State of the Sndbox is a weekly newsletter that provides the latest in Sndbox activities, projects, and provides the best resources in creative empowerment for the Steemit community. To get up-to-date on all of our development throughout the week, be sure to follow us @sndbox.

Image by contest winner @ggcarlosr

This Week in the Sndbox

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Welcome to the 52nd State of the Sndbox newsletter!

This past week, we had our Grand Opening of The Crypto Renaissance Exhibition! On top of that, we also talked about the OpenSea marketplace and Blockchain Urbanism. We announced the winners of @celfmagazine Writing Challenge and gave you the details on how to join us this Saturday with the happenings at The Crypto Renaissance.

Surf's Up on the OpenSea

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OpenSea is a digital, decentralized marketplace of over 900 thousand crypto collectibles that come in all forms of digital blockchain assets. Discover ERC721 assets, game items, and other rare digital items in this ocean of more than 25 asset types.

We talked to the co-founder and CEO of OpenSea, Devin Finzer, who shared with us how they started out in the blockchain space, their gradual process in building the OpenSea platform, and the OpenSea's outlook as more and more ERC721s arise on the Ethereum blockchain.

Ready to become an OpenSea enthusiast? Read the full article here and dive into the OpenSea economy.

The Crypto Renaissance Exhibition Grand Opening

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The exhibition is happening until August 15 at the 1st Floor Gallery of 100 Bogart Street in Brooklyn. Featuring large-scale boards that document Sndbox community projects and Steem apps active across the blockchain, it's the prime opportunity to showcase the tools and resources built for creative professionals on the Steem blockchain and their integration in the practice and daily work of @sndbox members.

The atmosphere last July 20 was incredible as we opened The Crypto Renaissance exhibition!

A public free-for-all event collected a mix of Steemians, crypto-newbies and industry leaders across the blockchain landscape into our gallery space where we have our DApp Tower installation and exhibition boards showcasing Steem and acting as a window into the growing cryptoverse.

Click here to view snapshots of the show on our opening night.

Blockchain Urbanism - A Lecture at Columbia University

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In this DTube video, Sndbox Co-Founder, @voronoi was part of a Lecture Series on Design at the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning & Preservation in Columbia University. Kirk Finkel (@voronoi) shared the innovations of blockchain and cryptocurrency in Urban Design. The video also talks about the @sndbox incubator program, its many projects, and its impact in the worldwide community of Steemit, showcasing Steem as a community building resource.

Watch the full video of the talk here.

Dwelling Workshop at The Crypto Renaissance Exhibition

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We'll be having a live-reading, meetup, and art workshop at The Crypto Renaissance Exhibition! Join us by clicking on our Meetup Event link to let us know if you're interested.

A character-driven crime novel, Dwelling, will be the main event at our live-reading on Saturday at 3:00pm EST with Author Doug Karr (@dougkarr) and artist Opheliafu (@opheliafu). Inspired by true events in the Lower East Side.

On top of these exciting happenings at The Crypto Renaissance Exhibition, we'll be giving you an exhilarating digital tour of The Crypto Renaissance exhibition on the Rize app!

Experience the The Crypto Renaissance Exhibition in a totally unique way! Click here to RSVP and hear the live-reading in person, or to know more about joining our livestream event with Rize.

Winners of @celfmagazine Writing Challenge

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As part of our Summer Camp initiative, we had a CELF curation collaboration and invited writers of different genres to tackle themes of childhood stories, the natural world as we know it, or overcoming hardships. The unique stories inspired by this challenge were nothing short of impressive, especially the submission by @dreemsteem who takes home 1st place with a story entitled "Destination". In respective order, placing 2nd to 5th place, are @raj808's "The Albatross", @gabriellecd's "Legacy", @katrina-ariel's "Fireflies in my Heart, Hands in my Hair", and @fernando.lubezki's "Metaphors of a Bad Poet".

Congratulations to the winners! See the complete details on how the winners can claim their challenge prize here.

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A warm thanks to @sndbox's SoTS guest author; @luvabi. Abi is a member of Sndbox's first Cohort. [Guest Authors receive at least 20% of the payout rewards, and an opportunity to showcase projects developing within the incubator / broader Steemit community.]

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Help us spread the word. Follow our Twitter, YouTube Channel, and our magazine, The Creative Crypto / @creativecrypto!

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