A new history of art: women in the NFT

[IMPACT] Please describe your proposed solution.

Our solution is to develop a comprehensive and representative database containing information about women's participation in art history, also from a decolonial perspective. We will give special focus to female creation in NFTs, presenting how Blockchain is democratic and open to enable greater gender equity in the arts.

With this open database, which will be released on an interactive platform, we will publicize female achievement in NFT art and contribute to the promotion of gender equity in the art world and the blockchain ecosystem. The platform will highlight the importance of women's participation in society, and provide information on the creative and professional works of women artists.

With the evolution of the database and platform, we plan to use a decentralized governance model inspired by the Catalyst project, in which women artists will be able to contribute, vote, and support governance, and receive rewards for doing so. Our project aims not only to increase women's participation in the NFT art market, but also to expand the use cases of the technology and knowledge built with the Catalyst project and Cardano Blockchain to create applications aimed at empowering women. Although there are some databases and platforms that address the presence of women in the arts, few of them work with a systematic overview of women in art history, few are open and collaborative, and even fewer are focused on NFT art.

Once launched, the platform can be accessed for personal, academic and professional research. It can also be used as a reference for the construction of educational and informational materials dedicated to the importance of gender equality and the promotion of female visibility in the artistic field.

BACKGROUND

Gender inequality is not a new phenomenon, but a historical consequence that is present throughout the world.

Gender inequality is not a point of view, but a fact backed up by statistics, be it in highly developed countries or not. This results in the persistence of many forms of violence, including the obstruction of women's access to education and job opportunities. In the arts, for example, less than a century ago, women were barred from attending art schools and colleges around the world.

Art created by women sells for almost 50% less than art made by men.
Only five to 15% of current NFT artist accounts are run by women.
Out of the top 10 most expensive NFT artworks sold to this date, only one belonged to a female creator.

<https://nftnow.com/features/art-women-sells-50-less-mens-nfts-could-change-that/>

<https://news.artnet.com/market/nft-sales-just-16-percent-women-2030490>

History shows how uncountable female artists had their work signed by men or published anonymously in order to be recognized or taken seriously. Although the art market is now relatively more open to women, the historical consequences of these erasures still persist. For example, most museums and galleries around the world have far more works by male artists in their collections than by female artists, a fact that many artists today are fighting against, such as the Guerilla Girls collective. If we were asked to name brilliant male artists in the history of art, the answer would be quick and easy, even for those who do not come from the field of art; there are many men who have been elevated to genius, such as Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Monet, Van Gogh, Picasso, Salvador Dalí, and so on. However, to name five female artists who have been considered geniuses by history, we have to think hard to come to a conclusion. The history that has been told to us needs to be reformulated.

An important step in this journey is to remove the invisibility of these female artists, to tell their stories, to showcase their work, and to include them in the history of art as relevant professionals, as well as to encourage them to enter and pursue this career. The opportunity to have a beautiful and open platform on the Internet makes it possible for these stories to not only be told, but also to be replicated and perpetuated.

[IMPACT] How does your proposed solution address the challenge and what benefits will this bring to the Cardano ecosystem?

The challenge brief describes itself:

“Catalyst Open aims to seed the ideas which might, in time, grow the ADA economy and inform our future funding priorities*. It’s all about* exploring the gaps where Catalyst innovation funding hasn’t reached yet.“

And this is exactly what we are proposing here with this project: to run a pilot project that involves exploratory research, establishing partnerships, and constituting the first database of the project. This, in turn, will help us to arrive at the stage of releasing the open-source platform containing our data bank of women artists and with the functionality of collaboration in the Catalyst Project’s style. Therefore, we are seeking support for our initial foundation.

Unfortunately, we are still too far in Catalyst from having a challenge dedicated to women’s empowerment. Luckily, we can count on Catalyst Open challenge to accommodate this part of our project.

The project aims to expand gender equity and increase the participation of women in the Cardano ecosystem.

[IMPACT] How do you intend to measure the success of your project?

This project requires considerable research, and the representativeness and quality of the initial dataset is one of the key metrics of success in this project. For the first stage, we aim to have a minimum viable dataset that allows other contributors to better visualize and join this project, and also to find stakeholders that can support it later. The quality of this initial dataset will be measured by external review, based on the feedback collected by the interaction with other female artists and art & feminism researchers. We have access to a great network of experts, feminist collectives, and art collectives of which we can count on their support. In addition, the initial dataset will be actively shared with the Catalyst community, and NFT collectives interested in the topic. For example, organizations like: #WeTheWomen collection; World of Women, and UnicornDAO.

By connecting people with are non-familiar with blockchain and the Cardano Ecosystem, we will be successful also in raising awareness about its potential and ways to engage in the community.

