In an generation the place era is riding the evolution of the entirety, together with artwork, at an exceptional tempo, artists are searching for platforms the place they are able to now not most effective exist however thrive regardless of ever-changing algorithms.
One such platform, born amidst the tumultuous backdrop of a world pandemic is HUG, which has proven itself to be a beacon for equivalent 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 outdoor of the Web3 house, we stuck up with its co-founders, Randi Zuckerberg and Debbie Quickly, and like all tale price listening to we concept it easiest to begin in the beginning.
One Message and One Venture
Whilst HUG could have been shaped in 2022, it in point of fact began a number of years previous as the sector confronted a world pandemic that may convey forth adjustments within the lives of just about everybody on Earth, together with Zuckerberg and Quickly.
“Many would possibly not know this… however after Fb and earlier than NFTs, I used to be a Broadway actress, after which manufacturer,” shared Zuckerberg, including “Covid close down most of the presentations that I used to be running on, and that ended in me immersing myself in NFTs so that you can marry my passions for each arts and era.”
She additional defined “Prior to I knew it, I finished up turning into a mentor to many virtual creators. They all had been suffering with the similar factor – feeling challenged by way of the set of rules, and usually feeling unseen and now and then misplaced on learn how to scale their creative trade.”
Desperate to scale the prevailing make stronger she used to be 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 may permit artists and artwork fanatics to make stronger every different.”
As destiny would have it, Quickly used to be additionally on that exact same seek. Having fallen in love with Web3 when navigating a mid-pandemic transfer from Singapore to LA, she determined to position her background within the finance and start-up sector to the aspect for a second and sought out kickstarting a occupation within the NFT house.
“I put a want out within the Meta Angels Discord,” she defined, including “To my marvel, Randi discovered and spoke back to my message there one entire week later! We each are hooked in to leveling the taking part in box for any person to achieve arts and era, so this in point of fact used to be a fit made in heaven.”
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— HUG 🤗 | Follow for an Artist Profile (@thehugxyz) August 25, 2023
Sharing her aspect of the tale, Zuckerberg defined how Quickly used to be nonetheless going by way of an anon id once they first met but when anything else about early Web3, that used to be regularly observed as a plus! “We were given onto a Zoom name a couple of days later, and right away get on well,” Zuckerberg shared, including “As I used to be getting to understand Debbie, I used to be blown away by way of all of her concept management items that she used to be striking out on Twitter, and knew that there may now not be a greater particular person to embark in this adventure with.”
Embark on a adventure they did. Zuckerberg expressed, “In a nutshell, HUG’s venture is to lend a hand all artists develop into inventive marketers, and we’re doing that thru discovery, alternative, and schooling.”
What began as two like-minded folks with a shared imaginative and prescient ultimately grew into 200 folks with a shared purpose, and from the ones 200 passionate folks, has emerged a various network of over 3,000 artists from over 85 other nations.
Quickly defined that “We’ve deliberately flown beneath the radar and have shyed away from being surrounded by way of moments of hype. As a substitute, we’ve been in step with our venture from day one, and feature followed a in point of fact intentional and inclusive option to development our network.”
Neighborhood Assets
In an area the place just about the entirety of worth is hidden in secret alpha teams or housed in the back of a token gated membership, HUG has dared to do one thing radically other, offering unfastened sources for each artists and creditors alike.
Those sources aren’t fast threads on X that you simply will have to bookmark for later or a halfway-finished hook to get you to shop for into one thing on the finish. As a substitute, HUG has devoted an important period of time and sources to supply full-length guides and paperwork put in combination by way of its analysis staff.
Explaining why this used to be and is necessary, Zuckerberg shared that “I’ve all the time been a company believer that consider needs to be earned, now not given. We by no means wish to extract worth earlier than we offer it, and providing those unfastened sources is one among our techniques of establishing consider inside of our artist and collector network.”
Additional riding the importance of this determination house, Quickly shared that “Out there schooling has all the time been a core trust of ours. Specifically in Web3, the place the era is evolving sooner than the typical particular person can stay alongside of, we imagine it’s our duty to demystify those developments and cause them to simple for everybody to know.”
On the time of writing, HUG has seven full-length guides and workbooks up on its web site beneath the Assets tab. Those vary from “The Final Artist Advertising and marketing Manual Vol 1.” to “The Artwork Collector’s Spouse: An Interactive Workbook” – once more, to be had without spending a dime, as HUG believes any person development within the house will have to be stewards and now not gatekeepers.
To this finish, the platform has not too long ago had the chance to spouse with TransientLabs, one among its many like-minded companions, and ran a six-week-long Innovation Lab program that presented over 200 artists to dynamic NFTs by way of Brief’s no-code tooling.
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— HUG 🤗 | Follow for an Artist Profile (@thehugxyz) August 22, 2023
Following the discharge, Quickly shared “We noticed a number of artists touchdown their first-ever commissions thru HUG. The end result of that used to be many glad artists, or even happier creditors, who had been thrilled to procure a personalised, one-of-a-kind art work” – which incorporates Quickly herself, as she commissioned a hand-painted soccer from artist and Ladies and Guns founder, Sara Baumann.
Energy in Profiles
Whilst discoverability can regularly be used as a buzzword within the Web3 artwork realm, HUG has reputedly embraced each and every side of the phrase and made it a part of its core venture. This has been finished now not in a huge approach however quite thru an excessively explicit and thought-out manner.
“From day one, we got down to construct the inclusiverse.”
-Randi Zuckerberg
“From day one, we got down to construct the inclusiverse, which used to be in point of fact our method of describing a universe… or metaverse if you are going to? The place everybody feels incorporated,” shared Zuckerberg, including “I’m proud that on the most sensible of the HUG homepage, you are going to see a banner calling for us to have a good time numerous creators from all walks of lifestyles. Those communities will have to be celebrated and really feel supported 24/7, one year a 12 months, and now not simply in explicit months.”
