📖 Artizen Playbook

Learn how to fund breakthroughs in art, science, technology, and culture.

Welcome to Artizen

Thanks for joining our mission to fund human creativity.

Artizen is more than a platform. It’s a new kind of game—one designed to be fun, fair, and rewarding for everyone who plays.

Why invent a new game? Because the old ways of funding art, science, technology, and culture are broken. The hoops we force creators to jump through—the impossible odds stacked against them; it's a rigged game with dumb rules that celebrate conformity over creativity.

At Artizen, we’re flipping the board. Here, anyone can launch their own fund to support the projects that matter most to their community. We've raised millions for artists, scientists, entrepreneurs, and creators of every kind. Not by gatekeeping—but by making the rules fair, the incentives clear, and the process fun.

Treat this playbook like a guide for your favorite game: not a list of chores, but a strategy to win.

Together, let’s fund human creativity.

Love,
​René Pinnell
​Founder of Artizen
​
​P.S. I'm OBSESSED

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🚀 Quickstart

Artizen is a funding platform for creators. Each season:

1. Sponsors raise money for community Funds.

2. Creators submit projects to those Funds.

3. Everyone votes. Top projects get curated.

4. Curated projects sell Artifacts—a new kind of digital collectible—to their fans.

5. Each sale unlocks match funding.

6. Sell the most Artifacts, win cash prizes at season’s end.

The goal is simple: fund breakthroughs in art, science, technology, and culture.

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🛠 Setup

Three ways to play. Choose your path.

• Launch a new Fund
  Support the creators in your community by launching a new Fund.
  ​→ Apply to launch a Fund

• Become a Sponsor
  Raise money for your community and earn rewards by sponsoring a Fund.
  ​→ Become a sponsor

• Submit Your Project
  Compete for match funding and cash prizes by submitting your project to Funds.
  ​→ Submit your project

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🕹️ Gameplay

Each season has two phases: Curation and Competition.

🗳️ Curation

1. Earn Voting Power
   Back projects, sponsor Funds, or engage to earn voting power.

2. Vote for Projects
   Cast votes for your favorite projects. Smash that vote button!

3. Get Curated
   Top projects get curated for Funds and move on to the next phase.

🏆 Competition

1. Sell Artifacts
   Fans buy cultural Artifacts to earn rewards and support projects they love.

2. Unlock Match Funding
   Sell $10 in Artifacts, get $10 matched by each Fund backing your project.

3. Win Cash Prizes
   Each Fund awards a cash prize to its top-selling project. And the top 3 projects across all Funds win the prestigious Artizen Prize.

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💸 Payouts

Where the money goes each season.

💦 How Funding Flows

• 100% of sponsor dollars go to Funds. Artizen takes no cut.

• 10% of each Fund becomes a cash prize for the top project.

• The other 90% is split equally among curated projects as Available Match Funding. Every $1 in Artifact sales unlocks $1 from each Fund backing the project—while funds last.

• Any unused match funding rolls over for next season.

💰 How Creators Get Paid

• Creators keep 100% of their Artifact sales—Artizen takes no cut—but the money is held until the end of the season.

• Creators receive one combined payout at season’s end: Artifact sales + match funding + any cash prizes.

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📌 Example

Josh starts the Public Art Fund for Portland creators. He raises $10,000 from neighbors and local businesses. 10%—or $1,000—is set aside as a cash prize for the top project. The remaining $9,000 is split equally among the top 3 curated projects selected by community vote:

• Street Mural - a community painting created by Victor

• Tree Sculpture - a whimsical statue created by Sarah

• Little Library - a network of micro-libraries created by Zach

Each curated project receives $3,000 in Available Match Funding. To unlock that money, they sell cultural Artifacts to their fans. For every $10 raised in Artifact sales, $10 of match funding is unlocked—until it runs out.

1. Street Mural 🎨
   ​Sells $3,500 in Artifacts → unlocks full $3,000 match + wins $1,000 prize
   ​Total Raised = $7,500

2. Tree Sculpture 🌳
   ​Sells $3,000 in Artifacts → unlocks full $3,000 match
   ​Total Raised = $6,000

3. Little Library 📚
   ​Sells $2,000 in Artifacts → unlocks $2,000 match
   ​Total Raised = $4,000

Little Library didn’t unlock its full $3,000 in match funding, so the remaining $1,000 rolled over to the next season of the Public Art Fund.