In the long-term, the success of this project can be measured by its impact both in the Cardano/Catalyst community, with an increased presence of women artists in the NFT space, and increased visibility of successful artist women - not only from North American and European countries but from other countries as well.

Although the number of women participating in the Art NFT industry could be used as a metric to determine our impact, we also need to be realistic and consider that this project alone will not be the determinant cause for the increased participation of women. Therefore, community feedback and involvement will be used to measure our success qualitatively.

After establishing the initial dataset and collecting feedback about its robustness and quality, we will start a social media campaign on Twitter and Instagram to release drops of information about the project, results from the research phase, and to disseminate the artists’ work. In addition, all the project results will be shared in the open channels of the Catalyst community, including Town Halls.

Instead of doing passive communication and waiting the audience to arrive at our platform and data bank, we will do active communication and do our best to reach people beyond the artistic niches. Our project is about giving visibility; therefore, we will work hard on communication to make it visible.

Finally, the web platform itself will be the place to make the data bank available and public to anyone.

[CAPABILITY/ FEASIBILITY] What is your capability to deliver your project with high levels of trust and accountability?

In terms of technical skills related to the project theme, the main project proponent has:

Ten years of experience with content production on Art, having participated as author and editor of art textbooks that reached more than 50 million students in Brazil.
She works as a coordinator of large-scale editorial productions (with team coordination, editorial flow, and budget) in large publishers in Brazil.
Author of a book focused on the visibility of women who have been erased from history. This book reached a large audience and was publicized by the Brazilian mainstream media. Ex: (https://www.estadao.com.br/alias/manifesto-lista-mulheres-artistas-que-foram-eclipsadas-pelos-maridos/)
Bachelor and Master in Visual Arts.
Artistic performance, having participated in art exhibitions in Brazil, Finland, Spain and Canada. The artistic theme explores female visibility in the arts.
Ten years of research around this theme, having already visited museums and galleries in several countries, with a collection and repertoire of women artists from all over the world already gathered in personal archives.

<https://www.linkedin.com/in/beatriz-mogadouro-calil-0929a167/>

The co-proposer has:

Formal training in entrepreneurship, project management and technological innovation: Fellow in the German Chancellor Fellowship, a program of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (https://www.humboldt-foundation.de/en/apply/sponsorship-programmes/german-chancellor-fellowship ); and fellow in the Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative, a program of the US State Department (<https://br.usembassy.gov/2018-ylai-participants/>).
Training in data management, datasets, and data governance. Participation in projects and workshops conducted in Germany and Zambia covering these topics.
10 years of experience in educational project management, working in the sector of philanthropy and social entrepreneurship.
Bachelor's degree in Portuguese, Bachelor's Degree in Biology, Master in Science Education, and Ph.D. in Education.
Author of a book approved in the Brazilian national textbook program (200,000 copies printed/year). Link: https://bit.ly/3pwBbgR
Proven experience in the elaboration of platforms and communication resources: https://dteach.org/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/gustavopugliese/?locale=en_US

Project management skills:

We have long experience within Catalyst Project: F7 + F8 + F9 funded proposals, PA, vPA, Challenge team member.
In terms of project management, we have three funded proposals in previous funds, successfully completed and reported:
Decentralized Education - dTeach (main proposers)

<https://cardano.ideascale.com/c/idea/60778>

Education impact and monetization (main proposers) [managed and funded by Cardashift, not Catalyst]

<https://cardano.ideascale.com/c/idea/64355>

Catalyst Facilitators’ Collective (co-proposers)

<https://cardano.ideascale.com/c/idea/62666>

Beyond the project management experience in Catalyst, we have together 20+ years of experience managing projects in different countries (Germany, US, Brazil), experience in the International Cooperation sector, and equity and inclusion programs for underrepresented minorities.

[CAPABILITY/ FEASIBILITY] What are the main goals for the project and how will you validate if your approach is feasible?

Primary: to create a database that presents information about the art produced by women from different continents and cultures, as well as to encourage women artists to enter the world of NFTs; We also want to encourage the art market (such as galleries, museums, theorists, curators and critics) to recognize the relevance of women's production in NFTs and in art history as a whole.

Secondary: to publish our database in an interactive and decentralized platform, where other artists and researchers can contribute to it. We want to keep it active and resourceful for inspiring people to contribute to gender equity in the arts and share their research and knowledge on the topic.

To achieve our objectives, we will investigate the following questions:

How can the dissemination of artistic productions by women encourage the system to seek more gender equity?
How can we establish a decentralized platform where other artists can contribute to it, receiving rewards for collaborating?
In what way can women's production in NFTs help in the search for gender equity in both the arts and computing?
How can researchers and scholars on the subject contribute with content to build an open platform about women artists?

