Get paid to create NFTs! Apply for the CENNZnet grant
NFT art is not just darn cool, it’s also a gateway to reliable royalties for artists and authentic digital ownership. We want to support artists and digital creators taking a leap into the decentralised space and get them safely launched into the Metaverse!
If you have a creation the world needs to see, apply to our grant and get the funding and tech support you need to become an NFT superstar.
Hang on, what’s an NFT?
It’s a good idea to know exactly what we are all on about before diving in.
NFT stands for Non-Fungible Token. Non-fungible just means something that is unique. For example, a $5 note is fungible, I couldn’t care less whether I swap one note for another as long as it’s still the same value. However, if I was lucky enough to have the original canvas of The Starry Night by the one and only Van Gogh, I’m absolutely not swapping it for another painting that looks similar. Van Gogh’s paintings are non-fungible — each is unique and therefore holds unique value.
The token part of an NFT refers to where it is stored. NFTs are unique assets that are created and stored on a blockchain.
NFTs can really be anything digital, like a random piece of code, a piece of music or even a legal contract. But the NFT use that’s driving the internet crazy is digital art.
Why is this so exciting for artists?
- Exposure: To sell an NFT all you have to do is mint it onto a blockchain and then set your price. That’s it. No big institutions or art galleries deciding whose work is worthy — just you, a computer and a whole internet of keen buyers.
- Get paid: There are two main formats for selling NFTs: fixed-price sales and auctions. Even cooler though, NFTs can be programmed to deliver the creator royalties on every subsequent sale. So even after you’ve let go of your creations, they can continue to contribute to your income by sending you a percentage of every subsequent sale.
Want to learn more about NFTs? Check out the 5 things you need to know about NFTs here.
What is the CENNZnet NFT grant opportunity?
NFTs are an exciting realm of possibility for artists of all shapes and sizes, but it’s still a very new field. We want to help creators to overcome the barriers of a new medium and find success in the world of NFTs.
The opportunity is simple: Design an artwork, a series of pieces, or a whole Metaverse that you want to turn into NFTs. Then mint them onto the CENNZnet blockchain; specifically using our brand new NFT minter and marketplace: Litho.
What do we offer:
- Money: Grant funding of up to NZD $100,000 is available to support individual artists with a vision.
- Support: Our experienced team will provide all the technical support you will need to see your work take form on the blockchain.
- Royalties: Make use of CENNZnet’s transparent and robust NFT royalty format to guarantee future payments outside of the grant.
- Promotion: Our team will promote your work to our thriving community and to the world at large.
How does the grant funding work?
CENNZnet is offering a grant of up to NZD $100,000. The total amount received as a grant will depend on the type of art and the number of exclusive pieces minted.
Important note: the grant funding is designed to support artists if the NFT work does not sell at the anticipated price. The process works like this:
- Our team and the applicant will determine a minimum expected sale price for each NFT.
- If the NFT or set of NFTs sell for lower than the expected sale price, the grant will make up the difference- so guaranteeing the artist a profit.
- If an NFT is sold above the minimum sale price, all proceeds will go to the artist.
Example: you received a grant for NZ$5,000 and ended up selling your NFTs for NZ$4,500. The grant will pay you NZ$500 to top up what you earned through the NFT sale.
Minting NFTs onto a blockchain also costs money in what’s called gas fees. CENNZnet will pay all required gas fees within the bounds of the agreed project.
What can you create?
NFT art is just getting started, so the limits are literally non-existent! CENNZnet’s grant programme is willing to accommodate any idea — no matter how crazy — as long as it’s exciting!
Here are some of our favourite NFT art projects to give you some inspiration:
One of the coolest NFT projects out there and created by a collaborative team of Kiwis. FLUFs are 10,000 unique 3D animated rabbits living as NFTs on the blockchain. The rabbit avatars not only look super cool, they have also made a total of US$42 million in sales in just 5 weeks and thanks to royalty payments, this is still climbing.
FLUF NFTs have been created by a process of programmatic generation. With 270 designed attributes across 14 categories, the team ensured that each FLUF was entirely unique by at least three degrees of separation. This also excludes their extra features: expression, dance, scene, and soundtrack.
This process required FLUFs to be crafted in Blender and then randomly compiled using a Python script and a logic table to determine trait compatibility and rarity. The result: all 10,000 FLUFFs sold out within 40 minutes of launch and their popularity just keeps growing.
We would be very remise at this stage not to mention the trendsetter himself. Michael Joseph Winkelmann, known professionally as Beeple, was one of the first artists to dominate the NFT space. Famously his work Everydays: the First 5000 Days, a collage of images from his “Everydays” series, sold for $69,400,000 on March 12, 2021, making it the fourth-most expensive artwork by a living artist.
Art Blocks: Generative art
The digital realm offers some exciting new frontiers for artists looking to experiment. One of our favourites is the concept of generative art, defined as “a type of computer programming in which the goal is to create something expressive instead of something functional”. Generative art uses programming to create controlled repetition to produce unique art. By randomising parameters between pre-determined constraints, different pieces can be created with familiar features but vastly different overall compositions.
Some of the coolest generative art projects out there are currently hosted on the Art Blocks platform. Have a look through to get an idea of the scope of this medium.
Decentraland: Metaverse
NFTs are not just confined to single contained pieces — how about making a whole world?
Decentraland is an online world where people can create an avatar, interact with others and participate in everything from conferences to art shows and concerts. People can build houses or other weird and wacky structures on their purchased digital lots and make their virtual space their own.
Almost everything in Decentraland is an NFT. The virtual plots of land, the art on the walls in the virtual galleries and increasingly items available in the world. This is designed to give people tangible and authentic ownership over the world they inhabit.
How to apply for the CENNZnet creators?
It couldn’t be more straightforward. Head to our application form here and fill in all the required details about your project.
We will be in touch to arrange the details as soon as we can.
You can learn a bit more about the programme and our decision process for applications on our grants page here.
