The Dispatch

PORTLAND, THE ARPA CLIFF, AND OUR RESEARCH PORTAL

Dear subscribers,

Two weeks in: BFTA's Portland sponsorship for Bitcoin Is For Everyone lands May 22–23 — and we're sharing a 21% discount code with you below. Our first proper research portal goes live this week. And the data on America's arts funding collapse keeps coming in worse than expected — but the story is global, and so is BFTA's mission.

Plus a brief on Camp Nakamoto and the Midwest, and how to bring your network into the September Pubkey night.

◆ Where We're Showing Up

BFTA in Portland, May 22–23.

Bitcoin Is For Everyone  ·  Portland, OR  ·  BFTA is a sponsor

We're sponsoring Bitcoin Is For Everyone, an intimate Bitcoin-only conference put together by Eric Blackstone and the True North community. BFTA will be on the ground both days, represented by featured artist Beth Alta Fletcher (Lady Nakamoto) — she'll display her work Friday at the Kennedy School and run our booth Saturday at Revolution Hall.

The Schedule

Thu, May 21 — Bitcoin for Business (Lake Oswego) + Pre-Conference Party at Produce Row Cafe

Fri, May 22 — Day 1 at Kennedy School: workshops, films, and an evening that's smaller and more conversational

Sat, May 23 — Day 2 at Revolution Hall: speakers, panels, sponsor-floor day. Optional Post-Dinner at Coopers Hall.

Sun, May 24 — Abundant Mines Tour (RSVP-only, only 40 spots)

21% Off — BFTA Subscribers Only Use code BITCOINFORTHEARTS at checkout. When you register today, Bitcoin Is For Everyone is also gifting a complimentary ticket to the Bitcoin for Business pre-event.

◆ The Funding is Collapsing

And not just in America.

Federal arts funding spiked artificially in 2021–2024 via American Rescue Plan dollars, then dropped. Organizations dependent on the sugar high are now structurally exposed.

Our latest Substack piece, "The ARPA Cliff," walks through what happens when one-time federal stimulus dollars get treated as a baseline. The summary, just for context here:

• The NEA has been targeted for elimination in two consecutive federal budgets.
• State arts appropriations are projected to drop 7.7% nationally for FY2026.
• San Diego cut its city arts funding by 86% in a single budget cycle.
• Boston ranks dead last among ten major U.S. cities in per-capita arts spending — behind even Baltimore, which has fewer than half as many arts organizations.
• The institutions most exposed are the ones most dependent on a single funding source.

The View From Outside the U.S.

Bitcoin is borderless. So is our mission. The crisis isn't a uniquely American story:

• UK: Arts Council England absorbed real-terms cuts of more than 30% over a decade, with regional theatres shuttering through 2024 and 2025.
• Canada: Provincial cultural budgets in Ontario and Alberta have been frozen or cut while inflation eroded their purchasing power.
• Australia: Sydney's small-to-mid theatre ecosystem has been pressured by venue closures and rising operating costs that grant levels never matched.
• Europe: Public broadcasters and state cultural agencies across France, Germany, and Italy have all faced multi-year funding squeezes against rising costs.

The common thread isn't politics. It's the same fiat funding architecture, debasing in different denominations. Sound money is a global answer to a global problem.

◆ Building For The Long Argument

We're launching a research portal.

When journalists, foundations, and serious donors evaluate a nonprofit, they look at the research. The American Cancer Society publishes Cancer Facts & Figures every year. Brookings publishes policy briefs. Pew publishes data-driven reports. That's the rigor that earns institutional trust.

Our story — funding the arts on sound money in a fiat-debasement world — is just as big, and just as important. So we're building the research to match. Three reports are scoped for v1, with our flagship annual report at the center:

1. The State of Arts Funding 2026

Our anchor document, updated every year. Federal, state, local, and private funding mapped. The collapse timeline. Who gets hurt. Where the market is responding. Why non-state-dependent funding is no longer optional.

2. The ARPA Cliff

Our recent Substack piece, formalized — with state-by-state data tables and rigorous citations. Built so journalists can quote it as a primary source.

3. Sound Money for the Arts

Why fiat debasement hits working artists harder than any other profession — and why a Bitcoin endowment solves a structural problem traditional endowments can't. The intellectually distinctive piece nobody else is writing with rigor.

We'll iterate. Version one will not be perfect; version five will. The point is to build BFTA into an organization that researchers, policy people, and donors take seriously when they're deciding where the next dollar of arts giving goes.

◆ Also On Our Radar

Camp Nakamoto and the Midwest.

Camp Nakamoto · June 2026

BFTA is sponsoring.

We'll be represented at Camp Nakamoto by featured artist Ainsley Costello and BFTA board advisor Julie Costello. We'll have a lot more to say about Camp Nakamoto in a future issue. For now: it's on our calendar, and Ainsley + Julie are the right people to bring our mission into that room.

Midwest Bitcoin Conference

We're looking for a representative.

If you have Midwest connections — an artist, a volunteer, a partner — who could represent BFTA at the Midwest Bitcoin Conference, we want to hear from you. Or if you have ideas on how we should participate. Either way, drop us a line at [email protected].

Where to Start

Until next time —

Bitcoin for the Arts

Bitcoin for the Arts  ·  501(c)(3)

Sound money for timeless creators. Empowering artists with Bitcoin micro-grants & workshops.

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