East Asia Artistic Grant Proposal

[IMPACT] Please describe your proposed solution.

Blockchain technologies open up a world of possibilities for human potential. At the moment, those who benefit the most financially from the industry are investors, traders, and software developers. Even though there are some opportunities for artists given the rise of the NFT markets, there is a strong barrier from a technical side. Additionally, the creation of fine art takes time, and the process can be spoiled by the need for a quick buck to make ends meet. 

Tangent is very passionate about art, and appreciates the role art has in promoting a rich East Asian culture in the Cardano ecosystem. We propose a grant system for East Asian artists so that they have the capital required to dedicate themselves to generating art that the rest of us can enjoy. We think this is particularly important for East Asian artists with niche styles as it allows them to gain natural exposure to Cardano while simultaneously sharing this niche art with the rest of the world. Often niche artists have the hardest time making money, because they do not fit standard styles. At the same time, it is this form of art that displays the truest, most raw, form of their creativity, making it the most valuable and rich with beauty. East Asian artists deserve support and a platform, and the Cardano blockchain is an incredible technology that can enable just that. 

Creating a grant system is a relatively easy task that can be created with little start-up costs, if the grant system were to be solely handled by the Tangent team. However, our goal is to create a system that is decentralized and handled by the community. It is our vision that this system will coincide with the creation of our Tangent DAO. Therefore, we are seeking Catalyst funding to help propel the infrastructure forward in creating a decentralized artist grant funding DAO that can be sustainable and eventually owned by the community

[IMPACT] Please describe how your proposed solution will address the Challenge that you have submitted it in.

Raising the awareness levels of artists in East Asia about Cardano network and how they can mint clean (sustainable, low energy intensive POS) NFTs should be a priority for the Catalyst community. Tangent’s East Asian artistic grant proposal aims to address the challenge by creating an engaging dapp that will attract talented aspiring East Asian artists to Cardano and then sponsor them with attractive support packages such as material support, tooling, education, financial support and community recognition. 

Many can empathize with the financial struggles of an artist, and even more can appreciate the value that East Asian artists could gain by being sponsored and learning how to mint eco-friendly NFTs on Cardano. We would create a specialized dapp that provides the Cardano community the ability to vote for who receives grant funding, and the candidates would be selected East Asia exclusively. The chosen East Asian artists would receive materials, finance, or simply technical training so that they could create digital art on the Cardano blockchain.

[IMPACT] What are the main risks that could prevent you from delivering the project successfully and please explain how you will mitigate each risk?

Providing funding to support someone in their career or venture can be risky. Similar to Catalyst, giving out funding does not guarantee success or that the money will be used wisely. Even though grants will be sent to artists, there is no guarantee that the artists will use the funds to successfully kick-start their artistic career, nor provide the Cardano ecosystem with amazing art. However, with high risk comes high reward, and this is a challenge we are willing to accept. Also we think that sponsorship does not have to necessarily mean financial support only. The support could come in many forms such as materials (laptop to create digital art or brushes and paint to create non digital art that is later digitized), training or simply community spirit and recognition. Another challenge is that we do not have any East Asian team members (yet) so we would be hiring a project manager to work on this project with us from the East Asian Cardano community. However the East Asian Cardano community is very diverse and growing everyday so we do not foresee this being an obstacle for long.   

The solution to this challenge is diligence and care in choosing who the grants will be given to. In the beginning, it will be the responsibility of the Tangent team and the community manager to make these decisions. Eventually, it will be up to the Cardano community to propose and choose Artists.

[FEASIBILITY] Please provide a detailed plan, including timeline and key milestones for delivering your proposal.

022 Q2:

• Apply for Catalyst funding (done)

2022 Q3:

• Back end development of East Asian artistic grant app
• Front end development of East Asian artistic grant app
• Deploy application testnet and invite testers
• Recruitment campaign launch across social media targeting the East Asian community push 1

2022 Q4:

• Full launch of East Asian Artistic Grant application process  
• First round of voting for artist grant candidates commences
• First round of voting for artist grant candidates concludes 

(winners selected by Tangent core team initially)

• Whitepaper V2 launch
• Release of initial Artistic Grant DAO governance structure details
• Recruitment campaign launch across social media targeting the East Asian community push 2

2023 Q1: 

• Artist DAO voting (testnet)
• Artist DAO awareness Marketing campaign launch across social media push 1

2023 Q2

• Artist DAO voting round 1 

2023 Q3

• Fully permissionless Artistic Grant programme implementation 
• Hand over of DAO to community

[FEASIBILITY] Please provide a detailed budget breakdown.

