It’s no secret that the NFT space is a melting pot of culture. Within the vast expanse of the NFT ecosystem lives a wide variety of NFT art, photography, music and more, all created by an even wider range of unique creators. Sure, the NFT space could do more to empower underrepresented artists, but that’s not to say that diversity doesn’t exist in the NFT space.
And this diversity inherent in our metaverse-centered culture should be celebrated across the blockchain. Whether it’s a massive collection of profile photos (PFP) or the efforts of a digital autonomous organization (DAO), artists of all backgrounds, creeds and colors are getting their flowers in Web3.
So to shed more light on diversity in the NFT space, here are a few projects and communities leading the pack.
400 drums
400 Drums is a campaign aimed at supporting Indigenous artists, the elderly, language speakers and more to use new online platforms to monetize their skills while sharing their teachings and stories. The project was created by Four Our Future, an Indigenous company founded by Indigenous leaders in Canada. It strives to explore, contemplate, communicate and reflect common threads between ancient cultures.
In the case of the 400 Drums NFT Collection, a group of developers teamed up with Goddard of Saulteau First Nation, David Fierro of the Westbank First Nation, and Rian Bevan of the Rainbow Tribe to create a set of tokens based on one of the a-kind native drums handcrafted by Fierro for over 20 years. The collection would be a journey to connect digital spaces with real places, teachings and art and build a sustainable future for generations to come.
ARTXV
ARTXV is a Web3 community and ‘cultural center’ focused on providing support to community creatives with disabilities. It was founded in 2021 by two sisters from London, Ava and Tara Halvai. Tara is an autistic, non-verbal artist whose work Ava had hoped to be recognized by the traditional art world, but Tara’s disability hit roadblocks every step of the way.
After struggles and rejections that seemed to delegitimize Tara as an artist, Ava began creating ARTXV to help amplify the talent and stories of the disabled community in the art industry and Web3. In 2023, it was announced that ARTXV would evolve into a non-profit organization to better support disability inclusion in the arts across the board.
Your fireworks during the day
Your Daytime Fireworks is a multi-part NFT project created by award-winning international artist Cai Guo-Qiang in collaboration with NFT production studio/platform TRLab. The collection features digitized versions of Guo-Qiang’s coveted lifelike daytime fireworks displays. It seeks to teach collectors about the artistic practice of using gunpowder, a method deeply rooted in Chinese culture and heritage.
Your Daytime Fireworks joins ventures like #TheGoldStandard in celebrating Asian-American art, particularly through Guo-Qiang’s career and his unique cultural-artistic medium. The project also fulfills TRLab’s mission to integrate shared learning about art and artistic practices into the collecting process.
50mm collective
The 50mm collective is a digital arts group that works with the goal of providing opportunities and resources to underrepresented communities and artists. The collective’s primary focus is supporting BIPOC’s trans and queer artists by curating online galleries, conducting regular educational workshops, and connecting them with collectors in the space. Founded by Raven Trammell And Chelsea Quintelathe group also allocates 100 percent of the revenue from its online store to fund artists in the 50mm Collective.
NFT 4 GOOD
Every year, artists travel to Akumal (a small village on Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula) to decorate the city walls with paintings. In an effort to bring this long-standing cultural event to Web3, street art NFT platform Third Rail Art sponsored an NFT collection to bring Akumal art to the blockchain with NFT 4 GOOD.
With NFT 4 GOOD, Third Rail created animated digital versions of 18 murals painted during the Akumal festival to be sold as limited edition NFTs slapped onto the Polygon blockchain. This unique collection is undoubtedly one of the most important community-based efforts illustrating how art and NFTs can shape the future of underserved regions like Akumal.
8SIAN
8SIAN is an NFT powered brand that aims to represent Asia in the Web3 space while empowering Asians to take pride in their heritage, culture and upbringing. Founded by Nicole Yap And Mr Hikethe company first began with an 8,888-piece PFP collection dedicated to showcasing the unique features and attributes of women across Asia.
Since launching in December 2021, the 8SIAN brand has built a strong international community dedicated to helping Asian individuals become interested and involved in the NFT space. To date, 8SIAN has collaborated with several major brands and imprints, such as Uniqlo, Miss Universe Malaysia and Fashion Singapore.
BFF
BFF is a “community for the crypto curious” that was partnered by Brit Morin, Jamie Schmidt, and more than 50 other women leaders across industries (including Gwenyth Paltrow and Mila Kunis). As a collective, a DAO, a media company and an NFT project, BFF seeks to help women and non-binary people become educated, connected and financially rewarded in crypto and Web3.
While the broader goal of the project is to become one of the largest decentralized brands on the web, BFF made its first major foray into the public eye with a 10,000 piece PFP collection titled You. In line with the collective’s mission, the organization also announced the establishment of the Belonging and Mattering Council in July 2022 to highlight opportunities for underrepresented communities in Web3.