The Future of Creatives DAO Community Conversation

Hello Creatives Community!

With the rapid growth of new DAOs entering the Creatives DAO and the uncertainty around NEAR Foundation’s next decisions regarding the Guilds program funding systems, we have decided to begin having discussions around the future of Creatives DAO. We believe it would be beneficial for us to come together as a community to work towards achieving:

  • Financial Self Sustainability
  • Concrete Grant Contracts with NEAR Foundation
  • 6 month - 1 year Roadmaps

Creatives DAO provides immense value to the NEAR ecosystem and it is time for us to clearly define what we want to do with this collective of brilliant, creative members and projects. We are the largest and most active group on the forum with almost 60 DAOs operating and distributing almost $200,000 from NF in April alone!

We believe that Creatives DAO has the potential to become a strong, decentralized, creative organization that can operate self sustainably, produce high level art, engage with worlds outside of NEAR, empower new entering communities, comfortably fund inside members and selected outside community projects, all while embodying a use case of radical, decentralized, global coordination.

Yesterday we had a very successful first community call on our Telegram discussing the future of the Creatives DAO where many amazing ideas were brought up. You can listen to the Recording Here to get an in depth understanding of everything that was discussed. Here are some of the topics brought up:

VALUES
What values are the Creatives DAO founded on?

VISION
What vision do we collectively see for our future?

How do we want to Creative DAO develop?

GOVERNANCE
How will we approach our internal governance?

What structures will we build to maintain operational decentralization?

What guidelines will we agree upon when for funding and accepting new DAOs?

LEGALITIES
How will we legally protect ourselves moving forward as a global community?

Would we like to make Creatives DAO a legal entity?

Would we like the DAOs within Creatives DAO to become legal entities?

SELF SUSTAINABILITY
In what ways can we build self sustainable systems that provide stability for our entire community?

How can we continue our funding in the event that NF decided to no longer provide these funds to us?

How can we produce income for the whole?

CHALLENEGES
Lack of NFT collectors in the NEAR ecosystem

Need for more marketing support

Need for specialized teams to help uplift the creative offerings our projects provide

Need for specialized financial teams to manage our funds to ensure growth and stability

Thank you all who have participated thus far. We are looking forward to hearing from the rest of the community and finding harmonious solutions for the next steps in our journey. Creatives DAO is an incredible community with SO much potential to achieve amazing things, let’s see what we can do together!

Please leave your input in the comments so we can continue this important discussion!

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I have discussed with NxM about offering marketing and campaign strategies to amplify artist projects that have been approved on our end.

From what I’ve observed, NEAR projects have great support within the ecosystem, but the reach doesn’t extend yet to other communities outside the ecosystem. I would love to discuss ways to improve visibility and participation for individual projects, creatives DAO and NEAR as a whole.

There are a couple higher profile partners we are finalizing our relationship with, I believe we could be successful in anchoring marketing efforts for the creatives dao.

Using traditional and modern PR along with some strategic marketing campaigns.

The majority of the populace is still on the outside looking in at crypto. Especially, right now, the fear is High, which makes people apprehensive to get too involved.

Projects being built and clients being served will always exist, but currently, the audience clients and projects serve, to make their lives easier, is severely underserved and underdeveloped. People are less likely to feel included, if they don’t know how. And there isn’t enough resources to actively teach people, how and why.

Whether it’s money or time, people are risk averse. My goal is to focus so strongly on utility and practical application of some of these tools being offered, that we become stronger presence in communities that exist, instead of trying to create communities.

I would love to elaborate on some ideas I have to push the ecosystem forward, and provide value to our communities to help make them more self-sustaining.

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I Love one big point here,

I Think now its good as people introduce new DAOs daily, but tbh at the same time many of these new introduced ideas are already what is in existing DAOs we have already,

More DAOs will keep keep coming :slightly_smiling_face: but i will like us to check in those introduced ideas and tell them to join an existing DAOs with dose ideas, this will help us having more decentralised ecosystem and unity in achieving one goal.

Existing DAOs would grow more when we direct newly introduced DAOs to existing DAOs with same ideas to operate together.

The we can focus on promoting the large community as a whole new DAOs join them

It will be more easier this way, and prolly help in future sustainability, so far we are all trying to achieve one goal with same ideas from different personalties!

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Thanks for the comment and elaboration. And to continue,
just something that we’ve noticed from a social perspective, there is a bit of an “if we build it they will come” mentality in the overall web space.
Many detractors and opponents of this space view tools like NFTs as creating solutions for problems that dont exist.

