#677 | Cry$cross, Adam Curtis & Crypto Crossover 👾
Spring is (finally) here, so how are you all feeling?
We’re doing pretty good, as 743 people participated in the launch of our #INFLUENCE report a couple of weeks back, so if you missed the briefing you can watch it again here (password = 9q6NYy). You can also still grab a copy of the full report here and peep the interviews with Zaiba Jabbar from HERVISIONS and Bernard Koomson from DeadHYPE.
We’ve continued the conversation online, where you can find out how our members are feeling about Instagram, which brands they believe behave authentically, and whether brands should be entering decentralised communities? Our Agency has also been busy putting some of this thinking into practice with the “Music Take Us Further” campaign for Tommy Jeans.
Finally, we’re starting our International Women’s Day celebrations early by reminding you of our Stories of Growth conversations with all these amazing females (in no particular order): Kesang Ball, Liv Little, Siobhan Lyons, Phoebe Lovatt, Danielle Pender, Seetal Solanki, Jodi Cariss, Pip Jamieson, Karinna Nobbs, Valentina Milanova, Louise Gray, Sara Arnold, Henrietta Thompson, Lucy Hardcastle, Hayley Louisa Brown, Gabby Edlin, Pip Black, and Joan Murphy ✌️
As always, a big thank you to everyone who contributed and if you want to see your project or event featured next month, you know what you need to do …
#playlists
Picking up the pace a little with multidisciplinary artist Crystal Simone, aka DJ Cry$cross aka Naija gal-dem - a name their friend came up with that ties together their Nigerian and Caribbean roots. Hit play and read the Q&A here. Enjoy.
#influence
- Nikita Walia has a worthwhile read on the New Gods - Celebrity, cultural imperialism, and the activist influencer
- More useful tips for how brands can use social influence by Ana Andjelic
- Is OnlyFans the next social media frontier? Berlin’s Voo Store thinks so
- Enara Nazarova predicts the move of influence towards shared ownership of niche/private networks
#collaboration
- Only One is a new sustainability project by Protein member Sara Scobie who’s looking for people to help with some user experience testing
- Vanette Li is starting a series that educates on the very diverse and gorgeous expressions of Asian culture, get in touch if you want to contribute
- Max Hagenbach is looking for somebody to join him on his mission to improve sex education
- Nina Pró wants to know if your perception of screen time has changed due to the pandemic?
- Protein is all about collaboration, so what’s the one thing you need a hand with and one thing you could offer in return?
#interesting
- If you haven’t watched Adam Curtis’ epic new series yet, you’re missing out. (And for non-UK folks, someone told us you might find something useful here 🤫)
- The Colour Balance looks to address the lack of diverse representation in photography. Their first virtual exhibition Sonder beautifully showcases work by Ejatu Shaw, Jack Lawson, Khalil Musa, and Serena Brown and is definitely worth a wander around
- Zara Sehr Ashraf asks if anything really changed for the fashion industry since last summer’s Black Lives Matter protests?
- Continuing our education, here are some perspectives of what it is like to be Trans in the UK in 2021
- Poc A Dot are creating spaces that centre care and community for queer, trans + intersex black and brown people in West London and beyond
- Looking for some mini-courses on major topics? Look no further than Cultural Index which launched this week
- Props to SoundCloud for introducing a fan-powered royalty system
- Boys in Polish are reconstructing masculinity one manicured finger at a time
- Our friends at Trippin have launched a new podcast and it’s definitely worth a listen
- The 10 is a news and politics newsletter with 10 items that you can read in 5 minutes flat
- Daan Roosegaarde has released Urban Sun, a project to clean public space of coronavirus
- Phrase Fighter is a game-metaphor of our public conversation online. It curates the quotes from a user-submitted link based on its semantic similarity to five preset filters (some great and disturbing voices of our time) ⚔️
- Nafsi has a good piece on the intersection of the data and crafts movement
#crypto
- Hypebeast asks if Christie’s Beeple sale is the Crypto Art crossover moment?
- The Mint Fund is a community project created to help BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ artists interested in bringing their art into the world of crypto as NFTs
- Flash Art has a worthwhile read on the response to the environmental cost of crypto art by artists, activists, and theorists
- And in a similar vein, Sterling Crispin provides a compelling argument about the environmental impact of NFTs and Crypto Art compared to other CO2 emitting sectors
#events
- Daily — Stu has just snagged a slot on Radio 1 🎉, so it’s about time you got some daily Breathpod in your routine
- Daily — Free Coaching Sessions from Zoe Mallett is an accessible, relatable, and fresh approach to life coaching for anyone looking to live life with some purpose
- Daily — Our friends at FRAME are keeping us on our toes with their online classes, so if you’re looking for some Cher-obics or Beyonce barre, head this way. Remember, Protein Studios members get FREE classes 💯
- Wellness Wednesday — Qigong with Darcy is a 30 min lunchtime session designed to help you release stress and tension, create greater balance, and an overall sense of health and vitality. Open to all levels
- Wellness Wednesday — Yoga with Gina is a 60 min meditation, Vinyasa, and Yoga Nidra with our very own Gina Stewart. It's happening at 7pm GMT every Wednesday, open to all levels and pay what you feel
- 6th — My Story, My Way: Free LGBTQ+ Workshop is a self-empowerment workshop exploring different creative methods of story-telling, looking at how we can share our unique personal narratives through artistic expression; such as poetry, dance, art, and song-writing
- 7th — In celebration of International Women’s Day, Designing Sisterhood brings together leading thinkers and practitioners as they explore how collaborative practice could create a more inclusive future for architecture
- 8th — Daye are dedicating the month of March to Women In Engineering, and to kick off their campaign, they're hosting two virtual events lead by the female engineers that have helped shape Daye
- 11th — NOW Gallery continues its talk series exploring colour in contemporary artistic practice through the works of British artist Joy Gregory in Conversation with Kaia Charles
- 15th — Join the conversation as three writers - Nikesh Shukla, Nadia Owusu, and Georgina Lawton - dig into their unique explorations of what it means to belong in an increasingly fractious political and social landscape. Chaired by gal-dem editor Charlie Brinkhurst-Cuff
- 24th — Protein Members Meet-up come through and say 👋
- 25th — Make Type Talk in an Original Poster with Studio Nari
- 5th April — An Introduction to Rules of Growth is a free workshop with Protein Founder & CEO, William Rowe, to help you grow your business, your team or yourself in a sustainable way
Until next month.
Your friends at Protein 💚
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Protein is a place where people and ideas grow 🌱 We do this through our global community, agency, and studio space. We believe we’ve all got a responsibility to think and act bigger than ourselves and that "good growth" can only be achieved by balancing progress, profit, and purpose.
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