2021… A Rare Recap
Usually when approaching a year-in-review type post I would chronologically recap all the key moments in a timeline, but since 2020 blended right into 2021 I’ll begin with a bit of context.
A Winter Wonderland
Returning to the motherland I faced my first full-length Canadian winter since 2006 without regrets, and as the sunlight faded away earlier and earlier each day I was propelled into 2021 with countless lessons under my belt. Reunited with my mother, we embarked on an epic journey to document the burgeoning Crypto Art & NFT scene that had so vividly captured our imaginations and consumed our time through the lens of a documentary film aptly titled I Want My NFT. I wouldn’t say the project fizzled out, but the many obstacles along the way have slowed down progress immensely, and until today it’s still a work in progress.
Being back in Canada allowed me the opportunity to reflect on life from a remote wilderness perspective, free from mask mandates and lockdowns the pressures of city life brushed off my shoulders as the time went by. And oh did the time fly by! Anyone in this Web3 space knows that we’re moving in overdrive, with months feeling like years as the amount of activity surged with the force of a tsunami upon me as I transitioned into 2021 and the days grew longer.
The NEARverse
When the good folks at Mintbase decided to build on NEAR it gave me an opportunity to explore a new chain and the option to mint Audio NFTs with all the added benefits the protocol offers. Little did I know, through this exploration I would be growing, and ultimately supporting, a global community of musicians. I was a bit shortsighted given everything that was going on in my life that I underestimated the potential and the speed at which the community blossomed so it didn’t take long before the NEARverse began to consume most of my time. It was also a natural progression from what I was already doing, allowing more experiments in the Metaverse with shows in Cryptovoxels, minting Audio NFTs on Mintabse and ultimately turning into one of the most active DAOs and communities in the NEAR ecosystem.
The NxM
There’s definitely a common theme in this post, which is at the core of almost everything I’ve been doing in the Web3 space. So my approach to developing and growing a band of musical misfits in the midst of a global pandemic became an experimental extension of DAOrecords, where a failed attempt at deploying a DAO inevitably turned into a pretty successful realization of that attempt almost a year later. Timing is everything.
The NEAR x Music Guild (NxM) is now almost 400 members strong and we’ve been able to fund the community projects to the tune of over $80,000 since we deployed our DAO in May of 2021. This growth has been purely organic, with limited promotion or incentives offered, which in my mind is the best way to grow a sustainable community of creatives. I’m not going to go into detail about the vast number of projects we’ve undertaken, but to put things into transparent perspective you can explore our posts on the NEAR Governance Forum for more insight if you wish.
As we move into 2022 I’m finally taking a step back from the various councils and DAOs I’ve been a part of founding to bring my focus back to my own personal creative endeavors — VanDAO & DAOrecords — and finally take all the lessons and learnings I’ve accumulated and apply them in a level-up fashion. As much as I feel like we’re still really early in this space, the truth is I just need to keep busy and continue to progress, to put all the pieces of the puzzle together and really get cracking on my babies!
Movements
At the end of July 2021 I left Canada with my mother and we headed to Europe. I left with the intention of not returning anytime soon, but still wasn’t sure exactly what would happen and where I would end up so I left my options open ultimately found myself in Lisbon, Portugal.
During my stay here in Lisbon I had the pleasure to connect with Arroz Estudio and participate in some amazing real world events, which for the last year plus I’d not been able to do. I learned about the network of associations in the city, connected with musicians and artists, DJ’d live gigs and generally got back to living life again. It has been such a blessing not only for my creative self, but also for my involvement in the Web3 space, with Mintbase based here to my involvement in NEARcon & The DAOist and connecting with so many likeminded individuals. But as with all good things, change is inevitable and remains on the near horizon. Such is the life of a nomadic addict!
Highlights
- I Want My NFT — Is a project I started with my mother and is a documentary focused on Crypto Art. It’s still a work in progress, with my mom plugging away on the editing. With over 40 interviews and probably 100 hours of interview footage it’s going to be pretty epic when it’s completed!
- Clean Water For Texas — I had the pleasure of connecting with Stacy Epps through Christopher Moye and embarked on one of my most memorable fundraising initiatives, raising funds through the sale of NFTs donated by some amazing artists to support the distribution of clean water to those in need.
- White Cube — In partnership with Frank Renaissance we helped launch an NFT collection for the release of White Cube by Daichi Yamamoto & Mic Jenkins. This project was also the beginning of what to come very soon!
- Crypto Art Week Asia — We launched GraffBase, a Graffiti DAO with STC in Cryptovoxels with this really dope build. It was our 2nd collabo with CAWA.
- GeckoCon — I was invited to put together the Audio component of the conference and also moderated a panel. It was great fun, with 12 different artists performing in our Cryptovoxels event space!
- Rare Vandal Vol 1 — I began my Rare Vandal experiments in the middle of the year with a series of Rare Beats that led to the release of an unreleased track via Mintbase. This project also launched this Medium page.
- NEARCon — After almost 8 months of communicating with various members of the NEAR community I finally had the chance to connect, build and share in person. This was definitely the highlight of my year.
Happy New Year everyone and many blessings for 2022! I truly have the feeling it’s going to be an exciting one (beware a Bear market) and I am personally looking forward to diving into VanDAO projects as well and building out DAOrecords! One Love!
