Tezos Foundation, Champ Medici announce first cohort of $1 million arts fund grantees

Tezos XTZ -4.74% Foundation today announced the first batch of grantees for its $1 million arts fund, in partnership with Cordell Broadus, Snoop Dogg’s son — also known as Champ Medici — to drive artistic innovation in web3.

In a statement shared with The Block, Tezos said the “Champ Medici Arts Fund,” launched last year, was inspired by Cordell Broadus to support emerging and legacy musicians and creatives across the globe on the Tezos blockchain.

The first cohort of the fund encompasses a diverse array of artistic talents, featuring emerging singers, musicians and artists, such as Laurie Marqueton, Uzumaki Cepeda, Malachi Wright, Cory Anne Roberts and Reggie Couz.

“There are a couple of visual arts projects that are kicking off the fund,” Valérie Whitacre, head of art at Trilitech, the London hub of the Tezos ecosystem, told The Block in an interview. “That's really, again, to expose the dynamic way in which creatives can use the blockchain to try and push the boundaries of the types of projects we're going to see.”

Whitacre said that some of the grantees’ projects have charitable components that are close to the artists or the wider community that the artists have already cultivated. “[This could be] transitioning dynamic creative models, whether it be more pinup style models and portraits to abstractions of everyday objects in terms of widening people's perspective of what kind of creative content can actually be created and engaged with on the blockchain.”