This venture additionally moves a chord on the subject of house for Quickly, who shared that “As a contemporary transplant to The united states and a girl of colour, that is deeply private as neatly.”
She additional expressed “I do know many of us like to mention that Web3 doesn’t care about race, gender, and so on., however the fact is that many subconscious biases nonetheless lift on from the standard arts and era worlds. Through acknowledging that from day one, we will be able to be intentional about the way in which we design HUG, each from a product and network point of view.”
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 completed thru a thesis of community-driven and decentralized curation through which the contributors vote for which artists will have to be onboarded to the platform and which artists will have to be decided on for more than a few sourced alternatives.
Early on, HUG identified the desire for a platform that gives a platform. In consequence, it has advanced complete profile equipment that lend a hand artists to get eyes on and in addition receive advantages creditors having a look to stay alongside of their favourite creators.
“We’re biased, however we indubitably imagine that [artist profiles] are an artist’s easiest instrument to getting observed, shared, and celebrated,” stated Zuckerberg, including “Now not most effective are you able to accumulate essentially the most wonderful, considerate critiques from appreciators of your paintings, you’ll be able to additionally exhibit all of your portfolio of labor, each inside of and outdoor Web3. We will’t wait to stay upgrading those Artist Profiles, and produce further capability and interactivity there.”
Along with this, HUG boasts an “Artist Updates” tab, which Quickly “Permits artists to proportion necessary updates immediately to the e-mail inboxes in their fans.”
She joked “Whilst we adore the gm vibes and network discourse on X, from time to time artists and creditors simply need a devoted position to proportion and uncover artwork on the market. Nowadays, masses of artists are posting their updates to HUG each day.”
Highlighting some of the important sides of the Updates instrument, Quickly referred to as out {that a} majority of NFT marketplaces have a tendency to exhibit creators which can be trending in line with buying and selling quantity, which in flip unfairly disadvantages rising artists.
“What we’ve got constructed permits artwork to be favored for the way it emotionally resonates, versus merely its financial worth,”
-Debbie Quickly
Past the Virtual
With the royalties side of NFTs being all over again in peril because of shifts in stance from quite a lot of main marketplaces and loopholes created by way of aggregators, we requested HUG what they’re doing to arrange their artists for this alteration and to our marvel, it’s one thing they’ve nearly expected in a way, from inception.
“Artists didn’t get up one morning as a result of NFTs and determined that they had been artists,” stated Zuckerberg, including “As a substitute, they have got been artists for years, even many years, earlier than NFTs existed! As such, our view has all the time been that NFTs will have to be one of the ways in which artists will have to glance to monetize their art work and that it’s totally ok to shift priorities from one solution to any other relying in the marketplace and even what conjures up and excites them.”
She additional defined, that during make stronger of this, now not most effective has HUG revealed quite a lot of sources at the subject but it surely has additionally presented mechanisms like its fee characteristic, the place artists can opt-in to obtain fee requests thru their HUG profile.
Different projects come with vending alternatives in addition to Open Name alternatives for each bodily and virtual exhibitions, like its most up-to-date and ongoing name in partnership with the Seattle NFT Museum.
📣 ARTISTS WANTED
We wish to proportion your artwork that stocks your heritage! 🗺️✨
HUG is partnering with the huge @seanftmuseum, the sector’s first NFT museum, for our debut collaborative exhibition “Cultural Kaleidoscope” ✨
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🔗 Put up beneath ⤵️ %.twitter.com/erP2TMquiG— HUG 🤗 | Follow for an Artist Profile (@thehugxyz) August 15, 2023
A Brilliant Long run
As thrilling as the entire enlargement detailed above is, Zuckerberg and Quickly have shared that HUG is solely getting began. If truth be told, because of a $5 million USD seed spherical led by way of Ohhsiny’s VC fund with participation from OKX and L’Oréal, HUG is now situated to boost up its enlargement.
“Those finances lend a hand us construct out our product additional, and to in point of fact flip HUG from a spot of discovery to one among social trade,” defined Zuckerberg, including, “We already really feel like we’re serving to artists and creditors attach on an emotional stage like by no means earlier than, and those finances will lend a hand us prolong that courting from one among appreciation to one among patronage, and lend a hand artists construct sustainable companies out in their paintings!”
Having a look ahead, Quickly described HUG as “the Fb meets Etsy for a brand new era of creators who’re considering blockchain and rising era,” joking that, how may they now not be with Randi of their nook?
Quickly additional defined that as creators shift into an generation the place they’re now not promoting their paintings in a single unmarried medium however quite in a variety of mediums, on-chain or in a different way, HUG desires to lend a hand them discover the ones choices and supply a one-stop store.
“In a similar fashion, we imagine the shoppers of the brand new era may also acquire artwork throughout a couple of mediums,” shared Zuckerberg, including that “Shoppers of NFTs nonetheless purchase prints for his or her wall, and in a similar way, we are hoping that by way of permitting artists to specific themselves thru a couple of mediums, we will be able to persuade each and every unmarried artwork lover to additionally develop into artwork creditors and curators at the blockchain.”
Encouraging phrases from the “Mom Hugger”
“First off, I can say that endure markets come and move. When I used to be on the frontlines of Web2, there used to be the same quantity of uncertainty and extremes of euphoria and melancholy. Being on the planet of rising tech is all the time frightening and overwhelming, however additionally it is an improbable alternative to be told. My recommendation is to stay exploring, continue to learn, stay developing, and extra importantly, take into account to have amusing.” Zuckerberg persevered.
