Store of the week: Save the Clan
Save the Clan is a multifaceted project which aims to create a sustainable solution that ensures consistency and stability to AfrikaBurn. But it is not only the festival and its artistic community that benefits from it. Through the sale of NFTs, available on two stores on Mintbase, AfrikaBurn Art and AfrikaBurn Music, part of the revenue goes to the local community and environmental care, including plants and animals in the area.
Meet Claudia, the creator of the project. After being deeply touched by her experience in the Karoo desert in South Africa, Claudia, aka the Bee, created a project to support AfrikaBurn, a gathering of creative souls in an extreme environment.
“Care is what AfrikaBurn needs now to survive in the pandemic era. Sustainability is the only thing that can ensure the survival of this cultural gathering.”
Started by Claudia last summer, Save the Clan has already onboarded around 140 artists from all over the world — Brazil, Germany, Portugal, Russia, South Africa, Switzerland, Vietnam. “It is truly a global art movement that we have started,” says The Bee, a doer that wants to build a sustainable, climate-neutral digital world in which artists and good causes can be supported in a win-to-win setting.
In this interview, Claudia talks about her passion for AfrikaBurn and explains how Save the Clan works.
A life-changing experience
How did you happen to know Afrikaburn?
A good friend of mine led me to that beautiful gathering of humans in the Karoo desert in South Africa. It was life-changing, inspiring, and affirming in many different ways — physical, spiritual, psychological and more.
Why did you decide to start a project related to AfrikaBurn?
I am truly fond of gatherings like AfrikaBurn. It changed my perspective of life. It changed me!
Is it freedom? Is it the connection? Is it love? Is it unconditional being in a world far away from the conventional rules, the omnipresent pressure, and the constant competition against others, against time, against oneself? I still cannot answer these questions thoroughly. It is a place that gives liberty, union, and charity unconditionally to everyone who opens themselves to it.
AfrikaBurn brings together the very essence of all principles I like the most: “Radical Inclusion” — anyone may be a part of it, no prerequisites exist for participation in our community –; and “Gifting” — devoted to acts of gift-giving. The value of a gift is unconditional. Gifting does not contemplate a return or an exchange for something of equal value.
This magical place of gathering has gifted unconditionally over the years with an indescribable abundance, without ever seeking anything in return. And perhaps that is why we, who love this magical place, can hear the silent call for help from afar.
Caring is the act of the heart to support others with love. Care is what AfrikaBurn needs now to survive in the pandemic era. Sustainability is the only thing that can ensure the survival of this cultural gathering. That is why I started this project as a burner, a volunteer from the community.
How is the project structured?
We focus on supporting and engaging with AfrikaBurn, to find sustainable and long-term solutions to ensure fundraising. Furthermore, it is a matter of concern for me and AfrikaBurn to stand up for people, animals and the environment — these aspects are also being supported by this fundraising project through Outreach, which is the charitable arm of AfrikaBurn. Outreach focuses on four areas in the Karoo desert: People (paying for school fees of young learners), Animals (vet fees and support for rural animals), Plants (restoration of the flare and fauna in the Karoo desert), and Planet (migrating the local area towards more environmentally friendly practices, solar energy, greywater, etc).
Freedom and creativity at the core
Why have you chosen Mintbase as the main platform for Save the Clan?
Mintbase is a global platform that allows anyone to create NFTs without worrying about technical complexities. This aspect I personally value a lot. It gives every individual the sensation of freedom which is often the source of creativity.
How can people take part in the project?
Every person can participate, whether as an artist or as a buyer (and/or reseller), on the Mintbase platform following the principle of “Participation”. Our community is committed to a radically participatory ethic. We believe that transformative change, whether in the individual or society, can occur only through the medium of deeply personal participation. We achieve being through doing. Everyone is invited to work with us. Everyone is invited to play. We make the world real through actions that open the heart.
How can both AfrikaBurn and the artists benefit from Save the Clan?
An NFT is provided with revenue splitting and royalty rules and can be sold on Mintbase. Each sale of the artwork generates revenues in the AfrikaBurn NEAR wallet as well as the wallets of the artists and Outreach (AfrikaBurn’s support for children, animals, and climate change), if the artist decides to share part of the revenue also for this greater cause.
The respective artist can exhibit their artworks for sale in the virtual fundraising gallery on Mintbase. The sales price can be shared with any additional artists, organizations, and/or NGOs by setting sales splitting revenues and royalty rules for resale. It means that the artist can choose individually for each artwork who will earn from it and to what extent. The artist and the selected recipients earn a fixed percentage of the sales price for each resale. NFT artworks offer artists a free platform, more visibility to promote their art, worldwide reach, all based on a CO2 neutral cryptocurrency. A win-win situation for all involved parties.
Building the bridge
How do you see the future of NFTs and blockchain?
The future is bright. We are facing a fast-paced digital world, and the only challenges I see are how to “build the bridge” between the analog and the digital world, and how to onboard investors and artists that haven’t arrived yet in the digital area. Save the Clan project was built as an opportunity to do good and help create more art — who wouldn’t want to be part of something like that?