That is why I am so big on education where people already are. Learning takes effort, and our opportunity and goal is for people to exercise as little effort as needed, to get involved, to find value and understand the ideas, concepts and tools we offer.

That is also why we are really looking to integrate and merge with communities that already exist and maybe dont even operate in web3 (yet) with the goal to provide value and improve their current experiences, meeting them where they are, rather than trying to get new communities to do something different altogether.

There will be an inherent learning curve for any new tools and ideas that are introduced to any group, but the more closely we can build onto and with their current needs, I think the better chance we have to grow with those same communities.

In addition, we can build a lot of synergy through more localized initiatives. Which is another idea I would love to elaborate on further.

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thank you for starting this conversation !
i see DAOs here could be organized into sub-categories(groups), according to kind of art. mostly we see same topic can be repeated in different geographical areas, so such initiatives could be connected
this sub-categoried can be set up on astro as daos , so every initiative can create proposal with link on forum description. and all members of creatives can vote on proposals.
here some condition for project has to be, like to have a plan/roadmap for 2-3 months at least, to include some details about budget planning,
for each sub-category some funding limitation is defined
before every new month the number of project with maximum votes from the highest are choosen to be funded. and this list collects that number of projects, how many can cover funding limitation
this will work only if is possible to count any NF future plans :))

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I also want to clarify, I speak mostly on the less (zero) experienced to beginner crypto-native audiences, and my goals are to build the most practical and utilitarian platforms and use cases for these commnunities, organizations, and individuals to be educated and empowered with the tools moving into web3 provides. My belief is we (the space as a whole) need to focus on what web 2.5 looks like for many in order to prepare them fully for the next steps and phases in a still nascent, but rapidly growing landscape.

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I think it is very important that the community can discuss these topics, as it is a fact that the number of DAOs is growing and many interesting things are being produced. I believe that one of the main difficulties is precisely to offer support or some feedback for beginners (I understand this because of what happens to me, because although we spend a lot of time developing projects and engaging people, we often don’t even receive a positive or negative answer - about the technical feasibility of proposals - by the Creatives DAO). This is somewhat discouraging for beginners, but I understand that there may be too many proposals for few people to evaluate.

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Hello,

Answer to “Self Sustainability” and “Challenges” lies in

  1. Generating cash flow for the DAOs
  2. Investing the return so it’s safe and hedged against inflation.

Cash Flow generation

  1. Research team for finding out cash flow generating opportunities online
  • We need a team of 2-3 members that can find out multiple areas of opportunity for the art we have on NEAR to be either sold directly, or get projects for artists from wherever there is a requirement or an opportunity to generate income from
  • Creating products and artwork that are already in demand. Guided meditations, Tarot Cards, companies looking for various artists for their design or art requirements etc, design and art projects for NGOs etc
  • Venturing into web 2.0 sites like, redbubble.com , Printify.com. They print your design and send it to the customer giving you your commission in the least hassle way possible
  1. Leveraging Upwork and other freelance platforms for NEAR creative guilds
  • We have a translators guild, writers guild, huge amount of video and audio professionals. We should have guilds made for other creative collectives as well.
  • We can have a team set for setting up accounts on multiple marketplaces and pitch to poetential clients in order to get more work.
  • With the size of our teams we can almost get every project if pitched correctly and can generate consistent income if managed well.
  • We can also build a website to showcase the pool of talent we have for buyers and companies to choose from for their projects. This can be shared with marketing agencies locally and globally as they can get the talent from everywhere in the world now.
  1. Create Affiliate marketing site for multiple niches ( This is a non-conventional one, but has a huge upside in my opinion)
  • Affiliate marketing sites are like passive income generating assets which can be sold for a huge multiple (if a site is generating 1k USD it can be sold for 30-35K USD on various marketplaces
  • SEO researchers, website developers and writers are the main pillars of an affiliate marketing site. If we start generating content for the web 2, it can still pay a decent amount of returns.
  • Best part is it becomes partially passive as you dont have to write a lot of articles once you have a good amount of articles generating revenue.
  • Please check flippa.com or empireflippers.com to understand what is the market like and the size of sale that we can reach through these websites
  • Evey DAO can run their own affiliate site which can help them in generating some kind of passive income and it can be sold quite easily as an asset as well.

