I wanted to add some clarity to this funding request.
@Globey.one @RockTheBlockchain @OG_Lemurman and I have all met with the MADinArt team over the past few months. While Globey did a fantastic job laying out the general principles of the project - I feel like we need some additional transparency regarding goals, deliverables, and reasoning behind this particular grant.
To that end - I have prepared the following based on my notes and conversations with the MADinArt team.
PLEASE NOTE: This is the understanding of the requests and goals from my desk. I believe there is sufficient clarity and a sufficient âmeeting of the mindsâ on these points to be able to move forward but I invite comment and discussion on any particular point.
Let me start with the grant framework. From harmony.one/300 - this particular proposal falls under item #4, Ports:
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100 Ports ($20M). Recipients of each grant for porting must have achieved product-market fit. Harmony helps scale these thriving projects to our mainnet. We recommend $50-250K each over 4-8 weeks, on projects already with active 10K users, and engaging their teams in public forums. Prime areas of market growths are Play-to-Earn games, musician fan clubs, investment DAOs, portfolio dashboards, and event and collectible curators.
From this language, it is clear that we have a handful of metrics to identify. (a) 10,000+ users. (b) Active community engagement. (c) Fit into: Play2Earn, Fan Club, Investments, Portfolio Dashboard and event and collectible curators.
Make A Difference in Art (MADinArt) is a premiere, curated marketplace that already exists on Cardano.
The MADinArt team - see below for further details - curates artists from around the world. What that means is that they are an âinvite onlyâ marketplace with dedicated artists profiles. Their mission is to be a platform by artists, for artists. Due to the limitations they have found on Cardano, they have been limited in the number of NFT drops they are able to offer at one time.
Using Cloudflare analytics for their marketplace, during drops, they have between 13K and 15k active users. Recently, they had an NFT Drop that sold artwork featuring Mohammed Ali and Floyd Mayweather. This drop saw their active users peak at 32,000.
This image shows the traffic on their website during the month of August which - by the way - did not have an active drop. This is representing standard, run-rate visitation.
While this is an approximation of Total Active Users (Cardanoâs lack of smart contract functionality here gives us a disservice) we can estimate that their user-base is roughly just over 10K Monthly Active Users (MAU). We can see how they fit under the guidelines for requirement (a).
Active community engagement we can also estimate through their various public channels. While not boasting of a massive social following - the MADinArt team is active on their youtube channel, releasing one video about once a week (see www.youtube.com/c/MADinArt). They have just over 3,500 followers on twitter. Their telegram channel - while small - is actively managed with prizes and community give-aways (Telegram: Contact @madinartofficial). They also are active in Discord (MADinArt Official).
So, while I wouldnât say that MADinArt has a MASSIVE social footprint, it cannot be denied that they actively engage with their community.
Letâs turn to their grant request and what they would do with the funds.
First, let us address the team.
Founders: Jeff Williams and JP.
Technical Talent Patrick Tobler ( Cardano chain services), Jay Davis (Cardano SPO), Kyle Ellis (Harmony SPO & Dev Consultant), Mark Hall (Head of Development).
Artistic Talent Daniel Redmayne (Content Creator), Samuel Redmayne (Graphic Design and Animation), Steve (3d Animation and Product Design)
Operations Jacob Clay (Cardano Operation Lead), Josh Manley (Company Architecture), , Ryan Bevington (Research and Development) Holly Birch (Content Editor), Kathleen (Research and Admin), Jeremy (Harmony Operations and Social Media Team Lead).
This is not a small one or two man development shop. This is an artistic gallery in the traditional sense. They have built a digital NFT gallery for art collectors and they want to bring that gallery to Harmony.
Timeline
Stage 1
Goal - Launch MADinArt on Harmony.
Time frame - Weeks 1 through 6
Deliverables â
- Deploy MADinArt V2 Marketplace on Harmony Testnet
- Deploy MADinArt V2 Web frontend on Harmony Mainnet with Educational Academy (see above for description)
- Deploy on-chain minting on Harmony Mainnet (including a fiat payment interface).
NOTE: Stage 1 could slip to 8 weeks due to technical constraints.
Budget: $75,000
Costs in this stage will go primarily to supporting the technical talent responsible for developing the precursor for a Harmony / Cardano interchangeable NFT, deploying the MADinArt v2 marketplace onto testnet and then mainnet. Some budget will also be allocated to deploying the Educational Academy video series.
Stage 2
Goal - Drive Adoption of MADinArt on Harmony
Time frame - Weeks 4 through 8
Deliverables â
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Social Media and Marketing Campaign announcing the pending launch of MADinArt on Harmony (to include prizes, give-aways, coordination w/ Harmony Community DAO and other Harmony-centric entities to maximize effect.)
Success Metric: Double the size of the MADinArt community during prelaunch. As a token metric: increase twitter followers from 3,500 to 7,000. (Other community metrics should also double).
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Announce first NFT drop on MADinArt on Harmony. (Amplify message to Cardano community regarding the value of cross-chain NFTs.)
Success Metric: Host an AMA on Harmony Reddit, Telegram and Twitter Spaces in partnership with the Harmony Community DAO.
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YouTube videos w/ Harmony / MADinArt personalities to further the Education Academy mission.
Success Metric: Post a series of 4 to 6 videos and interviews with either Harmony or Cardano members discussing NFT cross-chain potential. These videos will go up on more channels than just the MADinArt channel.
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Strategic Partnerships focused on the music and sports industries.
Success Metric: 3 to 5 partnership announcements with 1 to 5 NFT drops.
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Launch Music NFT Royalties through the strategic partnerships, release curated music NFTs incorporating royalty pass-throughs.
Success Metric: 3 to 5 NFT drops including collaborations between musicians and artists album artwork.
Budget: $75,000
Costs in this stage will primarily be considered âMarket Development Fundsâ. These funds will pay for marketing materials and talent, graphic design and awareness campaigns.
Stage 3
Goal - Cross-chain Functionality Harmony / Cardano
Time frame - Weeks 8 through 12
Deliverables â
With the advent of the Alonzo upgrade and the Plutus Smart Contract capabilities, it is potentially possible for a cross chain NFT exchange to occur between Harmony and Cardano.
Using the experience gained in deploying their platform to both Cardano and Harmony, the MADinArt team will develop a prototype of a cross-chain NFT bridge between the two chains. While this deliverable is not expected to be production grade and fully vetted and tested - it should be a viable Proof-of-Concept.
Budget: $50,000
Costs in this stage will go to the research and development of a cross-chain NFT bridge between Harmony (a solidity chain) and Cardano (a haskell chain).
