchain, Cardano and the economic opportunity that both present. The Art Suite team has opportunities and connections in the region. As a result of a preexisting charitable program, the team has local contacts that will allow them to ramp the program up quickly.
Budget 18,750
The budget will cover six months of operation and expenses, including everything from course design to implementation; from teacher salary to venue rentals
Timeframe:
Weeks 1-8 will be dedicated to set up and program development
Weeks 9-26 will be spent enrolling participants and carrying out workshops.
Proposal 5
ETH NFT Artists->Cardano workshops (ideascale.com)
This project will educate Ethereum artists about the lower fees and positive environmental aspects of Cardano. They intend to host workshops for Ethereum artists to promote Cardano. In addition to offering educational videos and other materials, they will also help interested parties create their own Cardano wallets at the event.
Budget 15,000
This will allow the team to hire a part time coordinator, create educational materials and host the workshops
Timeframe: 12 workshops in the next 12 months.
Summary
This project started over six months ago. The team has been working diligently to build and grow a unique platform that combines fine art and charitable causes. They have created a fully functional platform that highlights many of the unique characteristics of Cardano. The five Catalyst proposals in this round will help them increase marketing, attract new customers and explore untapped developing markets. It’s a big project, no doubt. However, their dedication and hard work are apparent in the existing platform, which can be viewed here. The funding requested will allow them to take their platform to the next level, to recruit new customers and to explore developing markets. This project review concludes with a description of the project team.
Project Team
Alfred Moesker – Co-Founder & CEO
In 2017 his Hotel Ginebra in Barcelona was the first business in the world to accept ADA as payment. www.hotelginebra.com.es
Stakepool operator of ‘HOTEL’, 25 years’ experience in the tourist business, managing and network skills. Since then, he has contributed to the ecosystem with the Cardano Hotel Podcast and the Cardano Artist Corner, created the The ArtSuite and recently partnered with Nazmul Biplop to set up charity food program Thought For Food in Bangladesh. In September 2021 the “Cardano Hotel ” was sponsored by the Cardano Foundation and World Mobile as a venue for Goguen Summit.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/alfred-moesker-71159320/
Nazmul Islam Biplob – Co-Founder & Chief Technology Officer
Graduated from Daffodil International University. Enthusiastic about history, finance, sociology & technology. Worked on various startups.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mnazmulislambiplob/
Tom Wilkinson Co-Founder Innovation Director
Tom is in charge of minting technology and new technologies.
Anthony Roberts- Communications Director
https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthony-roberts-491037155
Natalie Attieh – Artist Coordinator
https://www.linkedin.com/in/natalieattieh/
Razali Samsudin – Social and Environmental Impact Projects Director
14 years of experience as an interdisciplinary Educator from early years settings to postgraduate level, with a background in social sciences, humanities, and sustainability.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/razali-samsudin
Elisa Farre – Artist Agent Coordinator
University degree in labor sciences and labor relations, with several master’s degrees in business environment, with more than 15 years of experience.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/elisafarre/
For more information, please see the following:
The Art Suite (@theartsuite) / Twitter
Scaling ArtSuite NFT4Good Platform (ideascale.com)
The ArtSuite Multi-Chain NFT Events (ideascale.com)
HIre ArtSuite Coordinator in Africa (ideascale.com)
