Voice’s NFT Residency Programs Put the Power Back in the Hands of Artists

By participating in these immersive programs, digital creators will be empowered to thrive in the NFT art space.

There’s no denying that NFTs hold awesome potential — particularly for artists. The technology is revolutionizing how artists create new projects, connect with collectors, and gain greater agency over their work.

One of the most groundbreaking platforms making it easier than ever for artists to mint and share their NFT creations is Voice. The platform’s NFTs are exportable to WAX and can be held in your WAX Cloud Wallet and/or sold on leading secondary marketplaces.

Since launching, Voice has been on a mission to empower emerging creators to leverage NFTs and level the playing field in the world of blockchain.

To push its mission a step further, the Voice NFT™ Residency program aims to support artists from underrepresented and marginalized communities. The flagship residency program gives digital creators the opportunity to work on their artistic vision and is uniquely curated to bring together a diverse group of artists to facilitate the exchange of different techniques, expertise and perspectives.

The Residency covers themes that connect creators to the world’s most pertinent topics, such as equity, justice, identity, future-proof and well-being.

Another distinguishing feature is the degree of support provided to the artists, including mentorship and project guidance, a creation stipend, bonus incentives and promotion of their work to the wider community.

Many of the creators on the platform are first movers in the space, and Voice is all-in when it comes to helping them achieve their creative goals and share their signature style on the global stage.

If this is an initiative that you or someone you know may be interested in, you can apply for the next season here. Residents are accepted on a rolling basis.

Voice x Women Rise Residency Program

In order to expand the opportunities for creators, Voice is also launching a series of partner residency programs, the first being with popular NFT project Women Rise.

“This partnership is one of those moments where synergies just really line up,” says Emily Drewry, Director of Marketing for Voice. “We worked with curator Maliha Abidi for our exhibition last year at NFT.NYC and have loved watching her project Women Rise grow. Her values-led approach is incredibly inspiring. We believe she’s the perfect partner for us to bring this new residency program to life.”

The Voice x Women Rise Residency Program has a driving motivation to celebrate women, to encourage conversation, and to empower those who have been disenfranchised or been left out in some way. The program has the power to challenge, educate and be a movement for social and cultural change.

“It’s validation,” explains Drewry. “That’s something we talk about a lot here at Voice. You don’t need us to tell you that you’re an artist, but you might need a sale or you might need the affirmation from a fellow artist. Whatever those needs are, we are trying to make them come to life for people and the residency format has been very successful in doing so. It pairs artists with their peers and also provides resources from our side to help them kickoff an NFT-specific career. The more people we can provide resources to the better.”

Following the selection of 12 female artists, applications for the Voice x Women Rise Residency Program have closed for this season. Projects are scheduled to launch in June 2022.

“We put a lot of effort into curation and strengthening these relationships because we want to be the place where the world’s most talented digital artists want to be,” adds Drewry. “We want to give them a voice. There’s a lot more to come from us. The residency program is something we’ve tried and it’s worked for artists. We’ve continued to adapt it per their requests and now we’re just going to keep it running. Whatever each generation of artists needs, that’s how we’re going to continue to evolve it over time.”

The Future of NFTs Will Give More Power to Artists

This week, Voice announced its new partner residency with an award-winning creative agency called Street Theory, focused on helping graffiti and street artists enter the NFT space. The Residency has been co-curated by Liza Quiñonez, co-founder and CEO of Street Theory, and Kesia Ramos, curator and founder of The Art at the Table.

Artists selected for the Residency include 123Klan, Alice Mizrachi, Decertor, Don Rimx, El Cekis, Indie184, Jc Rivera, Kano, L’Amour Supreme, Marka27, Nicole Saglar, SEX el niño de las pinturas, Sheefy McFly, and Sydney James.

The Street Theory Residency collection will be dropped on Voice on June 21st, and also be revealed at a private event at the Edition Hotel during NFT.NYC. This is the first residency program that will be displaying artists’ work in a physical gallery, with part of the proceeds going toward the Coalition for the Homeless. You can check out the partner residency with Street Theory here.

By participating in these immersive programs, digital creators will be empowered to thrive in the NFT art space. Explore and collect NFTs from residency program artists or apply for the second season of the Voice NFT™ Residency program and hone your artistic vision.

Stay tuned, it’s going to be a summer of amazing up-and-coming art dropping on the Voice platform.

24, May 2022