But here’s the twist: Sarah’s Tree Sculpture was also curated for the Harmonia Fund for female artists, which added $2,000 in match funding. That means her $3,500 in sales unlocked $3,000 from the Public Art Fund plus $2,000 from Harmonia—raising her total to $8,500.

This reveals a key strategy: getting curated by multiple Funds multiplies your match. One dollar can unlock $2, $3, or more depending on how many Funds back your project.

Victor’s Street Mural took it even further. It ranked second across all projects and won a $5,000 Artizen Prize—bringing his total to $17,000.

The takeaway? Get curated by as many Funds as possible. Sell as many Artifacts as you can. That’s how you win big.

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💖 Tips & Fees

Supporting creators and the platform behind them.

• Tipping is optional—but appreciated. Sponsors can tip Fund directors, and fans or creators can tip Artizen. These tips help sustain the time and energy it takes to run Funds and build Artizen.

• Artizen takes no platform fees. But payment processors do:

  • Credit cards: 3.5%

  • Bank transfers: 0.8% (capped at $5)

  • Crypto: 1.5% + Gas

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🎁 Rewards and Benefits

When sponsors back a Fund or fans support a project, they get more than good vibes. They earn votes, Artifacts, rewards—and real impact.

✨ Sponsors earn:

• Votes: Earn 10 votes for every $1 you contribute. Monthly sponsors earn double.

• Keys: Earn 1 key for every $1 you contribute. Monthly sponsors earn double. Keys give you an ownership stake in the Artifacts collected by the Fund.

• Rewards: Funds can offer perks for different contribution tiers—like sponsor shoutouts, promotional placement, or brand visibility.

• Impact: Every $1 you contribute is matched 1:1 by fans supporting projects.

💫 Fans earn:

• Votes: Earn 10 votes for every $1 you contribute to a project.

• Artifacts: Earn 1 Artifact for every $10 you contribute.

• Rewards: Creators can offer rewards—like digital art, merch, or access—based on how much you contribute. Think Kickstarter-style rewards.

• Impact: Every $1 you contribute unlocks $1, $2, or more in match funding, depending on how many Funds back the project.

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🖼️ Artifacts

A new kind of digital collectible.

Artifacts capture the essence of a project and its intended impact on the world. They can be a sketch, concept art, looping gif, photo, animation, video—any media that marks a milestone and channels the vibe of a project.

To be clear, Artifacts are not projects themselves. Rather, they are unique works of art that represent the "big ideas" behind a project.

Artifacts from past seasons

💎 Collecting Artifacts

Artifacts cost $10 and are sold as open edition NFTs—but only during the competition phase of a season. You can buy as many as you want from curated projects, and 100% of your purchase goes to the creator. Each sale also unlocks additional match funding—amplifying your impact.

For every Artifact purchased, we mint multiple copies:

• One for the Fan who bought it

• One for the Creator

• One for Artizen

• One for each Fund backing the project

This way, everyone has skin in the game—and a share in the upside. At the end of the season, sales close, and the total number of Artifacts minted becomes the fixed supply.

💥 Investing in Impact

Artifacts aren’t equity. They don’t give you shares, control, or IP rights in a project. With Artifacts, you don’t own the project—you own the impact.

Like all works of art, the value of an Artifact comes from its aesthetics, rarity, and emotional resonance. But its true worth depends on the impact of the project it represents. The greater the impact, the more valuable the Artifact.

For example, imagine a research project in material science. Their Artifact might simply be a math equation scribbled in a notebook. But if that equation changes how we produces energy, its value could skyrocket.

Most Artifacts will go to zero—because most projects fail. But a few will transform the world. And those will be priceless.

🎨 Artifact Guidelines

Your Artifact is the main visual for your project. Make it beautiful. Artifacts are NOT trailers, ads, posters, screenshots, pitch decks, or marketing collateral. As such, we do NOT allow any text, logos, or graphic overlays—unless they’re integral to the art itself (e.g., graphic design or collage).

✅ DO

• Use a SQUARE format (1:1)

• Stand alone as a unique work of art

• Document an important milestone

• Capture the aesthetic and vibe of your project

❌ DON’T

• NO TEXT

• NO GRAPHIC OVERLAYS

• NO LOGOS

⚙️ Technical Specs

IMAGE: Square, 1000px or greater, .jpg or .png file type, 10MB or smaller, and NO text or graphic overlays.

GIF (optional): Square, 500px or greater, .gif file type, 50MB or smaller, and NO text or graphic overlays.

VIDEO (optional): Square, 45 seconds or less, no more than 100MB, .mp4, loopable, and NO text or graphic overlays.