.art

Status:	Proposed
Type:	Generic
Category:	Media
Priority #:	300 - Uniregistry, Corp. 308 - Top Level Design 428 - .ART REGISTRY INC. 571 - UK Creative Ideas Limited 726 - Donuts (Baxter Tigers, LLC) 1514 - Aremi Group 1523 - Top Level Domain Holdings 1754 - Merchant Law Group LLP 1827 - Deviant Art (Dadotart, Inc.) 1840 - EFLUX.ART, LLC
More information:

.art is a proposed gTLD string under ICANN's new gTLD expansion program.

Applicants

The applicants were:

1. Aremi Group, a company based in Luxembourg confirmed its application for the string. According to the company, its primary objective is to promote art and the string will serve as an online destination for creative individuals, art collectors, art institutions and organizations worldwide.
2. Top Level Domain Holdings Ltd., .art is one of 68 applications that the company has applied for on its own behalf. This applicant submitted a Public Interest Commitment, which can be downloaded here.
3. Top Level Design, submitted a total of 10 applications.
4. .Art Registry Inc., John Kane of Afilias is the company's primary contact person.
5. Dadotart, Inc., applied under the Community gTLD category.
6. Donuts (Baxter Tigers, LLC)- The company submitted 307 TLD applications. The primary contact person is Daniel Schindler, co-founder and EVP of Marketing and Sales of Donuts. This applicant submitted a Public Interest Commitment, which can be downloaded here.
7. UK Creative Ideas Limited, Christopher John Glancy is the contact person.
8. Merchant Law Group LLP, company is based in Canada and Brendon James Ralfe is the contact person, Evatt Merchant is the main guy.
9. Uniregistry, Corp., a new company established by Frank Schilling.
10. EFLUX.ART, LLC, submitted a Community gTLD application and listed Anton Vidokle as contact person.

Community Applications

The two competing community bids have been submitted by EFLUX.ART, LLC and Dadotart, Inc.. Dadotart claims it "is submitting this application on behalf of the Arts community, which it regards as Artists and those who have an identifiable engagement with the Arts worldwide. This naturally evolving community is the community represented by Dadotart in its application for the extension, .ART. The community is not static just as the arts themselves never stand still...Dadotart is owned and directed by deviantArt, an innovator in creating an Arts community online which has proven its commitment to support the Arts community online with more than 20 million members and 60 million monthly unique visitors. " A statement of intent at the time of registration will be used to determine if the registrant is part of the art community as defined by Dadotart, Inc.

EFLUX.ART, LLC notes that it "already enjoys the support of a vast international community of individuals, organizations and companies that are active in the art community, with whom e-flux has extensively discussed its plans. This is shown by the vast amount of support letters from leading public and private art institutions as well as noted international artists, critics and curators, received by e-flux, and attached to our response to Question 20." Their eligibility and verification processes will include the need for registrants to be endorsed as legitimate by two existing .art registrants, thereby creating a network of verifiable art professionals.

The EFLUX.ART, LLC applicant did not pass the Initial Evaluation after failing the technical and financial evaluation of the application. It was eligible for Extended Evaluation, which it passed.

TLDH & $15mm Auction Funding

On February 26 2013, Top Level Domain Holdings Ltd. announced that it had entered into a funding agreement worth $15 million to be used in the case of auction for a specific unnamed TLD. The investor will not receive ownership of the TLD but a share of future revenues. TLDH did not name the TLD that the funds are directed for, and it is in 11 head to head contentions and 12 featuring more than one contender.

Top-Level Domain