East Asian Artistic Grant Dashboard Development x 3 months (Internal & External) = $15,000

Front End Development x 3 months (Internal & External) = $8,000

Marketing = $5,000

Artistic Platform Interface / Graphics x 2 months (Internal & External) = $5000

[FEASIBILITY] Please provide details of the people who will work on the project.

Clint Alexander // Co-founder, Head of Development 

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/clint-alexander-049742233/
• calexander@tangent.art
• Responsibilities within Tangent: overview / decision making / development / basic coding

Bio:

• Serial entrepreneur & cryptocurrency enthusiast since 2013
• Miner
• Investor
• Digital asset fund manager
• Solidity back end smart contract development
• CEO & manufacturer of Bitcoin SHA256 ASIC miners and other electronic hardware
• Worked alongside Bitcoin mining hardware companies such as Bitmain, Rockminer and Gekkoscience

----

Ben Gordon // Co-founder, Visionaire & Marketing Technologist 

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-gordon-352b37232/
• bgordon@tangent.art
• Responsibilities within Tangent: overview / decision making / marketing / development

Bio:

• Cryptocurrency enthusiast since 2017
• Previous freelance marketing executive for a number of leading international educational establishments in Asia
• Transitioned to blockchain project development in 2017
• A knowledge of all stages from brand creation, overall strategy, research, analysis, law and and token creation.
• Freelanced on a number of blockchain projects including Northern Lights before creating Tangent in 2021

----

Benjamin Grabow // Senior Software Engineer 

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjamin-grabow/
• bgrabow@tangent.art
• Responsibilities within Tangent: staking contract / front-end development / coding

Bio:

• Previous Senior Software Engineer at Dcentralab, NFTChain, Relive
• Previous Team Lead at the Bloomtech institute
• Javascript, React, React Native, Next.js Node, Three.js Express, AWS, Netlify, Heroku, Docker, Kubernetes, Truffle, Hardhat, Remix, Web3, Ether.js, Solidity, Notion, Trello, Jira, Figma.
• Responsible for Full-Stack related tasks
• NFT focused: https://www.citrus.app/ NFT gallery for creators and collectors - Twitter: https://twitter.com/citrusdisplay (Responsibility: Fullstack Blockchain Developmen
• NFT gallery platform with a specific focus on Backend where we index all users NFTs, track all changes etc. )
• NFT focused: https://www.nftchain.tech/: Developed a full-stack production-ready fully decentralized NFT marketplace with NFT minter that stores files on the IPFS protocol on ETH & MATIC Testnet, MATIC Mainnet (Smart contract -, Backend -, Frontend - Development)
• DeFi focused: https://play.hord.app/: Developed a full-stack production-ready ETF platform on ETH & BSC Testnet & Mainnet (Smart contract -, Backend -, Frontend - Development)
• DeFi focused: https://play-dex.hord.app/: Developed a full-stack production-ready DEX on ETH & BSC Testnet & Mainnet (Smart contract -, Backend -, Frontend - Development)
• https://www.chainport.io/: Worked with Chainport developers utilizing their chain indexer for the DEX from Hord.app
• NFT focused: https://fourteenthcenturyseries.com/ Fourteenth Century Series NFT collection / mint site - from famous artist Reuben Wu https://twitter.com/Reuben_Wu (Backend -, Frontend - Development)

----

Sydney Bright // Plutus Pioneer / Cardano Coder

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/sydneysbright/
• sbright@tangent.art
• Responsibilities within Tangent: staking contract / front-end development / coding

Bio:

• Plutus Pioneer Program - IOG
• Cardano Developer Associate - Emurgo
• Complete Python Developer in 2022 - Zero To Mastery
• Cardano Developer Professional Program - Emurgo (enrolled)

----

Shahabaj Dange // Front-End Developer

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/dshahabaj/?originalSubdomain=in
• sdange@tangent.art
• Responsibilities within Tangent: front-end development / website upgrades / website connectivity / website design

