A few years ago, I attended a Cirque du Soleil show in Las Vegas. I was stunned by the performance, and it is probably one of the best shows I’ve ever seen. An inspiring mix of artists and acrobats, sound, special effects, and production… It had everything done spectacularly.
Cirque du Soleil is a world-class production that travels the world, putting together impressive performances since 1984.
From a group of 20 street performers at its beginnings in 1984, Cirque du Soleil is a major Québec-based organization providing high-quality artistic entertainment. The company has close to 4,000 employees, including 1,300 artists from more than 50 different countries.
Cirque du Soleil has brought wonder and delight to more than 180 million spectators in more than 400 cities in over sixty countries on six continents.
The company amazed its success by working with the best athletes (literally Olympian participants) and all kinds of performers, mixed with outstanding orchestration, to create a powerhouse that produces over $850M in revenue per year.
I thought this real-life experience was impossible to match.
Until last week, after I assisted Bright Moments, Mexico City.
Thanks for the memories. #NFTARTCDMX
Here are 7 reasons why I think Bright Moments has the potential to become the next Cirque du Soleil…
1. Bright Moments Works With Trailblazer Crypto Artists
Since day one, Bright Moments has been collaborating with the most talented generative and crypto artists. Names like Tyler Hobbs (Incomplete Control) and Matt Deslaur (Folio) had their own exhibitions as part of Bright Moment’s past events.
Mexico City was particularly memorable as it gathered an impressive lineup in one place: Anna Lucia, Daniel Calderon-Arenas, Fahad Karim, Iskra Velitchkova, Jeff Davis, Juan Rodríguez García, Marcelo Soria-Rodriguez, Monica Rizzolli, P1xelfool, Snowfro, Stefano Contiero, William Mapan, Zach Lieberman.
Besides working with leading artists, they also collaborate with emerging artists in unique shows, allowing collectors to discover new talent and push emerging artists forward.
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2. Next-Level Real Life Minting Experiences
Minting alone from your laptop was fun one year ago. Seeing your reveal on a high-definition screen in a unique room is game-changing.
The team worked with each artist to design their minting rooms, creating an ambiance that added much more to the artwork than just seeing it on your computer screen.
Daniel Calderon Arenas’ (DCA) room was a picnic spot where he could chat with his collectors about his Bright Moments collection, “Bosque de Chapultepec.”
Collectors could bring their friends to the reveal and exchange thoughts with the artists. When a rare piece was minted, you could hear the crowd going crazy in the distance.
3. World Class Talks and Educational Content
There were multiple weeks of workshops, and talks, covering topics like generative coded and AI art, Web 3 security and best practices, the generative art market, and high-profile projects like PROOF/Moonbirds.
Happening right now @kevinrose and @seth at @brtmoments Some quotes👇
Something I found pretty innovative was the sessions with Mexican students, where they learned how to create generative art from the hands of legends like Anna Carreras, Zach Liebermann, and Casey Reas.
Just being around was a gold mine of knowledge.
5. Empowering the Community through the Bright Moments DAO (and Sub DAOs)
I’ve struggled to find solid use cases of decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) doing extraordinary things.
Bright Moments is innovating in this front with a 3 level structure:
Level 1 - Bright Moments Core Team: full-time employees handling critical tasks like finance, logistics, technology, design, artist relations, and communications.
Level 2 - Sub-DAOs: established in each city where Bright Moments runs an event. There are two co-signers per city, which, together with core team members, can sign transactions in the blockchain. The sub-DAOs are becoming independent units that can locally drive the Bright Moments vision.
Level 3 - Global DAO: Anyone with a crypto citizen is part of the DAO and can vote and submit proposals (although it makes sense to reach out to sub-DAOs for specific proposals).
My CryptoMexa gives me access to the Bright Moment DAO. I can vote and submit proposals from now on…
The whole team spends a lot of time running events pre-show (sometimes even months before) to educate the local communities and attract new members to the DAO.
4. Enthusiastic and Diverse Team
Seth Goldstein founded Bright Moments out of Venice Beach, California, in a rented gallery that started the Crypto Citizens mania. From that point, volunteers began to join the organization, and people worldwide wanted to mint a Crypto Citizen, but they could only be minted in place. That’s when Seth thought of going around the world to onboard new members.
The 3 level structure DAO was born organically, and these days there are local representatives in multiple cities like Venice Beach, New York, Berlin, London, Mexico City, and soon in Tokyo.
I had many interactions during the week with team members, and they were all extremely enthusiastic and supportive (considering there are many technicalities to sort out: getting proper access to the event, reserving your mint time, seeing your artwork in your wallet, etc., these weren’t easy tasks).
6. Financially Sound Business Model
Bright Moments has created a sustainable business model by taking a percentage of the artists’ collections and Crypto Citizens’ sales.
Bright Moments mints, including Crypto Citizens and collections (before Mexico City). Src: Dune Analytics Dashboard created by @cat
Here are some impressive stats:
Crypto Citizens have a floor price of 1 ETH ($1.2k), 3.4k ETH in secondary volume just on Open Sea, and only 3% are listed. When adjusted to dollars, this is over $4M in secondary volume but was easily over $10M a few months ago.
The Mexico City Mint Passes commanded over 1.3k ETH in the secondary market. That’s over $1.5M.
These stats are only from secondary sales, but Bright Moments also profits from primary sales, particularly from Crypto Citizens, as the DAO gets most of the earnings.
There are four more cities to go to in their worldwide tour, which means there will be 4k more Crypto Citizens to mint and many more amazing collections to be created.
Besides the main DAO, Bright Opportunities is a new Bright Moments arm, which collects artworks from the event as a different entity to not tax the treasury. They commission and work with artists; one example is nth culture by fingacode, which now has a floor of 2.5 ETH.
7. The Events are Filled with Substance and Web 3 Themes
This event had a clear Mexican + Web 3 thematic that you could spot in the food, artwork, performances, talks, and decorations.
Breaking the entry barriers to anything Web 3 is a real challenge. I believe Bright Moments is doing that like no other, as they create a lasting local effect with their sub-DAOs, provide high-quality educational content, and distribute high-class souvenirs like the Crypto Citizens and a new wave of art.
This was placed in the toilet’s door…
I can’t wait to see what the team is preparing in Tokyo and what lies ahead after the 10th city…
Until next time,
- Kaloh
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