1: Who is COI
Colours of India (COI) is a community of artists, creators and web3 enthusiasts, who are on a mission to bring Indian NFT art to the world! As one of the largest of its kind in the subcontinent, COI aims to develop a vibrant culture of diversity, openness and freedom of expression on and offline.
COI has a twofold mission:
1. To serve as a platform for Indian art through empowering Indian artists enter the Web3 space and by giving them a voice in the global art community.
2. To spread awareness about the decentralised creator economy/web3 and the NFT space in India.
We look at the real, underlying challenges and provide dynamic solutions that also act as a foundation and launchpad for the future leaders, other organisations and allied industries.
Challenges we see in the present art industry :
1. Holistic Skill building for Artists :Large swathes of traditional Indian and SA artists are being left behind in the new creator economy due to lack of soft and technical skills, and existing socio-cultural barriers that need crossing to transition to Web3 to be able to participate in the emerging economy for creators.
2. Traditional Art Market Failures and Gatekeeping:Creators and collectors do not have a common platform to discover and follow each other.
3. Web3 Creative Economy:Few to no scaling opportunities for legacy creative industries such as music and film. No bandwidth or exposure to possibilities enabled by Web3.
Solutions offered
- Web3 Education and outreach: We provide education, empowerment, and agency to Artists through community based initiatives. Celebrating World NFT Day is a part of this.
- Web3 Industry Development: COI is enabling legacy industries for transitioning into Web3. We are paving paths and holding hands through qualified opinion, expert skill sets, functional experience and concerted efforts. We aim to maximize the value creation for all our partners.
- Social impact by leveraging web3 technologies : The emergence of Web3 opens up new avenues for achieving social goals through education, grants to artisans, community support and outreach, creation of digital commons, and increasing financial security. COI aims to lead this change from the frontiers of the interface between web3 and legacy domains.
- Public Policy and engagement : There is a gap between the inherent benefit provided by web3 technologies to the creative industry and the prohibitive nature of new laws and regulations. One of the main objectives of COI is to bridge this gap through engagement and advocacy.
2 : It’s brief history
COI is a community that organically coalesced in cyberspace sometime in September, 2021, as a direct response, in the form of art, to the abrupt disconnection of human connection owing to the pandemic.
Since then, COI has hosted hosted 100s of online spaces bringing the community together.
3 :Why celebrate World NFT day
When people talk about web3 or the blockchain, they often jump straight to cryptocurrency and to a long list of murky, dubious connotations about a world of unregulated speculation and the dark web. What often gets lost in this narrative, is the idea of decentralisation and empowerment that this new creator economy brings through the use of blockchain technology.
Over the past three years or so, there has been a strong sub-culture made up entirely of creators and artists from across the country bubbling beneath the surface of web3. And this year, as we celebrate World NFT Day and 5 years of the first ERC 721 token, COI decided to bring this community to the forefront by hosting the country’s largest decentralised pan-India exhibition of art from 100 of India’s most prominent NFT artists in a series of events that will run simultaneously across 9 cities.
Web3 has been built on the idea of the greater good for all creators and there is a term called ‘WAGMI’ that we often use. It is short for ‘We’re all gonna make it”. This event exemplifies the power of wagmi and the strength of community. Here’s what a group of small creator communities can accomplish when they come together. A series of 9 events across 9 cities! All showcasing the same collection of art from 101 of India’s finest digital artists. Multiple panels and conversations about the future of web3. All completely powered by the community with no monetary incentives or sponsors. And all put together in under two weeks!
Art can truly bring people together. And people working in sync as a community can truly change the world.
4: How are we celebrating World NFT Day
On 20th of September, COI celebrates World NFT day by organizing a nation-wide community-powered decentralized art exhibition organized by it. There are 101 NFT artists showcased all This is slated to be the largest distributed community-powered NFT so far. The event will be held in nine cities across the country, and will showcase the work of 100 leading Indian NFT artists.
5: Who are responsible for making the many events happen.
This is a celebration organized purely by communities, for no profit motive, who have all come together to contribute in their own unique way. The event is being organized by Colours of India (COI), a leading Web3 community in India. COI has partnered with a number of organizations and fellow communities to make the event possible, including TagTalk, Web3Assam, ZoHouse/Zo Studio, Juicebix events,OcOc, and TinkerSpace, Panda Law, Official Community of Developers India.
The communities celebrating World NFT Day in the 9 cities are:-
Delhi- Colours of India
Guwahati- Web3Assam
Bangalore- BLRxZO
Goa – JuiceBox
Kochi – Resolutio& Web3Kerala
Chennai – NammaTribe
Ahmedabad – Web3 Events
Pune – PuneDao
Bhopal – TPGBhopal
6. Quote by Angad, co-founder COI:
“Web3 technology has empowered the artist more than ever before. Art transcends the ones and zeros of the technology it uses, which is why it is fundamental to sharing compelling stories that people can emotionally connect. There is no one more powerful than artists to make people feel and understand what the new generation of technologies means for the world, and we hope will help guide policy makers in crafting the enabling laws the web3 community needs and deserves ”.
