A special thanks to @Brennan and @rohit (among many others) for their input on this initiative, as well as all DAO Townhall participants who contributed thoughts and feedback to this improvement process. Another shout out is owed to @chikai for making these improvements possible on the Space Race tool.
SUMMARY
We received clear feedback coming off of Space Race 4 (SR4) on refining the Space Race tool and procedure overall, thanks to our community and SR4 participants. Much of this has been reflected in the dialogue surrounding our intended pivot to a quadratic voting structure (read [Request for Comment] Quadratic Voting for Space Race 5 for more details), but additional feedback pointed to other core elements of the Space Race as well.
The temptation to “boil the ocean” and tackle every opportunity for improvement all at once is real, but we deemed an application upgrade to be of critical importance. They’re the first step in an aspiring Operator’s journey, the focal point community members look to in deciding where to vote. The application should provide a clear and concise message as to why the author is deserving of the chance to curate in the SuperRare network, and to convey that, we knew the required template should better facilitate this emphasis.
Processing the community’s feedback, it became clear that what curious RARE voters craved the most was ultimately tighter focus. To put it simply, the original application was long: 17 questions is a lot for an audience to process…and in the last race, we received a historic count of 70 submissions. The number of the questions and their contents provided too much wiggle room to get off topic from the matters deemed most relevant to active voters, or address the success criteria we’ve seen proven by top-performing Spaces and their artists thus far.
That criteria essentially comes down to this:
- A distinguished vision for your Space
- A statement of who you are as a community member in Web3 and/or the world of artistic and creative pursuit at large
- A concrete plan for how you intend to run your Space
- A detailed example of past work to give legitimacy to that aforementioned plan
- A short pitch on what you can offer to the artists you intend to work with (afterall, the Spaces initiative is about empowering a wider and more diverse generation of new SuperRare artists and spurring their overall success – a responsibility Operators must acknowledge before proceeding to the application)
With pride, we’re debuting the new Space Race application below. We at SuperRare Labs are confident this update will significantly improve the stage on which potential Operators make a case for themselves, and give voters a better view for their decision making process.
The new application content below will be available for Space Race 5 via the Space Race tool (https://spacerace.superrare.com/). Submissions will open on January 16th, 12pm EST and close on Monday, Feb 6th, 11:59pm EST. Whether you’re bullish on starting a Space, or on playing a role in art curations (decentralized) future as a voter, we’re excited to see you there 
THE SPACE RACE APPLICATION
Section 1: YOUR SPACE
*Required
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*Your Space name:
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*In 280 characters or less, please state the vision for your Space – consider this your Tweetable elevator pitch:
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*Your Space’s email: This will not be shown in the public view of your application – yet. If you win, you will be required to have an email that the broader SuperRare community can reach you by in accordance with RareDao transparency guidelines. If your Space does not yet have a designated email, list the address of a founder instead.
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*Please describe your team:
*At least one required. Describe all team members who will have ongoing contribution.
*Name:
*Role: Founder, Marketing Lead, Admin, etc
*Email: This will not be shown in the public view of your application. SuperRare Labs needs your contact information for Space Race communications.
Socials: Twitter is strongly recommended for campaigning.
- SuperRare
*Short bio: (ex. Who are you? What sub-communities do you belong to? How are you a contributor to Web3, and/or art and technology?)
[280 character limit – the same as a Tweet!]
Section 2: YOUR PITCH
*Required
Please provide a mission statement for your Space and a concrete strategy for its first year run.
Include your curation strategy, and provide details on how you intend to make your Space successful. For example: cadence of releases, number of artworks, auction strategy, commission structure, artists who have agreed to work with you (or who you intend to reach out to), how you will promote said artists, etc.
We are looking for a proven commitment to growing artist careers, making sales, and representing a unique curatorial perspective.
Note: Transparency on your intended approach to commission structure is strongly recommended.
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When writing your plan, be sure you’re familiar with SuperRare’s fees and royalty structure. Consider how this will apply to the split of a sale between you and your artists.
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Though you will be able to change your commission structure, It is highly important to your potential artists, voters, and eventual collectors to have these terms made clear.
Feel free to attach a PDF file to further illustrate your answer in the “Supporting Links” section below.
Section 3: A CASE STUDY
*Required
Please describe your experience with marketing, promoting, and selling art in Web3. Examples of sold artworks, exhibitions, and collaborative drops are relevant.
- Web3 projects should take precedence here, but if you do not have that prior experience, build your case study around successful projects and sales you’ve achieved in the broader art/creative world.
- If you come from a more traditional art background, specify your plans to educate and convert collectors from your existing network into Web3 savvy art patrons.
- If you have experience across both Web3 and non-Web3 art endeavors, please speak to both!
Experience in neither? Get creative, and present a case study on a past accomplishment that involved both creative production and salesmanship. Ultimately, we are looking for a demonstration of leadership, creating network effects, and the ability to follow through on an ambitious idea.
Feel free to attach a PDF file to further illustrate your answer in the “Supporting Links” section below.
Section 4: ARTIST PITCH
*Required
If your dream artist was reading this, describe in 280 characters or less how you could impact their career.
That’s the same length as a Tweet – consider this a powerful piece of succinctly written content to later use while campaigning.
Section 5: SUPPORTING LINKS
We recommend:
- Create a 1-2 min Youtube video that explains why your Space will be uniquely valuable to SuperRare’s ecosystem.
- Share supporting documentation for your team overview, business plan, and/or case study.
- Share links to existing digital art marketplaces where you have demonstrated success
