[Report] August report of the ZBG

Hi @mecsbecs & @chloe

Please find below the august Report of the ZBG, relative to the approved budget proposal for the same month:

Intro:

It has been a slower start than anticipated so nearly all funds remain in the DAO treasury, with consequently only a relatively minimal requirement for further funding for September.

The main obstacle has been recruiting fellow council members. The primary candidate - who had previously agreed to set up the Guild and join the DAO Council - decided to demure at the eleventh hour, leaving a situation of only one council member for the majority of the month…which is obviously not ideal…nor conducive to good governance.

However I have now recruited a second member of the DAO Council, and will seek a third to complete the council.

The other important update is that there has been a slight change of emphasis within the Guild mission:

Mission Update:

More can be read in the Guild Mission & Strategy Document [see below], but the first physical meetup of Guild members and the “Guild curious” at the end of the month led to a reassessment of the issue that the ZBG was set up to address. It became obvious that it was actually experimental creativity that had been sidelined / displaced / excluded.

While there remains a need to onboard all creatives to crypto…and there is no need for anyone to decide what is art and what is not…the manifest disharmony in Cambridge is not with traditional ‘mainstream’ arts output which benefits from gallery space, corporate sponsorship and patronage. The issue is with the Street Artist and Graffiti Artist…the Contemporary Artist, the Outsiders…the Free Jazz musicians…the glitch photographers…the wonky electronic futurist musicians…the independent [future blockchain] game designers…etc

So going forward…the ZBG will position itself as an ‘incubator for experimentation’ within its broader mission.


Progress:

1] Guild Mission Statement & Strategic Plan

Completed and published to Medium and attached to the NEAR Governance forum post requesting payment.
Creation, & Publication of Guild Mission Statement & Strategy #

2] Guild Identity

A logo has been designed and adopted by the Guild. It features a reinterpretation of ‘Cambridge Blue’ along with a remix of the ‘Zen Lotus Spanner’ and a typewriter font which is both a trademark style of the designer and also a commentary on technology and obsolescence. See forum post.

At this stage only half of the budgeted funds will be allocated as the full set of identifiers have not been produced, and the vector version has yet to be provided.

Creation of Guild Logo & identifiers #

3] Social Media

Twitter has been set-up and some embryonic posts have been made. No payment request has therefore been made for ‘management’ in August.

Set up of ZBG Twitter account #

No progress on establishing instagram as yet, although a candidate has been identified to manage it once it has been set up.

4] Event & physical meeting costs

A physical meeting was held in late August between a small group of crypto/NEAR familiar artists in the city centre. This was a research and networking meet up, that led to the change in emphasis of the Guild listed above.

A budget of 20N would cover all the costs of all participants for the afternoon. Participants will make separate payout proposals. (This will be the model going forward to assist in onboarding.)

5] Mintbase Smart Contract / Store

Not completed. This will happen in September.

6] Onboarding

No budget spent as yet. Funds will be held for this purpose.

7] Community Facilitation by Council

Given the amount of progress, a proportional 1/3 payment request of 50 N will be made.


The September budget has been produced. Given that the DAO treasury remains well funded for most ongoing activities, there is only a minimal funding request.

Details to follow on a separate post.

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Thank you for this great report for August @zeitwarp and there’s no harm with slow yet steady!

I especially like the refinement of the Guild mission that occurred during your first meetup. An excellent way to engage your local community to help centre your Guild and its way forward.

Glad to hear you found another council member. Please be sure to add them to our Creative Guild Leaders chat - if they’re so willing - and be sure to drop the link to the ZBG Mintbase store in the chat there as well when it’s set up.
All the best for September!

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