Refraction advocates for the transformative power of art to shape and rejuvenate culture. As the world grapples with a rising authenticity crisis, there's an urgent call to connect, support, and champion the voices of independent artists. Preserving human connections and values is now more crucial than ever.

As we close in on 2 years as a DAO, let’s reflect on what we’ve accomplished together, and illuminate a potential path to fulfill the promise of a new internet, towards a more equitable and creative world.

How We Started

In November 2021 we published our Hello World! Mirror post, anchored in the grassroots movements that fueled underground culture and inspired by new tools and new modes of organization. This marked the beginning of our quest to reimagine and rebuild a cultural industry that has often let down artists and creators, aspiring to construct a world where power is distributed with greater equity.

Our shared mission brought people together from different disciplines and stages of their artistic career — from emerging artists in Brazil, to rave punks in Malaysia, to the vibrant Moroccan digital art community, and iconic music and art spaces of NYC — uniting under a common vision to co-create and co-own a decentralized creative community. An artist-run movement that — like so many that came before it — formed a space to amplify vital independent voices.

We realized quickly that for real change to happen, we needed to build tangible examples of the future we believe in — to move beyond theory and into real life. What began as an experiment in decentralized curation and community has grown into a passionate global family of over 1500 artists, producers, musicians, DJs, promoters, club owners, collectors, cultural operators and fans.

Here’s a quick look at what we’ve managed to accomplish together.

▹ 27 International Events

▹ +30 Grant Projects Funded

▹ 700+ Artists Members

▹ 2500+ NFTs Minted

▹ 10,000+ Attendees

▹ Over $500K Back to Artists

In reflection, we also want to look to the future, with a clear vision on how we operate as a DAO, how we create greater on-chain alliances and coalitions, how we incubate new ideas, and grow creative web3 as a whole, for the future that our community wants to see.

In web3, nothing works in silos, and nothing is perfect. We’ve learned a lot from our team, our community and artists and continue to adapt, change and learn. We know the road to a truly equitable culture space is long, with many twists and turns, but we are steadfast in our goal. We continue to partner with different organizations across web2 and web3 to carry out our programming, increase our membership, and further our curatorial mandate worldwide — collecting everything in a unified online cultural space — an artist-led platform debuting in 2024. By gathering the multiplicity of works, projects, art and initiatives, it begins to create a cohesive vision of how a worldwide curatorial initiative really can work.

Join us as we continue our journey.

How To Join

The best way to ensure Refraction’s ongoing mission is to purchase a Refract Pass.

As a Refract Pass holder you’re helping a growing community of artists, and cultural operators explore new modes of expression through groundbreaking work and special projects.

Our Pass holders get exclusive access to the best curation and experiences.

• Exclusive airdrops of art from our founding artists including upcoming work from Sasha Stiles, Rick Silva, Nicolas Sassoon and more - only available to Refract Pass holders.

• Full access to all of our global events, workshops and community gatherings including our annual tentpole events at Miami Art Basel, EthDenver, NFTNYC, ETHCC and more.

• Each Refract Pass is a unique artwork created from our DAO-led generative art tool (currently in alpha).

• In 2024 we will be increasing our community engagement through monthly townhalls, regular artist talks, more grant programs, special workshops and creative projects.

• Refract Passes are limited to 1,537 and are over ⅔ sold out.

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About Refraction

Refraction is an artist-owned community leading the next wave of digital art, music and culture — online, onchain and IRL. The organization champions digital arts and culture, through curated experiences of art, performance, and new and evolving technology (blockchain, ai, etc…) sharing global creativity and empowering diverse artists with new tools for sustainability and creativity.