Today Everywhere published a new poster on instagram, inspired by the Frequency of Equity.
I’ve thought a lot over the past months about how we can create/transition to a Sharing and Participation Economy as part of Everywhere and in helping to create and guide a small artist collective/residence in Lisbon called playspace.
playspace is an apartment that was generously lended for use by friends. The intention was to create a musical playground, and to activate an otherwise vacant space. We started with no commercial model which gave us freedom to explore. After deciding on a plan for each room, we bought some production equipment and furniture, and also put out a call for musical equipment from our circle of friends. It didn’t take us long to turn it into a productive, lively space.
The living room (performance/jam space + chill area) can host listening sessions, film screenings, tarot experiences, game nights and meet-ups in the evenings, and music lessons/practice during the day. The dream was to be able to easily record jam sessions and performances through a digital mixer (and without a laptop), so that the producers could take parts from the stems afterwards to incorporate into their tracks.
Visiting musicians and artists have stayed in the bedroom while in town to perform at nearby venues like Rumu and Those Who Dance. Those venues pay a contribution to the space which goes towards cleaning and utilities. The artists are encouraged to lead a workshop, masterclass, or to co-produce music during their stay.
There is a resident producer who uses the studio room (formerly the second bedroom) on most days, and collaborates with anyone staying there, as well as local musicians and producers who are in town or want to stop by for a session. He’s thinking of starting a record label from the space. We also have another resident producer who lives outside of Lisbon but comes in once a week to create and collaborate in the space.
A group of the most active producers/facilitators started doing a regular party at a location nearby, where they can test out new tracks. This also makes a bit of money that can be invested back into the space.
We learned a lot in just a few months about sharing resources, schedules, events, access. If you give creative people a place to create and hang out, you’ll soon have magic. And real artists don’t need or expect much, in terms of building specs or luxury.
For this reason, a lot of artist residencies are temporary, started to generate low-risk revenue for developers/landlords, and bring life and energy to the space and the neighborhood. We all know what follows from there — once licensing is approved, or the neighborhood becomes desirable, and/or the property rises in value, it’s sold: the owner/developer takes the profits, and the artists go hunting for their next home.
This kind of rinse-and-repeat, profit and hoard-it model is very boring to me; we can do better. And now some technologies that can help with fractionalized/tokenized ownership through the blockchain are being created that can help.
It comes at a perfect time. The billionaire class aren’t into the arts like they used to be, but patronage on a smaller level is very activated because of GoFundMe and Kickstarter. People want to share and support their friends and other aligned projects. Artists would also rather hang with their peers and patrons than get used by profiteers.
Here’s a model that I think can work based on what we’ve learned so far:
A property owner or investor offers their space for a fixed period of time to a group/collective of local artists. Depending on the space, these could be visual artists, musicians, dancers, producers, photographers, etc.
Some of those artists pay a monthly contribution for a a full-time residency with studio, atelier, rehearsal or performance space.
Visiting artists rent available bedrooms, and, like at playspace, are encouraged (or required) to host a masterclass, give a lesson, or co-create something with/for the house and its community. Could be art, could be music. They also pay a contribution for their stay, but perhaps the bill goes to the venue that booked them, which further expands the network.
Depending on the space, it may be possible to host events, operate a bar or teahouse, install a sauna/ice bath, screen films, have performances/workshops, gallery openings, etc.
Proceeds from the bar, tickets from performances, art sold in gallery openings … perhaps even some share of revenues from music royalties also comes back to the space…
…but it doesn’t just go directly into the pocket of the landlord. The unique aspect is that with each contribution/transaction, the artist or guest gains a fraction of equity in the project as a whole, including the real estate.
Revenues first cover utilities and other fixed costs, then start to buy into the physical real estate asset. Some revenue might be set aside as a fund for renovations, upgrades, new equipment, or parties. Managed cleverly, the project can grow in equity, paying off the investment/buying the property, supporting the artists day to day but also by making them partners in the project .. all without showing much of a profit from a tax perspective, which is also desirable for patrons.
Another support/revenue stream could be to establish a membership program with a small monthly due to further tighten and align the community (may also help with licensing for it to be a member’s club or association).
Over time, as the enterprise value grows, those artists who gave a lot to make the place special are rewarded with a piece of the equity. And the patrons/guests who attended events, bought art, and spent money at the bar or on the wellness facilities feel like part of the collective and hold equity in it.
This works if everyone has the understanding that no money can be extracted from the project. That’s nothing new for the artists, but for those still trying to maximize capital at every turn, it won’t be a fit.
Ideally there should be a decrease in equity over time when artists leave the collective, or for patrons/guests who were frequent visitors but then stop attending for whatever reason. Equity should ebb and flow based on current participation.
I’m sure this is not an original idea. The blockchain, tokenization/fractionalization of assets supports these kinds of new models, and I would love to discover that an artist residency like this already exists so we can learn from it. I’m planning to open a place in Rio that takes the experiment to the next step later this year.
playspace in Lisbon will continue to grow and evolve, perhaps with the record label, or by moving to a bigger space with performance and wellness aspects. To manage the operational and financial side, we might test out a software called Closer, which was built for and is currently in use by several eco-villages, like the Traditional Dream Factory, to manage room rentals, an event calendar, ticketing, memberships, and even property access.
While I think about this working for artist residencies (knowing a more robust expression is already being developed for eco-villages), I also don’t see why it couldn’t be put into practice in other scenarios:
Residential real estate, aligning long-term or repeat tenants with landlords
Gyms/yoga/health studios
Cafes (membership equity as an upgrade to 10-punch loyalty cards)
Any app with a membership/subscription model
We vote with our money, with every transaction. We are not just spending, we are making investments into these spaces, ideas, concepts and the people behind them. Businesses love to use the word community… if we can develop this idea and prove it out, you won’t want to spend your time or money anywhere that isn’t aligned. And businesses will have to lean into equity if they actually really want to build community.
One where we dissolve the barrier between landlords and tenants, founders and subscribers, owners and customers.
A model I would like to experiment with goes like this:
An investor, property owner or business founder launches a space, app or business.
Every dollar [any currency including crypto] that comes in — whether through rent, a purchase, a subscription — gains the customer a tiny sliver of equity or share in the enterprise (including the real estate).
The share value can’t be extracted, and the majority of the money, at least to start, will need to go towards covering costs like utilities, mortgage, cost of goods.