Bio:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science and Engineering
• Diploma in Information Technology from MSBTE
• Full-Stack Development, Front-end Development and Responsive Web Design
• 6 years of high level experience working with a variety of blockchain companies

----

Roman Gor // UI / UX 

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/roman-garp/?originalSubdomain=uk
• rgor@tangent.art
• Responsibilities within Tangent: UI/UX / front-end development / applications

Bio:

• UX/UI designer for Web and Mobile applications
• Enterprise software and SaaS web applications
• A focus on complex technical solutions related to the unique and innovative technologies.
• Competent in Web App Design, Sketch App (design), Axure (prototyping/wireframe), Principle, Flinto, Motion 5 (animation), Xmind (mind map/structure), Zeplin, Avocode (transfer source programmers), Invision, Trello, Active Collab, Jira & Redmine

----

Alexis Golding // Legal Compliance Advisor

• agolding@tangent.art
• Responsibilities within Tangent: compliance / regulatory / contracts / general legal matters

Bio:

• Specialist financial services lawyer
• Admitted to the Law Society of England and Wales in September 2009
• Held various Head of Legal and Compliance roles in different global regions
• Acted as a regulator-approved Authorized Individual (Senior Manager Co & MLRO) for the past 8 years
• MA Hons from Oxford University
• Law degree from BPP London
• Advanced ICA qualifications (distinction) in both Compliance and AML
• Women's leadership advocate

----

Henry (Kwrtz Artist) // Digital Artist 

Bio:

• Japanese Bohemian Artist
• Based in the Japanese Alps
• https://kwrtz.com
• https://twitter.com/_kwrtz_
• Specialising in digital art through NFTs including in 3D

+another 2 programmers for staking platform development

Further team information can be found here: https://tangent.art/team

[FEASIBILITY] If you are funded, will you return to Catalyst in a later round for further funding? Please explain why / why not.

Our team was fortunate enough to learn about the Catalyst programme a number of weeks ago and have been immersing ourselves within the community since. Town Hall has been a highly beneficial, weekly addition to our team in regards to knowledge building and networking, most notably within the breakout rooms post meet. Furthermore we plan to host a number of breakout rooms ourselves in the near future, if possible. We have set our budget so we are funded for the next 6 months of development as shown in the timeline (up to full completion of 2022). After that to create the community owned DAO we will reassess and evaluate the funding requirements again at that stage. Regardless, if we do not have any further funding, we believe the Artistic Grant Dashboard created will be usable for a long time to come and could be easily modified to utilize open source Cardano DAO developer tools currently under construction or be incorporated into our own TangentDAO that is also underdevelopment.

[FEASIBILITY] Are you or any member of your team working on any other proposals in this Fund9?

[FEASIBILITY] Are you or your team working on any other proposals from previous Funds?

[AUDITABILITY] Please describe what you will measure to track your project's progress, and how will you measure these?

There are a few important metrics regarding this project. The first important metric that will measure success is the number of East Asian artists who apply for the grant. Also whether we can create a buzz online within East Asian communities and get the Artist sponsorship programme trending on social media. The more artists apply to the grant, the more the community will invite talented artists to contribute to the Cardano ecosystem. Similarly, success will be measured by the success of the artists and their projects following grant funding. 

Lastly, and perhaps the most important metric, is the success and participation within the decentralized East Asian artistic grant platform. This project will not live up to expectations if there is not active participation on part of the community to vote for, and select, grants for funding. The more vibrant and active the community is once the decentralized platform has been launched, the better.

[AUDITABILITY] What does success for this project look like?

Success in this project involves engaging East Asian artists to apply for grants, grant funds being successfully used to help these talented artists flourish, and then creating a strong East Asian artist scene and community on the Cardano blockchain.

[AUDITABILITY] Please provide information on whether this proposal is a continuation of a previously funded project in Catalyst or an entirely new one.

This is the first Catalyst fund Tangent is participating in. 

Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Rating

SDG goals:

Goal 8. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all

Goal 9. Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation

Goal 10. Reduce inequality within and among countries

Goal 16. Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels

SDG subgoals:

8.6 By 2020, substantially reduce the proportion of youth not in employment, education or training

8.9 By 2030, devise and implement policies to promote sustainable tourism that creates jobs and promotes local culture and products

Key Performance Indicator (KPI):

12.5.1 National recycling rate, tons of material recycled

#proposertoolsdg