At 21DAO, we prioritise the use of our donations to initiatives that tangibly support artists in the Solana Art ecosystem. As such, we have directed the funding of research initiatives that can facilitate our attempts to aid artists. Our first commissioned report, co-authored by Dr Patricia Frazer and Dr Lucie Corcoran, uses data gathered from the Artist Advisory Program to critically assess the needs and issues artists face when trying to achieve on Solana. This report was co-funded with the UNST Artists Collective (UNSTAC) and Collector.sh.

The goal of this paper is to provide a qualitative empirical analysis of the concerns and interests of emerging NFT artists seeking support to succeed in the Solana ecosystem. From the data collected from artists assisted by the Artist Advisory Program, 3 major themes were identified with qualitative data analysis.

• 1. Connection and Community
• 2. Driving and Striving
• 3. Strategy
• Minor Themes: Don’t Know Where to Start and Technical

These are highly interconnected as every area of development and concern for the emerging artist involves interaction with a wider community (see Figure 2).

The major themes reflect the complexity of emerging artists’ concerns and provide a descriptive baseline from which to develop a deeper understanding of the artist/creator experience in the NFT sphere.

The discussion made recommendations for future research, including:

• The comparative exploration of community in traditional art markets versus NFT art markets and specific ecosystems like Solana
• An analysis of artists’ perception of pricing versus collector perceptions of this, perhaps through quantitative analysis of the existing relationship between price and sales.
• Furthermore, the personality trait, Openness to Experience, was speculated upon as a potential aspect of successful artists in NFT Markets. Individuals high on this trait are open to change and development and enjoy challenge, change and shifting goals.
• The importance for an artist’s strategy of Pricing, and catering to market demands, were also assessed. Such approaches must be carefully balanced to maintain artistic integrity.

The report summarizes:

“Emerging NFT artists seeking support to help develop their careers recognise community and connection with other people as important to their development and experience. Motivation to develop as an artist and as a person can drive momentum to build necessary networks to succeed.

In such a complex and community-driven environment a “one size fits all” approach to supporting artists and developing Solana or other ecosystems may not address their needs. Similar to artists in traditional markets, artists need access to trusted guidance on project specific strategy, marketing, branding, pricing and building connections.”

The full report is available to view below, and will be published in the open-source Leonardo journal, published by the MIT Press (**https://leonardo.info/leonardo**).

Trends issues and barriers facing emerging artists in the Solana NFT market - A qualitative analysis.pdf