Last week, we published an update that governance for the SuperRare DAO is now beginning to reach the "rubber-meets-road" stage, along with the minutes from the latest Governance Council meeting.

As detailed in those posts, after receiving 35 amazing submissions (!) we are now preparing to execute the first Space Race later this month. We were blown away by the extensive interest in becoming a Space Operator and the desire to participate in curation of the SuperRare Network.

A first draft of the potential Space Race governance mechanics was published in August alongside the SuperRare 2.0 announcement - which also included the launch of the SuperRare DAO and $RARE governance token.

Since then, things have evolved quite a bit: the first round of Space applications has been received and reviewed, the design and product dev cycle has reached full steam, and we've had hundreds of conversations with artists, collectors, curators, and community members about both Spaces themselves and how we can begin the work of decentralizing curation on SuperRare.

Given the additional time, information & user feedback collected since - the Council has been working with input from SuperRare Labs to draft a set of updated rules and procedures for SR#1. In the spirit of transparency and community agency, the Council - hoping to establish a set of improvements and updates that build upon the originally proposed model - is setting forth these mechanics for the community to review & ratify in advance of the first Space Race.

While the goals and intent of the Space Race remain the same, we believe the following adjustments should create a better experience for both Space applicants and $RARE holders while we collectively learn how this product ought to be designed in order to achieve its full vision and potential. As a result, we are asking the community to certify the following voting framework for Space Race #1:

• All 35 entrants will be included in the Space Race #1 racing slate, rather than a curated short-list, in recognition of the hard work from all participants to join in this inaugural race
• There will be 5 winning spaces selected for admission in the first Space Race, rather than just a single winner
• In the interest of ensuring scarcity while preserving flexibility, the Council is proposing an upper bound on the number of Spaces that can be added to the network in any month to a maximum of 10
• Voting in the Space Race itself will remain open for 2 weeks, rather than 48hrs, to allow for better participation and engagement amongst the entire DAO
• The race itself will be held using the Mirror Token Race platform, rather than Snapshot, to better accommodate the desire for multiple winners, a longer racing window, more direct control over curation by $RARE token holders, and better support for social features

Read the full draft proposal → here ←

These proposed changes were reached after thorough Council deliberation, and were decided to be in the best interests of the Network given the learnings gleaned over the last 3 months. While there is a balance to be struck between exhaustive deliberation and speedy action necessary to seize strategic opportunity - in the ethos of progressive decentralization, we believe the best ideas can emerge from anywhere and we must begin developing the muscles to allow for an optimal balance between analysis paralysis and swift action. Therefore, we've opened a new section of the forum dedicated to discussion about SR#1 and Space Race governance generally, and welcome your feedback as we continue to iteratively design the Spaces product together as a community.

Starting next Tuesday Nov 9th, and running for a 96 hour voting period though Nov 12th, we invite all members of the SuperRare DAO to vote in the forthcoming Snapshot poll to approve the described enhancements that we feel will make the Space Race a higher quality experience for all participants and stakeholders.

We look forward with great anticipation to this groundbreaking milestone that will admit the first community curated Spaces to SuperRare Network - beginning our journey toward decentralized curation for the world's leading CryptoArt marketplace and placing increasing control into the hands of our membership...onward!