Welcome to Our Inaugural Edition!
Hello, fellow Orange Pillers and creative sovereigns! I'm Orange Piller ⚡️ Dion Wilson, Founder & Executive Director of Bitcoin For The Arts, Inc. (BFTA) here in New York City. As we launch this weekly newsletter on this crisp February morning, we're thrilled to connect the worlds of Bitcoin and the arts. Founded in 2025, BFTA emerged from my deeply personal journey as a former professional dancer—touring nationally with Disney's The Lion King and multiple dance companies—where I faced the highs of artistic expression and the lows of a fiat system rigged against creators.
This path led to our mission: "Uncensorable money • Uncensorable minds," responding to inflation's erosion, chronic funding cuts, exploitation by gatekeepers, and artists' financial vulnerabilities. BFTA ignites a self-sustaining global renaissance through Bitcoin micro-grants, workshops, residencies, and productions, positioning us as the "NEA of the Bitcoin Era" with radical transparency and a permanent endowment. This newsletter will be your weekly dose of inspiration: artist stories, educational insights, program updates, and actionable ways to join. If you're an artist eyeing grants or a Bitcoiner passionate about culture, subscribe and let's stack
Our Journey So Far – From Formation to Building Foundations
BFTA was founded in 2025 to address the battlefield of instability artists face in the fiat economy. As detailed in our Reason for Formation, the global system is riddled with never-ending inflation—a structural flaw from central banks' money printing that erodes purchasing power (averaging 3-4% annually in the U.S., feeling like a silent thief in high-cost hubs like NYC, and devastating via hyperinflation in places like Argentina or Turkey). Funding cuts compound this: In NYC, proposals threatened $53 million in reductions, impacting residencies at BAM or the Whitney; nationally, the NEA's $200 million budget falls short for 2.5 million artists earning under $30,000 yearly, with arts often first cut in downturns.
Exploitation runs deep—platforms and intermediaries skim hefty cuts, leaving creators with scraps (e.g., dancers like me signing away rights for minimal pay; 60% of artists juggling jobs amid double the poverty rate). Artists' lack of financial savvy exacerbates vulnerabilities to debt, poor contracts, and lost savings amid irregular income. Bitcoin flipped this for me: its 21 million fixed supply and censorship resistance offer sound money as a lifeline. Thus, BFTA empowers with uncensorable tools—direct Lightning grants, wallet workshops, and an eternal HODL Vault—to break fiat chains and foster sovereignty.
Our structure ensures impact: radical transparency, a 55/30/10/5 allocation (55% to grants, 30% to programs, 10% to ops, 5% to reserve). We've partnered early with The Bitcoin Way for self-custody education, in production to arm artists. Our tech, open-source on GitHub (github.com/Bitcoin-For-The-Arts/Bitcoin-For-The-Arts and github.com/DionWilson/bitcoinforthearts), uses Next.js, MongoDB, BTCPay, and Vercel for scalable grant apps and signups. Recent updates: static Artist Hub routes and hardened features like deadline collectors.
Leadership Spotlight: Leading this is me, Dion Wilson (Orange Piller ⚡️), Founder & Executive Director, Interim Board Chair—a visionary performing artist and Bitcoin advocate pioneering the first 501(c)(3) for uncensorable creativity via Bitcoin. My background in dance and Bitcoin advocacy drives BFTA's vision. Full bio at bitcoinforthearts.org/about/leadership/dion-wilson.
Launched in February as our educational kickoff, the "Share Your Bitcoin Journey" podcast series captures artists' Bitcoin transformations, openly licensed under Creative Commons for remixing in arts programs. Our debut with Andrea Arghinenti explores journeys in a new nonprofit, showing how sound money unlocks creativity. Watch on YouTube (@BitcoinForTheArts): [Link to https://youtube.com/watch?v=4oKXPZeXbYg] (growing views!).
With two episodes live, we'll add 3-4 more by April, featuring talents like 3D/VFX artists. These stories echo our formation reasons: combating inflation's decay on grants/royalties, funding fragility, and exploitation—enabling borderless payments and value-for-value without intermediaries. We'll focus here for months before a new series. Tie-ins via our GitHub education repo (github.com/Bitcoin-For-The-Arts/education) for collaborations.