Investing using crypto native functionalities (Not my expertise, Just something I do for myself)

  • Staking (Near staking on ref.finance can generate upto 70% annually)
  • Buying a Node (Octopus network has come with an opportunity to buy it’s node for ( 7.5K USD which will generate some amount of passive income for the DAO )

These are the areas I feel we all should be looking at to get active, passive and consistent returns. These are just a few areas that can generate income and provide stability. Please feel free to share your opinions and if you have any ideas that popped up while reading this :slight_smile:

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Here is the information about fundraising through staking on Metapool that I mentioned on the second call https://medium.com/meta-pool/pembrock-finance-launches-fundraising-campaign-leveraging-meta-yield-kickstarter-platform-8d6a667de0c8

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Here is our second Community Call Recording for all who would like to listen. Thanks to all who contributed!

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@adrianseneca Hello, how are you?
Adrian I am very happy to read about the new guidelines, it is a very nice organizing process that is going on.
I, along with other members of the Octopode DAO are happy to contribute and share ideas, knowledge.
We have a very well organized team (or we always try to be).

I have a few questions:

  • Will funding occur but with more evaluation as to how DAO’s function?

  • We have a marketing team and creatives looking for work, competent and well structured people, how can we get in touch and connect with the network near, or Creatives DAO?

  • Can we get together regarding the strategy to reach investors in the NEAR network?

  • We have a roadmapping in the DAO OCTOPOD until 2023, and the near grant is one of our goals in realizing the impact of the DAO values (8 values, 8 tentacles, 8 principles), what is the possibility to continue funding the proposals with the way we are organized?

  • Do you have any feedback, or suggestions for our structure?

Thank you very much, we are at your disposal.
Natasha Cremonese

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Hello!
I’ll start by saying that I believe the creatives DAO is an excellent asset to the space - something that I have personally used to encourage people who are completely new to the space, to ease into crypto. I have suggested it as an alternative to the crypto norm. i.e., 'you do not have to know how to code or how to read the market charts and data, etc. I believe that creatives DAO is something that sets NEAR apart. It makes newcomers to the crypto space have a more inclusive experience. That being said I think it is important to have this discussion because it is an area that I feel can be abused a bit, if not carefully monitored. I feel it is important for each project/proposal in Creatives DAO to show their value to the space - not necessarily monetary value, but onboarding new users, educating someone on blockchain(or sharding) technology, etc. I think that this could be achieved by some creative DAOS/Marketing DAO’s working together to help optimize their performance.
I think this discussion could go further in regards to:

  • what is required to receive funding for a new project
  • How to monitor the performance of existing projects
  • (I think that @adrianseneca hit the nail on the head with her questions) how to reach investors within NEAR
  • (Again agreeing with @adrianseneca) How to make each DAO more accessible to each other , possible some kind of channel or community that is for ‘interoperable DAOS’
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@adrianseneca
Hi Adrian! we have been discussing some of these issues at FEMINU DAO in order to define sustainability guidelines so that we can begin to adapt to Near’s expectations and needs as well as our own.
Our DAO was born out of an art project, an exhibition, that changed the lives of many artists. There is an issue there that is very important. I have seen at least 50 artists come into this universe experiencing the dream that web3 could provide opportunities that the physical world and web2 were not providing and yet now I am very surprised that one of the solutions was perhaps to return to web2 and the physical world for resources. I don’t know if that wouldn’t be a step backwards.
In my opinion, maybe we should find a way to bring outside investors into this universe and not the other way around. For me the future is here, the resources have to be generated here and we should think of ways to add value to the works but with the perspective that our focus should be web3, because if we need web2 and the physical world for the sustainability of the projects, then why web3? Could this path put decentralization at risk? I don’t know.
If at the first difficulty we run back to the “old universe”, it will take much longer to be able to sustain ourselves here.
I honestly don’t know if I have a solution, but I think we should think about this as well.
Seeing the group united and not measuring efforts to find a way, I know we will succeed. We in the FEMINU DAO are also committed. You can count on us.
Thank you,
Ghini

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Hey Ghini,
Totally relate to your concern about trying to find solutions in web3 instead of going back to web 2 services.

While I believe that we should strive for better tomorrow and look for solutions in web3, these web 2 solutions are purely to secure our positions and start an additional stream of income which can support us incase of an emergency.

It just helps to leverage existing technology as a support system while we try to explore and create pathways of the future! These support systems can provide some form of stability and ensure sustainability and longevity in case there is a funding issue or something unforeseen.

When we are sure that there is just not one but 2-3 streams of revenue for a DAO then we can focus more on creativity and newer ways of web 3.0.

