There is a learning curve that comes with accessing and understanding web 3. Here’s a list of the communities and the people building communities in support of Web 3, in no particular order or ranking.
Umba Daima is an Atlanta-based NFT Studio curating creative projects through brands, partnerships, and communities with the vision of creating equity through art, curation, opportunity and experiential programming. Founded by Iris Nevins and Omar Desire. Check out their brands: Black NFT Art, NFT Roundtable, and The Unseen Gallery. They have built one of the largest black communities in the web 3 ecosystem and are expanding into a global brand.
40 acres DAO is one of the leading black led DAOs, or Decentralized Autonomous Organization, in the web 3 ecosystem. They have 11 guilds and are in the business of developing self-sustaining communities of color using blockchain technology. Their slogan is “Engage, educate, and empower”.
Tech Hustle Culture is a global network of creative professionals, curating space for nuanced discussions on tech, entrepreneurship & social justice. This collective is making it easy for anyone to become a creative technologist. THC facilitates quality programming like the Plug Talk, their digital speaking series for community builders and creative professionals that's an AMA (Ask Me Anything) style roundtable and kickback. They operate under their parent company, Floreo Labs, a tech consultancy making design expertise accessible to individuals and enterprises of every size.
21Titles is a Bronx based web 3 peer to peer brand creating equity through community and collaboration. Founded by Chantee Hallett and Brittany Wallace, 21 Titles offers consulting services and these “collaboration catalysts” are emerging as trusted and credible web 3 consultants especially since they've been working under brands like Umba Daima and Black NFT Art,
Cyberbaat is an on-chain collective of creatives of African descent founded by Senegalese artist Linda Dounia. They are currently running a campaign on mirror.xyz to help fund their latest collection, “Africa is not a country”. Linda was also the lead curator that introduced the genesis IRL NFT exhibition to Dakar, Senegal back in September '21 called "Distorted Realities".
Founded by now NFT photographer Raven Trammell, and artist Chelsea Quintela, Raven's partner. The 50 MM is an NFT art collective based out of Los Angeles that provides resources and opportunities to historically underserved communities.
Last year in November they hosted their first IRL experience in Los Angeles called the Meta Masquerade giving visibility to otherwise underrepresented artists and with the purchase of an INFINITY ticket NFT. The Meta Masquerade is a diverse all-inclusive IRL cyber gallery experience that highlights artists in the 50mm Collective NFT community.
The Meta Masquerade Infinity Ticket NFT is the first of its kind.
Key features of holding the Meta Masquerade Infinity Ticket:
Grants holders lifetime access to future Meta Masquerade Ball’s worldwide.
The access to this “Infinity Ticket” transfers from holder to holder, allowing it to be passed on from generation to generation.
*The 50mm Collective reserves the right to revoke holders access if it resides in the greater good and safety of the overall well being of the collective (from their Opensea Page).
Founded by prolific artists, VintageMozart and Darkmythst, the African NFT community is founded on the principles of *Ubuntu*. Ubuntu can best be described as an African philosophy that places emphasis on "being self through others." It is a form of humanism which can be expressed in the phrases "I am because of who we all are." They are trying to build a network of collectors for African art and connect with other communities.
It has since evolved into being an incubator and advocate for African artists on the continent/in the diaspora. Their goal is to, "Be an infrastructure to onboard African creators into the metaverse through NFTs so they can be a part of the opportunity boom happening in crypto/web3".
8. Greenwood Hustle Club
Keenan Kelley, the founder of the Greenwood Hustle Club, a club educating and empowering the black community on financial independence, is a true champion of black focused projects in the web 3 ecosystem. Creating his own PFP (profile picture project), For The Culture NFT because he seen a lack of representation in the PFP lane for black creatives, Kelley plans to educate and onboard many businesses and projects into this space.
“The project encourages Black creators and, specifically, Black businesses to enter this space. This is an opportunity that doesn’t necessarily require a college degree,” Kelley said. He continued: “For small businesses, it’s important to kind of keep your eye on these emerging technologies, like the metaverse and NFTs because soon another social technology will come around. If you get into it early, find your niche and your place, it will be an easier transition for you in the future.”
9. AKU (Micah Johnson)
Transitioning from being a professional baseball player to a full time artist, Micah Johnson began painting to escape the anxieties and pressures of being a professional athlete. He is now one of the leading black digital artists in web 3. The success of his 2021 AKU Nifty Gateway drop, that made $2 million in a 24 hr period, has elevated the potential of what NFTs can do. It’s believed that the AKU brand is one of the 1st NFT projects that has been optioned or picked up by a major production company with intentions of making it into an animated movie. The AKU Movie will be produced by Anonymous Content, and executive produced by Shawn Mendes and Andrew Gertler via joint venture Permanent Content.
Disrupt.art, founded by Rob Richardson, is one of the first black owned fully scaled NFT Marketplaces operating on the FLOW blockchain, the same blockchain that houses NBA Top Shot and 200+ other projects.