Featured Artist Spotlight: Kenneth Burris – Sovereign Strokes in the Shadow of Cooling Towers ⚡️🖼️
Our first full "Share Your Bitcoin Journey" written feature is live: NYC-based oil painter Kenneth Burris. With over 30 years in the studio, Kenneth's Post-Globalist Landscapes capture enduring human traces on the land—cooling towers rising through mist as monuments of permanence in a world of fleeting digital noise and fiat fragility.
His work, like Moist Still Water (Landscape with Poles) (oil on canvas, 24 × 36 in, 2026), explores controlled decay and natural reclaiming, mirroring Bitcoin's fixed supply as the ultimate anchor for artistic sovereignty. Kenneth uses his Direction Provenance Model (DPM) to document creative evolution like an immutable ledger, accepts BTC for commissions, and reclaims authorship amid AI abundance. Introducing the Artist Hub – Decentralized Tools for Creators
Moist Still Water (Landscape with Poles), Oil on canvas, 24 × 36 in, 2026
Read the full story and explore more of his Post-Globalist series:
→ https://www.bitcoinforthearts.org/stories
Artists: Your journey could be next. Submit yours today → https://www.bitcoinforthearts.org/stories/share-your-story
Introducing the Artist Hub – Decentralized Tools for Creators
Our Artist Hub is live! At bitcoinforthearts.org/artist-hub/profile/[your-npub], this Nostr-powered platform lets artists build profiles, connect, share, and receive BTC tips via Lightning/on-chain—demonstrating decentralization's power to eliminate gatekeepers, fees, and censorship. It embodies our mission: financial sovereignty and global reach for creators.
Recent GitHub updates include static integrations for performance and fixes for seamless data handling. 100% open-source—devs, fork and contribute to our Next.js/MongoDB stack. Artists, submit journeys here for features and micro-grants; it's an easy decentralization entry.
Education Deep Dive – Webinars and the Creator Economy
All BFTA education is CC BY 4.0 licensed for free adaptation (attribute to bitcoinforthearts.org). Our "Bitcoin for the Arts" webinar series builds a path: Foundations like "What Is Money?" (barter to sound money), "Bitcoin for Artists: Unlocking New Creative Freedom" (custody/sovereignty), "Bitcoin in Practice" (payments/pricing), and "Protecting Your Bitcoin" (self-custody).
Deeper: "Sound Money, Better Art" (low time-preference creativity, patronage). The 3-part "Bitcoin & the Creator Economy" critiques platforms' extraction, teaches value-for-value audience-building, and highlights Lightning/permissionless tools. Sign up at bitcoinforthearts.org/education/webinar—no schedules yet, but ideal for institutions. This aligns with our formation: addressing artists' financial illiteracy to hedge inflation and navigate irregular income.
We're open to partnerships for co-hosting in programs via our education repo.
Get Involved – Sovereign Circle, Volunteers, and Transparency
Fuel the renaissance via Sovereign Circle memberships—tax-deductible (EIN 41-2642260). Tiers: $5/mo (Friends of Satoshi) for community/name recognition; up to $101/mo (Renaissance Guardian) with grant voting, hangouts, art drops, board calls. 90%+ to grants/programs; annual saves one month. At bitcoinforthearts.org/donate/monthly, track impact publicly.
Volunteers: Scale with us! Aid podcast, Hub dev (fork repos), events, reporting—email [email protected]. By April, expanded teams for interviews/features.
Artists/collaborators: Submit stories, apply grants, partner education. Transparency section has proposals; treasury repo (github.com/Bitcoin-For-The-Arts/bitcoinforthearts-treasury) for on-chain reports.
Donate BTC (on-chain/Lightning) or follow @Bitcoinfta on X, YouTube. Nostr: npub1r53a5pazpuwlrpdf576uz58zq8q85jhyycsxx9m8wu00fvefrktsvy5wyx.
Thanks for reading—reply with ideas!
Orange Pill the Arts, One Sat at a Time.
Bitcoin For The Arts, Inc. | New York City