[CAPABILITY/ FEASIBILITY] Please provide a detailed breakdown of your project’s milestones and each of the main tasks or activities to reach the milestone plus the expected timeline for the delivery.

Milestone 1 - initial representative database of women artists from different locations, and a dedicated dataset of women in NFT

Months 1, 2 and 3

Initial research to constitute the database containing information about women's participation in art history, with a focus on contemporary NFT Art.
Collection of feedback from external reviewers.
Iconographic research to feed the platform with the artwork of the artists researched.

Cost estimation: 40% of the total budget

Milestone 2 - Launching of communication and social media campaign

Month 3

Launching of the social media campaign and establishment of channels
Feedback incorporation

Cost estimation: 10% of the total budget

Milestone 3 - Web platform architecture

Month 4

Maintenance of social media channels and communication campaign
Elaboration of the web platform structure and concept

Cost estimation: 20% of the total budget

Milestone 4 - Establishment and releasing of web platform

Month 5

Elaboration of the minimum viable web platform (work to be done by external developers).
Adjustments in the data bank and the platform.
Expansion of data bank based on additional cycles of research.

Cost estimation: 15% of the total budget

Milestone 5 - Conclusion

Month 6

Preparation of final report.
Maintenance of social media channels and communication campaign
Elaboration of the proposal in Fund11 to expand the platform functionalities, and to allow the decentralized mode of governance
Releasing of the platform to a larger audience

Cost estimation: 15% of the total budget

[CAPABILITY/ FEASIBILITY] Please describe the deliverables, outputs and intended outcomes of each milestone.

Milestone 1

By finalizing the initial dataset, we will have a first version of the database and this will already allow external collaborators to evaluate the results and quality of the dataset. In addition, it will be possible to define the basic structure of the platform, as well as the parameters that still need to be adjusted in the database architecture and the possibilities of expanding the research, during the project and in the future.

Milestone 2

The communication campaign will allow the project to start gaining visibility. As is well known, networks such as Instagram and Twitter are widely used by artists to publicize their work, create networking and exchange information, knowledge and feedback. At this moment, the dissemination will serve not only as a platform dissemination, but also as an incentive to women artists and as a reception of feedbacks so that they can be considered and incorporated, improving the project so that it reaches more and more people.

Milestones 3 and 4

The web platform is fundamental to the project as it allows lay users to access the database. It also allows the database to take on a specific form and facilitates collaboration with other artists, for the time when we evolve into a fully decentralized database based along the lines of the Catalyst project.

Milestone 5

Successful completion of the project, for us, means being able to continue after this foundation stage. We want the project to evolve and will therefore work towards its expansion and further funding either via the Catalyst project or other sources.

[RESOURCES & VALUE FOR MONEY] Please provide a detailed budget breakdown of the proposed work and resources.

Project costs

Human resources:

Coordination hours: 20h/week for 6 months = 480h x 20USD/h = 9600 USD

Web designer and developer to create the web platform: 2585 USD

Iconographic research (performed by external specialist): 10h/week for 2 months = 80h x 15USD/h = 1200 USD

Social media assistant: 8h/week for 5 months = 160h x 15USD/h = 2400 USD

Rewards for collaboration: 3000 USD

Operational costs:

Web hosting and domain: 950 USD

Social media advertising: 400 USD

Reserve for extra/unexpected costs: 400 USD

[RESOURCES & VALUE FOR MONEY] Who is in the project team and what are their roles?

Beatriz Calil

Roles: Project main proposer and coordinator.

Responsible for the main research, data checking and content authoring. Responsible for sourcing the professionals who will be hired for freelance work, such as social media, iconography and developer.

Gustavo Pugliese

Roles: Project Assistant

Responsible for data governance, structure, and architecture.

Responsible for reporting and milestone 5.

As it is described in the sections above, a number of freelancers and women research collaborators will be included in the project, and they will receive rewards accordingly. Their main role is to increment research, validate findings, and improve the representativity of the datasets.

[RESOURCES & VALUE FOR MONEY] How does the cost of the project represent value for money for the Cardano ecosystem?

All the costs of the project development are based on the market value of freelancers from Latin American countries (Brazil, in particular), where it will be developed and executed. In addition, operational costs were considered for the budgeting, such as paying for the domain to host the platform.

With this low seed investment, we will be able to start a very relevant project both for the Catalyst ecosystem and for society.

Moreover, the costs of the project represent benefits for the Cardano ecosystem, because the central objective is to disseminate NFT productions, encouraging more artists to enter this area and expand their activities as art professionals, recognizing it as a possibility not only financial but also of recognition and visibility. Secondly, the Cardano ecosystem will benefit, as one of the stages of the project is to open the platform for collaborations by diverse women artists, who are interested in participating by sending content to expand the database. In return, they will receive ADA payments and become part of the Catalyst community.

bookmarked!