Disrupt Art is also an intentionally curated NFT marketplace where artists, activists, and allies intersect to revolutionize the social impact of art, music, fashion, and film.
Zora is not only an NFT marketplace, it’s also a protocol that allows developers to build on top of it. With the use of ZORA V3, anyone can build a customized auction houses within the Zora ecosystem.
Community programming at ZORA is headed by dynamic creative, Latasha. Within the past year she has doubled her Twitter following (29.7K) and has paved the way for more traction in the music NFT lane. She has sold well over 50 NFTs across different mediums and collaborated with HerStoryDAO, an on/offline art collective dedicated to preserving and incubating the stories of marginalized crypto creators, to support other women in this space.
One Off is one of the first collectives to set the tone for Black art on the blockchain.
They have created the first virtual Black Arts District on the blockchain dedicated to supporting innovation, experimentation, collective learning and creative entrepreneurship with NFTs. Their mission is to liberate the black imagination through digital art and technology.
The core purpose of this collective is to develop a Black Arts and Culture Ecosystem on the blockchain, as well as to develop market analysis for the Black Arts and Culture economy on the blockchain.
The BlkChain, founded by NFT Curator and Collector Sian Morson, is “where culture meets crypto.” The organization amplifies the work of women, BIPOC & LGBTQ artists and collectors in NFTs. A premier destination for coverage of NFT art and music with a focus on culture. They offer market news, artist interviews, features, drops and other NFT-related content.
The Mint Fund is a community owned and funded initiative helping crypto creators specifically BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ mint their first NFTs. The Mint Fund is a community project created with the sole purpose to build a support network for artists interested in bringing their art into the world of crypto as NFTs. They provide creators with the funds needed to cover gas fees (a tax that is associated with making a transaction on any blockchain) associated with minting (uploading to a blockchain).
The Mint Fund was founded by Ameer “Sirsu” Carter, a mixed media artist who works with portraits, physical objects and digital works in abstract.
The Mint List is the first and only podcast dedicated to exclusively showcasing music NFTs. A decentralized community that curates a weekly podcast mix of freshly minted music NFTs and discussions with artists and thought leaders in the space. The Mint List Podcast is an experiment in web 3 utility, culture and community. The mission is to help encourage and guide independent artists and labels towards creating a web 3 music community.
The Mint List was founded by Hanifah Wilder, an NFT curator. Before starting this venture, Hanifah curated a residency program for artists via Nifty Kit in collaboration with cryptovoxels.
16. Metaverse Music
Metaverse Music is a music focused show founded by web 3 leaders Black Dave and Natalie Crue and hosted in partnership with Twitter Spaces and urconduit. Black Dave is a multi creative looking to bridge rap music, streetwear/fashion and anime. He’s also the community manager at KindredHearts.io. Natalie Crue is a hip hop connoisseur and holds multiple positions in web 3. She’s the community co lead at Blockbuster Dao and lead curator at the Mirror Club DAO, a grant giving DAO focused on supporting creators on the via mirror system. They have been notable for educating and onboarding creatives and artists on to Music NFTs.
The CyberPanther Party is a bail fund DAO focused on jail reform, financial literacy and activism. The Cyber Pantherz Party NFT is a first of its kind bail fund DAO project. The NFT consists of artwork that is randomly generated using a verified script. Although there are different levels of rarity, all the NFTs allow the holders to become members of the party. Full copyright of the artwork is released to the holder for all purposes.
The DAO's community is managed by Zanib, a dynamic Afro-Nubian artivist (artist + activist) captivating crowds across the country with her vocals and soulful violin melodies. She is also the CEO of SoundHouse, a recording, production and creative NFT studio based out of Denver, CO.
IRL underground is a physical and digital art gallery, private members club, crypto speakeasy and community event space located in Denver, Colorado.
“We are creating a replicable model in which physical art, digital art, education, crypto and highly curated events can bridge the gap between the metaverse and the default world.”
This collective built the digital version of the Castle at ETH Denver, one of the largest community based web 3 conferences to date via Decentraland, a virtual world.
19. Web 3 Pull UP
Web 3 Pull Up is a collective empowering black, brown and indigenous (and other marginalized communities) with the knowledge, resources and tools needed to potentially thrive in the emerging opportunities of web 3 technologies.
Founders: Cam "Baguette" Johnson, Mike B
20. Wakanomy
"Wakanomy is a curated NFT marketplace that helps bring creatives' ideas and vision for their drop to life. Whether it’s dev work/assistance, project consulting, marketing assistance, building a custom metaverse gallery for a drop or all of the above, doing whatever we can to shine the brightest spotlight on new or established creatives in this space is our passion."
Founder: Joshua "Tipz" Richardson
Chief Visionary Officer: ByRhyver
This list is ever growing and evolving. Know of any Web 3 based organizations or leaders we should add? Drop us a line @ info@techhustleculture.com!
Written by Brittany Wallace
Edited by Cruz Arroyo, Naomi Arroyo
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