How HUG Is Empowering Artists Via Discovery, Alternative, and Schooling

In an period the place expertise is driving the evolution of all the pieces, together with artwork, at an unprecedented tempo, artists are seeking platforms the place they cannot solely exist however thrive regardless of ever-changing algorithms.

One such platform, born amidst the tumultuous backdrop of a worldwide pandemic is HUG, which has proven itself to be a beacon for equal illustration and alternative for all – a platform that gives a platform.

To completely perceive the gravity of what HUG is doing for artists in and out of doors of the Web3 area, we caught up with its co-founders, Randi Zuckerberg and Debbie Quickly, and like several story price listening to we thought it finest to begin originally.

One Message and One Mission

Whereas HUG might have been fashioned in 2022, it actually began a number of years earlier because the world confronted a worldwide pandemic that will deliver forth modifications within the lives of almost everybody on Earth, together with Zuckerberg and Quickly.

“Many might not know this… however after Fb and earlier than NFTs, I used to be a Broadway actress, after which producer,” shared Zuckerberg, including “Covid shut down lots of the reveals that I used to be engaged on, and that resulted in me immersing myself in NFTs as a strategy to marry my passions for each arts and expertise.”

She additional defined “Earlier than I knew it, I ended up changing into a mentor to many digital creators. All of them have been fighting the identical factor – feeling challenged by the algorithm, and basically feeling unseen and at instances misplaced on tips on how to scale their inventive enterprise.”

Wanting to scale the prevailing help she was providing to creators, Zuckerberg set out on a seek for a co-founder with a imaginative and prescient for making a “thriving and sustainable ecosystem that will enable artists and artwork lovers to help one another.”

As destiny would have it, Quickly was additionally on that exact same search. Having fallen in love with Web3 when navigating a mid-pandemic transfer from Singapore to LA, she determined to place her background within the finance and start-up sector to the facet for a second and sought out kickstarting a profession within the NFT area.

“I put a want out within the Meta Angels Discord,” she defined, including “To my shock, Randi discovered and responded to my message there one entire week later! We each are obsessed with leveling the taking part in discipline for anybody to achieve arts and expertise, so this actually was a match made in heaven.”

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Sharing her facet of the story, Zuckerberg defined how Quickly was nonetheless going by an anon id once they first met but when you already know something about early Web3, that was typically seen as a plus! “We received onto a Zoom name a couple of days later, and instantly hit it off,” Zuckerberg shared, including “As I used to be attending to know Debbie, I used to be blown away by all of her thought management items that she was placing out on Twitter, and knew that there couldn’t be a greater particular person to embark on this journey with.”

Embark on a journey they did. Zuckerberg expressed, “In a nutshell, HUG’s mission is to assist all artists grow to be artistic entrepreneurs, and we’re doing that by discovery, alternative, and schooling.”

What began as two like-minded people with a shared imaginative and prescient ultimately grew into 200 folks with a shared trigger, and from these 200 passionate people, has emerged a various neighborhood of over 3,000 artists from over 85 completely different nations.

Quickly defined that “We’ve deliberately flown below the radar and prevented being surrounded by moments of hype. As an alternative, we’ve been in line with our mission from day one, and have adopted a very intentional and inclusive method to constructing our neighborhood.”

Neighborhood Assets

In an area the place almost all the pieces of worth is hidden in secret alpha teams or housed behind a token gated membership, HUG has dared to do one thing radically completely different, offering free assets for each artists and collectors alike.

These assets aren’t fast threads on X that it’s best to bookmark for later or a halfway-finished hook to get you to purchase into one thing on the finish. As an alternative, HUG has devoted a big period of time and assets to supply full-length guides and paperwork put collectively by its analysis group.

Explaining why this was and is vital, Zuckerberg shared that “I’ve all the time been a agency believer that belief needs to be earned, not given. We by no means need to extract worth earlier than we offer it, and providing these free assets is one in all our methods of constructing belief inside our artist and collector neighborhood.”

Additional driving the importance of this determination house, Quickly shared that “Accessible schooling has all the time been a core perception of ours. Notably in Web3, the place the expertise is evolving quicker than the common particular person can sustain with, we imagine it’s our accountability to demystify these tendencies and make them straightforward for everybody to know.”

On the time of writing, HUG has seven full-length guides and workbooks up on its website below the Assets tab. These vary from “The Ultimate Artist Marketing Handbook Vol 1.” to  “The Art Collector’s Companion: An Interactive Workbook” – once more, out there freed from cost, as HUG believes anybody constructing within the area must be stewards and never gatekeepers.

To this finish, the platform has not too long ago had the chance to companion with TransientLabs, one in all its many like-minded companions, and ran a six-week-long Innovation Lab program that launched over 200 artists to dynamic NFTs by way of Transient’s no-code tooling.

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— HUG 🤗 | Apply for an Artist Profile (@thehugxyz) August 22, 2023

Following the discharge, Quickly shared “We noticed a number of artists touchdown their first-ever commissions by HUG. The result of that was many pleased artists, and even happier collectors, who have been delighted to amass a personalised, one-of-a-kind paintings” – which incorporates Quickly herself, as she commissioned a hand-painted soccer from artist and Girls and Weapons founder, Sara Baumann.

Energy in Profiles

Whereas discoverability can typically be used as a buzzword within the Web3 artwork realm, HUG has seemingly embraced each facet of the phrase and made it a part of its core mission. This has been performed not in a broad method however somewhat by a really particular and thought-out method.

