The Dash network is set to fund a sponsorship for Circus City, the first cryptocurrency-sponsored major cultural and artistic event in the United Kingdom.
Circus City is a circus and performance arts festival occurring in Bristol every other year. The Dash treasury proposal will be used to provide an exclusive sponsorship, and Dash branding will be on banners, pamphlets, intro videos, and other promotional material for the festival, bringing digital cash to an entirely new audience.
Dash as a way to get around banking issues
Dash offers the ability to “be your own bank,” and in particular the upcoming Evolution upgrade promises to provide a seamless and efficient financial experience to all, including the unbanked. According to Ed Rapley, Circus City member and the sponsorship proposal’s owner, banking issues related to the circus world provides an perfect opportunity for the mutual value-creation provided by the proposal:
“I saw there was a perfect fit between the principles of Dash and the vision of Circus City, they are both interested in creating and sharing value, one monetary the other cultural. Dash can solve serious banking problems facing the international circus community and Circus City can bring Dash to people outside the cryptosphere, so applying for sponsorship made complete sense.
The intersection of art with cryptocurrency
While the connection between Dash and Circus City might seem a little unusual, there are certain commonalities that tie both worlds together. Both cryptocurrency and art currently reside in a state outside of the current day-to-day norms, leveraging out-of-the-box approaches and perspectives to issues and feelings common to humankind. Both currently exist in a largely experimental and creative space, increasing the odds of contributors to both spaces sharing the same mindset.
According to Rapley, the root developmental process in digital currency shares some important aspects with certain types of art:
“The kind of theatre I’m most interested in asks important questions and proposes imaginative answers. Cryptocurrencies are doing exactly this with the ideas and practices of money: questioning the way it is created and proposing answers about how it will function in the future.”
