THE MISSION AND PURPOSE OF THE NEW RESTRICTED .ART gTLD IS TO CREATE A UNIVERSAL ONLINE MEDIUM FOR THE WORLD OF ART TO ALLOW FOR INCREASED INTERACTION IN THE GLOBAL ART COMMUNITY.
The .art gTLD will be a new generation gTLD serving the interests of the artistic community, as well as internet users more generally. The .art domain will provide an internet space for the artistic community, not in the sense of representing the existing community, but instead through the creation of an online community for artists, owners and keepers of works of art, commercial art organisations (such as galleries and auction and trading houses), not-for-profit organisations (such as museums, foundations, professional associations), supporting businesses (such as insurance, appraisal, transport) and customers and members of the general public interested in art. The .art gTLD is particularly focused on engaging the visual arts community worldwide. UK Creative Ideas Limited (“Creative Ideas”), as the applicant, intends to create an authoritative and innovative internet space for internet users to access art-related services, information and products through the .art gTLD. Creative Ideas firmly believes in an inclusive model for managing a global public .art gTLD and intends to implement mechanisms for the democratization and consolidation of the art community through global infrastructure, supported by self-governing elected structures. As such, Creative Ideas intends to enable those involved in the art industry to contribute to the evolution of the .art gTLD e.g. by advisory councils. The mission and purpose of the .art gTLD includes:
- The democratization and consolidation of the art community through a global infrastructure;
- Using the latest technology to grant access to the responsible user; and
- New levels of development through high quality content.
The .art gTLD will provide an authentic resource for members of the public, allowing for information and professional services to be accessed by end users in a simple and trustworthy way. With the aim of creating a unified, global medium for the art community to interact, Creative Ideas intends to democratize the decision-making processes of the gTLD. The global structures for the management of .art include a Constituent Assembly, which will be formed in accordance with the principles of electivity, regional and professional representation, as well as transparency of decision making. The Constituent Assembly will be supported by other organisations which focus on professional representation, regional representation, day-to-day management and executive bodies.
Creative Ideas intends to create a range of technical, artistic and information based services supported by the latest technology. The .art gTLD will contribute to an effective exchange of information in many ways, including the creation of new forms of art exhibition, education, promotion, business solutions, search technologies, and industry related information. The .art gTLD will represent a new level of development through high quality content, with its architecture incorporating high-efficiency filters that will provide the technological foundation for neutralizing cyber-crime and abusive use. This platform is supported by a registration policy that is transparent and intends to protect internet users.
Under the registration policy, users will be required to provide information about their connection to the art industry to allow broad audiences to have access to a wide array of relevant, inexpensive, high-quality information and search related services. In this regard, the .art gTLD will represent an innovative, secure and high-quality domain space for the artistic community.
The .art gTLD’s mission and purpose of the proposed new gTLD share ICANN’s initiatives to promote the public interest. Creative Ideas is committed to contribute towards achieving such initiatives in line with ICANN’s Affirmation of Commitments, which includes:
- consumer trust: the .art gTLD registry will operate in a centralised manner with a restricted registration policy, allowing only those associated with the art industry, who meet the eligibility requirements, to register. Consumers will be able to act with greater confidence and assurance that the information that they receive from the .art gTLD is provided by those related to the art industry. As .art domain names are subject to registration standards, policies and procedures under Creative Ideas’ control, this limits the possibility of malicious conduct within the .art domain space;
- competition: the .art gTLD is anticipated to contribute to the initiatives of competition and consumer choice through its operation focused on promoting consumer trust and convenience. It may have the effect of instilling such initiatives between prospective registrants in the art industry who will enjoy a greater choice of gTLDs for registration of relevant domain names. Increased trust and innovation within the .art gTLD will drive existing and new top level domain (TLD) registry operators to make improvements in mechanisms to enhance consumer trust of their TLDs ; and
- consumer choice: the proposed new gTLD will enable user-driven improvements and innovations with specific relevance to the art industry, with second and third level domain names to be registered by those related to the art industry. This will allow consumers more choices for interacting with the art industry, as well as encouraging competition between members of the industry to best interact with such consumers. As Creative Ideas has effective control over the registration and use of domain names under .art domain space, with its aim to develop and promote the art industry, this will also contribute towards general service innovations on the internet.
It is difficult to anticipate the number of registrations in the restricted registry for .art, as the number may be determined by the effectiveness of marketing and the reception of internet users to the new gTLDs more generally. It is estimated that between 25,000 and 80,000 registrations may take place in the first year. It is difficult to estimate the number of people engaged at different levels within the visual arts community worldwide; however as a portion of the population, the number is likely to be significant and growing. In 2009 there were over 400,000 listed businesses engaging in the art market worldwide and between 5 and 15 million individuals engaging in arts related activities. Currently, the visual arts community, including individuals, businesses and non-commercial organisations, is scattered over the existing domain name structure or do not have internet representation at all. The mission of .art is to create a democratised, user-friendly, professional environment for this growing art community. Creative Ideas intends to utilise geographic names and IDNs to support a positive user experience for users regardless of geography or language.
In its endeavour to promote and expand the .art gTLD, Creative Ideas will continually comply with all operational, technical and policy requirements, as well as maintaining consumer trust and the stability of the internet. Creative Ideas will keep ICANN reasonably informed of any material developments relating to .art gTLD including compliance with the continued operations instrument obligations as set out in Specification 8 of the Registry Agreement.
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