Niftorian was founded to help artists more successfully onboard into Web3 in general and the NFT world specifically. A program that emerged from this mission is the world’s first NFT Artist Accelerator. What is an Artist Accelerator? It is an 8-week program focused on education, mentoring, workshops, and camaraderie. Artists use the time along with new knowledge and connections to refine and extend their NFT projects. It concludes with a Demo Day where the artists outline for a private audience the key elements of their NFT project, when it will be available, and how interested collectors can get early access.
Demo Day
The first Accelerator cohort finished up their program on March 31st. A dozen artists presented their projects, many of which are very sophisticated and include innovative concepts and utility. All were of higher quality than you will typically see in NFT Land. The projects range from fine art and generative art to a charity-driven project designed to rebuild coral reefs, a social commentary on migration, utility-based profile picture (PFP) communities, a 3D animated film production initiative aimed at children, and more. It was a broader and more interesting collection of NFT projects than has appeared together previously anywhere.
Since the event is only available to view live, we decided to do a recap for people that may have missed it. CreatoriousRex (Bret Kinsella), theKibster (Roger Kibbe), and ScoJo (Josh Scott) offer their perspectives on what was presented as well as more about the artists and their journey over eight weeks arriving at their current concepts.
An Early Look
If you want to see NFT projects before they become, public this is the place to do it. The artists represent a global perspective living in countries ranging from Mauritius and South Africa to Mexico, Canada, and the U.S. These perspectives not only influenced the breadth of project ideas but the artists also influenced each other’s initiatives with the integration of many new ideas. Demo Day attendees were also treated to free NFTs and POAPs from several artists.
How the NFT Artist Accelerator Came About
When the Niftorian project was getting started, ScoJo noted that many artists didn’t really know how to get started in the space. In addition, those that had experimented weren’t getting much traction despite a “hot” NFT market filled with new art collectors. As we started answering a lot of questions for artists one by one it became clear there was a need for more structured and scalable solutions for artists entering NFT land and even for those hoping to launch a second more ambitious project.
In addition, it was clear that NFT projects were more like startup companies than art shows. The artists needed to know a number of disciplines beyond the creative pursuits to succeed. This struck the Niftorian team as similar to tech startups. Software engineers often know how to build a new product that has market potential but lack experience and connections to successfully manage marketing, finance, hiring, and a variety of other necessary functions. Tech startup accelerators help entrepreneurs fill these gaps. The NFT Artist Accelerator borrowed from this model recognizing that artists entering the NFT world faced similar challenges to software engineers in the tech sector.
Apply to the Next NFT Artist Accelerator
If you are an artist and would like to learn more about participating in an upcoming NFT Artist Accelerator, you can find more information and apply here. If you are not an artist but have a creative idea and are looking to recruit art talent, you can also apply to participate. The program generally sets aside one or two slots for non-artists with novel ideas that we think will add to the overall value of the cohort.
Time Stamps
- 0:00 Introduction
- 01:00 The Accelerator Overview
- 04:30 Colin Goldberg (Metagraph)
- 08:45 C Moses (Skellybots)
- 11:27 Tommy Mintz (Crane Street Studio)
- 15:03 Alex Leyva (El Dorado)
- 19:33 Linton Nkambule (Olly Toons)
- 23:17 Renata Janiszewska (Marlinspike)
- 26:58 Mac Premo (SEE HEAR)
- 32:10 Eloise Robbertze (Purly Shurly)
- 40:57 Scott Oppenheim (Rest(art)
- 44:16 Kevin Pederson (Smart Goose)
- 48:45 Gavin Farrell (Rez-volution)
- 55:03 Bret Kinsella and ScoJo (Niftorian)
- 1:01:00 Apply to NFT Artist Accelerator 2!
