Dear Polkadot Community,

I am Tycho Masius, a member of Chaos Collective and ChaosDAO. I have been a longstanding member of the Polkadot community, and I am reaching out to seek feedback and support for T54DAO, the DAO that I am in the process of building.

Intro

The Polkadot ecosystem currently lacks cultural relevancy. To build a strong and diverse ecosystem, we need to empower artists to create for themselves and their local communities, bridging the gap with the Polkadot ecosystem. T54DAO originated from Chaos Collective, a free-form music collective in the Polkadot/Kusama ecosystem that, among other achievements, produced the first multi-resourced music album. Following the launch of Polkadot, users dispersed across different parachains, forming sub-ecosystems. Soon after, the pursuit of financial security led many artists and creatives away, this also happened with Chaos Collective. Kusama had culture but the bird is dead, we now have a unique position to create our own culture, not ruled by big entities, but by the community.

I strongly believe that an active cultural scene is one of the elements Polkadot lacks the most. Culture and art provide an opportunity for people to take a break, look around, and add depth to the community. I am also aware that not every creative person can create art. There is a significant distinction between art and culture, but both need cultivation to thrive.

I aim to re-engage people with the ecosystem by empowering creative individuals to produce music and art through bounties and cross-DAO initiatives, showing that Polkadot is very much alive. The DAO will prioritize short-form creative content, and establish a revenue stream through (music) events. These events will also serve as a foundation for content creation and a means to promote the ecosystem. Our goal is to introduce Polkadot organically to local non-crypto people, not force crypto on them. Our content and events will be ecosystem-branded but emphasize music and art rather than crypto and blockchain. While this approach may seem unconventional, I believe it is essential to extend beyond the Polkadot and Web 3 bubble. What better way to achieve this than by celebrating life and creativity?

I have worked in the events, media, and non-profit cultural scene for many years, and I know this world well. I have been in contact with numerous labels, artists, and creative organizations, all operating locally. Many forms of collaboration in various countries worldwide are possible, and the local reach this would enable is not to be underestimated. I don't believe in handouts; I do believe that artists and creative organizations are uniquely positioned to have a more long-lasting impact than many other initiatives in the eco, and that this could work complementarily to other projects.

Recently, many content proposals have been supported, but we don't have anything in place to pique interest in Polkadot or to draw people toward learning more about it. We require a means to communicate effectively with individuals outside the crypto space and I am looking to the community to help me figure out how to fund this initiative.

The DAO
Fun fact, the name of our DAO is inspired by a tweet from Alice Und Bob. The DAO is made with manageable layers in mind; this allows the DAO to be a true working DAO, allowing artists/community members to earn and collaborate while creating profitable and self-sustaining creative projects and promoting the ecosystem.

More info about the structure of the DAO can be found here

I want to build a Polkadot native DAO, owned by the community, utilizing the tech that is being built in the eco and pushing for specific Dapps to be built. The DAO will utilize our network and the knowledge of multiple community members to not only create profitable creative projects and bring culture back to Polkadot but will also focus on diversifying the Polkadot treasury with the profit the DAO makes.

The team
Together with Chaos Collective core members, I will create a fully transparent DAO, have a multisig in place and reach out to teams and projects in the eco to collaborate. I will also ensure that some prominent community members and public faces are advisors and multisig members.

The question
I believe this is one of the most important things our ecosystem can do for itself, and for the community, but funding this isn't easy. Although it may not be fully clear to some community members how this directly impacts the ecosystem, I am asking to keep an open mind. We need, more than ever, to cultivate the (regular) community and I believe doing this through art and music is the best way. For this reason, I propose a 6-month loan where we will stake a certain amount of DOT and use these staking rewards to fund our initial plans. The community can afterward decide if we have proven our worth to the ecosystem.

To have enough staking rewards we would ideally have a loan of 100,000 DOT, this is a lot, but as it is a loan it would not be spent. Of course, this could be done with less or more. The more we have the more projects and bounties we can do.

I know that some community members don't look at treasury loans in a positive way, but this seems a very safe way for the community to help us revive the spirit of the bird. I welcome any feedback, ideas, or criticism. Feel free to reach out to me on Twitter or comment on this discussion.

Tycho