Avalanche launches initiative for digital artists, NFT creator protests Sotheby’s gender bias, and more

In a March 30 blog post, The Avalanche Foundation announced the launch of Avaissance, an initiative designed to support digital artists and boost the growth of the Avalanche nonfungible token (NFT) ecosystem.

Avaissance has two main components, an Artist in Resident program (AIR) for over 50 artists and the Mona Lisa Initiative (MLI) to curate digital art and expand the collections of art-focused decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs).

Avaissance begins!

The Avalanche Foundation is launching the Avaissance initiative to grow the #AVAX NFT ecosystem and support its budding artists. The program aims to usher in a rebirth of creative activity on Avalanche.

So, what’s the plan?⬇️ pic.twitter.com/mNhDoQqDhD

— Art on Avalanche (@ArtOnAvax) March 29, 2023

AIR will provide artists “of any skill level” with funding, mentorship and virtual workshops for six months, while MLI will collaborate with DAOs’ curatorial teams to promote emerging Avalanche NFT artists and establish an “Avalanche Permanent Collection.”

Ticketmaster introduces new feature for artists to reward fans using NFTs

On March 27, United States-based ticketing company Ticketmaster announced a new feature token gated ticket sales, which allow artists to reward NFT holders with exclusive benefits, including “special presales, prime seats, custom travel packages and access to unique concert experiences.”

The ticketing giant developed the functionality after being approached by American heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold (A7X) and its Web3 team, Bitflips, to help implement a service to provide holders of their NFTs – Deathbats Club, a collection of 10,000 unique Deathbat NFTs – the opportunity to unlock perks and access to events.

The feature currently works with tokens minted on Ethereum (ETH) and stored in decentralized application (DApp) wallets, including MetaMask or Coinbase.

NFT artist withdraws work from Sotheby’s over lack of female representation

Popular NFT artist Patrick Amadon told his 142,400 Twitter followers that he will be withdrawing his work from major auction house Sotheby’s Natively Digital: Glitch-ism sale to protest a lack of female representation.

I am pulling my work from the Sothebys sale. While I believe it was a genuine oversight and the team means well, the lack of representation is a serious issue and we need to address this in our space. Female-identifying artists have played a major role in the glitch movement. ✊

— Patrick Amadon (@patrickamadon) March 25, 2023

Sotheby’s responded the next day to say it will pause the sale to “redress the imbalance in representation within the sale” and will relaunch at a later date with a “more equitable and diverse group of artists.”

Sotheby’s is pausing Natively Digital: Glitch-ism to redress the imbalance in representation within the sale, and will relaunch with a more equitable and diverse group of artists at a later date.

— Sotheby’s Metaverse (@Sothebysverse) March 26, 2023

Related: Indonesian government looks to NFTs to preserve cultural heritage

NFT artist Beeple opens a major 50,000 sq ft studio in South Carolina

Mike Winkelmann, also known as Beeple, shared a video with his Twitter followers on March 12, revealing his new 50,000-square-foot studio in South Carolina.

welcome to Beeple Studios pic.twitter.com/yBUxFRftX2

— beeple (@beeple) March 12, 2023

According to Beeple’s website he will use the space to create his artwork and host events to “showcase the very best art and communities.”

“We are looking to partner with the most cutting-edge artists and communities to put on events that are not possible at any other venue,” the website stated.

Other Nifty News

On March 25, an NFT from the popular CryptoPunks collection, valued at approximately $135,000, was accidently burned by an investor attempting the process of NFT wrapping to potentially borrow liquidity from it.

Today I accidentally burned a @cryptopunksnfts trying to wrap punk 685.

I was so focused on following the instructions exactly, that I slipped up, destroying a third of of my net worth in a single transaction. @yugalabs please sell me the @v1punks 685 as a consolation. pic.twitter.com/jHoTGvlc7j

— Brandon Riley (@vitalitygrowth) March 25, 2023

Sony Interactive Entertainment, the video gaming giant behind the PlayStation brand, recently filed a patent for a framework allowing users to transfer and utilize NFTs across multiple game platforms, titled “NFT framework for transferring and using digital assets between game platforms.”

Once implemented, Playstation 5 users will be able to explore NFT use cases via popular gaming titles.