Web 3.0 is still being tested and a lot of mechanisms might succeed or fail. These web 2.0 mechanisms are time tested and stable. Hence we should look at them as a layer of self sustainability.

Just my viewpoint, hope it helps. :pray:

I’m always open for a more detailed discussion on a call or on telegram if you want me to show you how these things work.

Lemme know!

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Hi @Cryptonaut

I agree with you Sahil. Rereading everything I think my idea is a bit radical. We must solve this issue and use tools that we already have really seems to be the most sensible thing to do. Let’s exchange ideas. This is very important. Thanks for the comment. I think we need to establish short, medium, and long-term actions, using the most effective tools for each moment.
Let’s try a meeting next week, I want to hear your ideas. Have a great Saturday!
Ghini

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More details about fundraising through staking on MetaYield on their site now. I’m really excited about this. https://metayield.app/

Also I want to add to the going back to web2 vs staying in web3 discussion that web3 skills and NFT skills are VERY in demand. I just updated my Upwork profile to include crypto, web3 and NFT because a lot of people are looking for help in those areas. I like to think of it more of an onboarding process and educational process to help them get into web3. We all have to start somewhere and Creatives DAO is very talented. There’s a lot we could do in education, consulting, gigs, etc to bridge web2 to web3 and fundraise for the DAO.

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Hello Hello ! You are all right, agree 100% with you.

For this one here, we kick started a initiative to teach Nearcomers about the Cretives side of the Web3. Here you can join: Telegram: Contact @NearCertifiedCreative

Please feel free to reach me to talk more about marketing/promotion for the Creatives: Telegram: Contact @NearFritz

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This is very important I must say, the essence of onboarding people is to help them grow and thereby build a community of creatives, we have so far been successful with that, there’s a dire need of creating very simple but thorough educational materials for communities and members, creatives who are moderators needs to be well equipped with information going on in the near ecosystem, sustainability comes from information gathered and processed towards achieving that, lots of people already have started understanding the idea and concept of web3 but there’s still the question “What next to do”. People are driven by facts, information and proof, if communities are being mandated to build a well structured Roadmap that’ll eventually yield self sustainability then that’s acceptable but if it’s built on just creating and onboarding then the idea should be considered to join an already existing community with same idea, this is because the whole concept of the web3 is to spread its tentacles across the whole globe so if I’m in Africa and want to build a music community then The structure and roadmap should be carefully looked at, if it checks out on all rules laid out then it’s good to go but if not then I should be adviced to join the @NxM and share my idea with them.
This is because communities starts with people who want to share the same idea and build with people who also are in need around us, retainment is also considerable I must say.

In Capital guild, we have also always considered a seminar for members to physically meet, we’d discuss the future of the community referring to the available resources on the near ecosystem
Digitalizing the community more
NFTs, marketplaces, Near etc
We’ll also be teaching creatives physically how to operate around the web3 space
A whole lot of other ideas to help us grow, people pay attention more when you’re looking at them while talking, this is to help boost the morals of members and also to sharpen the community but if we’re too far apart then there’s the barrier of interests.

We have also had in mind for self sustainability to have a creative space with all the necessary materials and equipments for creatives were they can create their art freely, put it on the market store and sell, this will in turn create revenue for sustainability and growth

I just feel the Creatives Dao should check all existing communities to know their plans for sustainability and also to create rules for new communities for the purpose of sustainability

My input though.

Thank you.

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In view of this, it shows our problem has been identified which is the first step towards problem solving. I suggest that from our community we should form a group of influencers to boost our visibility. Many of our community members have different social media handles which have meaningful number of views and engagements. Having them showcase what we have, I think it will go a long way for us. This is my opinion, thanks @FritzWorm your governance will really create an endless ripple, good luck y’all.

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Hi!

I’m new here, but not so much on the internet where I’ve spent my last 20 years using it to promote my music independently.

I still started at Web1, in 1999, using Napster and I have some experience in this subject and I wanted to use this experience to motivate and add new artists to our web3 ecosystem.

I have been acting as an influencer in the music field with 15K+ followers on INSTAGRAM and 11K YOUTUBE as well as an artist in the RAP segment and I know many independent artists who seek an appreciation of their work that web2 did not make possible and real.

My experience as an influencer and independent musician has given me respect among the members of the independent music community in Brazil and I can work in this area to add more valuable people here.

As I said, I’m new here but I really believe in the potential of web3 and the collaboration between us.

you can find me at:

I hope to be able to contribute to this initiative that I believe so much.

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