Hi Community,
Our team, the Revocation Committee received a request from the Grant Support Squad to discuss this case and make a decision in regards to the following proposal:
FIRST METAVERSE ARCHITECTURE BIENNALE
As a result of discussion and the final vote, we suggest that this grant should be REVOKED. @HPrivakos @Tobik @Rizk
Voting Members:
@dax, @maryana & @bay
@Metadoge requested to be substituted in this vote due to a conflict of interest as he is an architect and felt like he might be biased.
Revocation Committee snapshot vote result:
Reasoning for revocation:
After reviewing the statements made by the GSS and the team behind the Biennale and discussing the case with other relevant parties including the Foundation team that supported the build, we have come to the conclusion that the issues experienced at Biennale resulted from both issues with the DCL platform and decisions made by the Biennale team.
We have analyzed responsibility for the issues that arose within each budget category submitted by the Biennale, and therefore revoke the grant accordingly:
SDK/Server - 66% revoked
- According to reports of attendees, the scene crashed frequently, there was no working video stream and the audio only worked at times.
- We accept that the issues with video and the difficulty in optimizing scenes were partially caused by DCL platform limitations.
- However, SDK was the largest budget category in the grant and there were ample funds and time for the Biennale team to better address these limitations.
3D / Architecture - 30% revoked
- According to the foundation team, the grantee was responsive and worked independently to deliver the architectural side of the build.
- The biennale secured 11 of the 12 partnerships promised in the grant and attracted 27 further architectural practices and design brands to exhibit in DCL.
- These builds were correctly deployed but many assets were of considerably lower quality than promised in the grant proposal.
Marketing - 100% revoked
- The marketing strategy and spend is highly questionable.
- The marketing lead left a month before the event and was not replaced.
- Paid partnerships with media outlets promoted the Biennale team and W3rlds above the Decentraland brand.
- Event attendance was far below the target audience size of 50,000 promoted in the grant proposal and media releases.
Content / Promo - 100% revoked
- Social media content entirely lacked Decentraland promotion.
- W3rlds deployment lacked any promotion or links to DCL.
- The figures shared with the press for attendance are misleading and are still being used.
Event Management - 50% revoked
- As mentioned by the grantee in their response, steps could have been taken to move the event but these steps were not taken.
- No organizers were on site during the event according to attendees - it was difficult to find help.
2D - 0% revoked
- From what we found, 2D assets were delivered as promised.
Operational - 0% revoked
- As per the grant, operational expenses were spent on various freelancers.
Wearables - 50% revoked
- Wearables were delivered as promised, but only after considerable delay.
- Biennale wearable IP infringed that of other major brands.
Further recommendations:
Based on the above figures, we recommend that 66,630 USD of the original 115,000 USD be revoked. As the team has already removed 29k from their vesting contract, we recommend that the DAO committee (@HPrivakos @Tobik @Rizk) create a one-time vesting contract in the amount of 19,370 USD and make it available to the grantee.
Thank you!
Revocation Committee