The Creator Economy in Practice: Arroz Estúdios

Arroz Estúdios is a Lisbon based Art Studio that has been open for more than two and a half years. With more than eight thousand members, the studio space boasts a physical area of fourteen Estúdios, two galleries, a co-working space, an outdoor bar and pizzeria, a garden and a venue capable of fitting more than 500 people. Arroz Estúdios is the future of the creator economy, and a fast learner of all things relating to the intersection of Art and Crypto. 

As one of the biggest projects of its kind in the city of Lisbon, Arroz started experimenting with Createbase, Digital Art and Non-Fungible Tokens in the fall of 2020. After successfully having launched a physical / digital art exhibition earlier this year, Arroz Estúdios has partnered up with the NEAR Foundation to host another exhibition for aspiring artists – this time with studio space available for low income artists! 

Planting A.I.R. (Artists in Residence)! 

Having secured funding from the NEAR Foundation, Arroz Estúdios is hosting a first-of-its kind event that will provide five artists with a four to eight week residency. 

During this time, the artists will not only have the opportunity to dive into the emerging world of digital art, they will also be documenting their journey for the NEAR community of creators to follow along. As stated in the proposal, Arroz Estúdios offers the following as part of the program: 

• Studio space
• Learning resources
• Equipment & Materials
• Career support & development
• Workshops (with our studio holders Art Progression Now)
• Exhibition opportunities (inside the Estúdios and with Art Progression Now)

How To Apply?

A three week open call was launched last week. Interested artists can submit past work, their educational background, their artistic field of interest, existing portfolio, project proposal, detailed project schedule, CV and motivational letter. 

For more information in Portuguese click here. If you are ready to apply, the Open Call Submission Form can be filled out here. 

“We have had about 50 people already apply to exhibit with us for the next Rare Effect Exhibition, which is a huge uptake relative to the last one. The NFT space is changing so rapidly: Reaching out to people now compared to 6 months ago – everyone knows what an NFT is which means we can reach out to more artists, while also putting forward a great opportunity for Portuguese Artists!” – Steven 

A New Frontier For Artists: The Creator Economy

Createbase is a community for creators/projects on Mintbase, an NFT minting platform on NEAR which is also based out of Lisbon- a growing hub for crypto and tech. 

With artists from all over the world familiarizing themselves with NFTs and the future of creator owned, creator distributed art, Arroz Estúdios is pioneering one of the first physical spaces for jumpstarting a creator economy in Lisbon. The goal of the initiative aligns with the fundamental values grounding the original development and growth of Arroz Estúdios:

1. To promote freedom of expression. To provide a safe space for anyone coming to the studio to create anything they would like to express or imagine. 
2. To integrate with local communities and to promote Portuguese art on an international level. In the context of the Planting A.I.R. event, this will provide low-income artists in Portugal with a platform to showcase their art to the world. 
3. To bring international artists to Lisbon and Portugal for both events and learning purposes. 

As with previous events, Arroz Estúdios will be using the upcoming Planting A.I.R. project launch to attract musicians and artists from around the world to the growing creative hub in Lisbon. 

To find out more about the Arroz Studio event check out their approved proposal here. To join the growing community of Artists on NEAR Protocol, jump into the Createbase telegram chat! 

If you’re a developer who wants to see what building on NEAR is all about, check out the NEAR documentation to get started.