“From day one, we got down to construct the inclusiverse, which was actually our means of describing a universe… or metaverse if you’ll? The place everybody feels included,” shared Zuckerberg, including “I’m proud that on the prime of the HUG homepage, you will note a banner calling for us to have a good time various creators from all walks of life. These communities must be celebrated and really feel supported 24/7, 365 days a 12 months, and never simply in particular months.”

This mission additionally strikes a chord near house for Quickly, who shared that “As a current transplant to America and a girl of colour, that is deeply private as nicely.”

She additional expressed “I do know many individuals wish to say that Web3 doesn’t care about race, gender, and many others., however the actuality is that many unconscious biases nonetheless keep it up from the normal arts and expertise worlds. By acknowledging that from day one, we might be intentional about the way in which we design HUG, each from a product and neighborhood standpoint.”

This has been exemplified for the reason that inception of HUG, because it continues to function as a community-curated platform. Quickly defined that this has been achieved by a thesis of community-driven and decentralized curation through which the members vote for which artists must be onboarded to the platform and which artists must be chosen for numerous sourced alternatives.

Early on, HUG acknowledged the necessity for a platform that gives a platform. Because of this, it has developed complete profile instruments that assist artists to get eyes on and in addition profit collectors seeking to sustain with their favourite creators.

“We’re biased, however we undoubtedly imagine that [artist profiles] are an artist’s finest device to getting seen, shared, and celebrated,” mentioned Zuckerberg, including “Not solely are you able to accumulate essentially the most wonderful, considerate evaluations from appreciators of your work, you too can showcase your total portfolio of labor, each inside and out of doors Web3. We are able to’t wait to maintain upgrading these Artist Profiles, and convey extra performance and interactivity there.”

Along with this, HUG boasts an “Artist Updates” tab, which Quickly “Permits artists to share vital updates on to the e-mail inboxes of their followers.”

She joked “Whereas we love the gm vibes and neighborhood discourse on X, generally artists and collectors simply desire a devoted place to share and uncover artwork on the market. Right now, a whole lot of artists are posting their updates to HUG every single day.”

Highlighting one of the vital important facets of the Updates device, Quickly known as out {that a} majority of NFT marketplaces are likely to showcase creators which might be trending primarily based on buying and selling quantity, which in flip unfairly disadvantages rising artists.

Past the Digital

With the royalties facet of NFTs being but once more in danger attributable to shifts in stance from quite a lot of main marketplaces and loopholes created by aggregators, we requested HUG what they’re doing to organize their artists for this alteration and to our shock, it’s one thing they’ve nearly anticipated in a way, from inception.

“Artists didn’t get up one morning due to NFTs and determined that they have been artists,” mentioned Zuckerberg, including “As an alternative, they’ve been artists for years, even a long time, earlier than NFTs existed! As such, our view has all the time been that NFTs must be one in all many ways in which artists ought to look to monetize their paintings and that it’s utterly okay to shift priorities from one strategy to one other relying in the marketplace and even what conjures up and excites them.”

She additional defined, that in help of this, not solely has HUG printed quite a lot of assets on the subject however it has additionally launched mechanisms like its fee function, the place artists can opt-in to obtain fee requests by their HUG profile.

Different initiatives embrace merchandising alternatives in addition to Open Name alternatives for each bodily and digital exhibitions, like its most up-to-date and ongoing name in partnership with the Seattle NFT Museum.

📣 ARTISTS WANTED

We need to share your artwork that shares your heritage! 🗺️✨

HUG is partnering with the monumental @seanftmuseum, the world’s first NFT museum, for our debut collaborative exhibition “Cultural Kaleidoscope” ✨

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— HUG 🤗 | Apply for an Artist Profile (@thehugxyz) August 15, 2023

A Vivid Future

As thrilling as all the expansion detailed above is, Zuckerberg and Quickly have shared that HUG is simply getting began. The truth is, because of a $5 million USD seed spherical led by Ohhsiny’s VC fund with participation from OKX and L’Oréal, HUG is now positioned to speed up its progress.

“These funds assist us construct out our product additional, and to actually flip HUG from a spot of discovery to one in all social commerce,” defined Zuckerberg, including, “We already really feel like we’re serving to artists and collectors join on an emotional stage like by no means earlier than, and these funds will assist us prolong that relationship from one in all appreciation to one in all patronage, and assist artists construct sustainable companies out of their work!”

Trying ahead, Quickly described HUG as “the Fb meets Etsy for a brand new technology of creators who’re inquisitive about blockchain and rising expertise,” joking that, how may they not be with Randi of their nook?

Quickly additional defined that as creators shift into an period the place they’re now not promoting their work in a single single medium however somewhat in a variety of mediums, on-chain or in any other case, HUG desires to assist them discover these choices and supply a one-stop store.

“Equally, we imagine the shoppers of the brand new technology may also buy artwork throughout a number of mediums,” shared Zuckerberg, including that “Purchasers of NFTs nonetheless purchase prints for his or her wall, and equally, we hope that by permitting artists to precise themselves by a number of mediums, we are able to persuade each single artwork lover to additionally grow to be artwork collectors and curators on the blockchain.”

Encouraging phrases from the “Mom Hugger”

“First off, I’ll say that bear markets come and go. After I was on the frontlines of Web2, there was the identical quantity of uncertainty and extremes of euphoria and despair. Being on the earth of rising tech is all the time scary and overwhelming, however it is usually an unimaginable alternative to be taught. My recommendation is to maintain exploring, continue to learn, preserve creating, and extra importantly, bear in mind to have enjoyable.” Zuckerberg continued.