In bridging the on-chain and traditional art worlds, MakersPlace’s mission to create an easy and intuitive marketplace for artists and collectors remains the same. As the space evolves and matures, so too have we, with lots of recent and upcoming developments to share with our community.
We’ve sharpened our focus
We’ve learned a lot in six years since our founding. We’ve seen artists’ lives change overnight, and we’ve been here through the high times and the low. We’ve had our growing pains and learned by trial and error. Through all that, our community and our love of art kept us going.
To recognize our sixth birthday, we put together a list of guiding principles that directed our decision making and that lets our community know what to expect from us in the coming months and years. Read the MakersPlace Guiding Principles Statement.
We’ve improved our discovery tools
With the understanding that we can’t properly serve artists if we can’t properly serve collectors, we’ve devoted 2023 and 2024 to creating new search and discovery tools, teaming up with curators and galleries, and making sure that collectors can easily find the art that most speaks to them.
On the technical side, we’ve given our website a huge facelift and made dozens of behind-the-scenes improvements, large and small, including faster load times, higher resolution display, AI-powered search and discovery tools, and a powerful new activity dashboard where collectors can intuitively filter and analyze historical and anticipated purchase decisions.
We’ve created powerful category filters so collectors can browse the medium they want without a clutter of mislabeled artworks, which likewise benefits artists who will be more easily discovered with intention.
We’ve improved our curation
Beyond the technical aspects, we’ve faced several inventory-related obstacles to getting the best of the best front and center. Here, we’ll name a few.
- The speculation-driven bull market attracted many art newcomers eager to capitalize on potential profits but less ambitious in terms of artistic quality.
- During the downturn, some artists began producing work in higher and higher volumes, possibly in an effort to sustain themselves through tougher economic times.
- The rise of AI image generation tools then led to a deluge of new but mostly undistinguished art on MakersPlace.
These three factors have contributed to a trend of the quick and the hungry overshadowing our less prolific, more thoughtful artists.
To make our platform the best home for the world’s most creative and ambitious artists and to continue our mission of bringing the best digital art into the mainstream, we formed a curatorial team to steer our on-site curation. Click here to meet the curation team and learn about our new process.
What this means for artists
In focusing our mission, we have also made great efforts to focus our entire marketplace. In the process, we have instated much more rigorous artist onboarding criteria. We also undertook a thorough artist account audit to make sure the artists represented on our site are both active and ambitious.
In order to clean up our search and discovery to allow collectors to find great art and artists and to welcome artists who will actively contribute, we have disabled minting for most long-term inactive artists and a much smaller percentage whose work doesn’t fit current curatorial standards.
While updating onboarding criteria was an obvious choice, the move to disable minting was a difficult decision that caused our team endless hours of debate. We will be contacting each affected artist via email this week.
To the artists who have had their accounts disabled, this decision does not reflect on you nor is it a “forever” decision. We encourage you to reapply with your best work, which our new curation team will evaluate thoroughly and with respect for your artistic vision. If you choose not to reapply, we wish you the best on your artistic journey.
For all the artists who remain, know that we rigorously audited thousands of creator accounts, and your home at MakersPlace is a sign of our deepest faith in you as an artist.
Great art can shift the culture, and many artists on MakersPlace have tangibly had an effect in shifting the world’s perception of digital art as fine art. In this next phase of MakersPlace’s development, we aim to build the world’s best platform for artists to not only earn a living but to truly make their mark on the culture at large.
