A private school in the South African countryside has turned to non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to raise funds for its scholarship programme, which provides full scholarships to children from disadvantaged communities in the area.
Greyton House Village School, situated in Greyton, a country village roughly two hours’ drive from Cape Town, minted its first collection of NFTs in February this year and has already sold eight pieces, the latest selling for $300 on OpenSea, an NFT marketplace.
The artworks are by pupils of Greyton House, who gave permission for these pieces to be sold for the cause. Each piece is created using mixed media on paper before being digitised and minted on OpenSea.
“Greyton House has a flourishing art department and the children create some exceptional pieces under the guidance of local artist Dina Kuijers,” says Principal of Greyton House Marli Hoffman. “One of our parents, Wesley Blake, is a blockchain developer who helped with the technicalities of minting these pieces,” she says.
The first few artworks sold for $250 each, which covers one month’s school fees for one pupil at Greyton House, Hoffman says. “The first pieces sold for 0.1 ETH, and we decided to list the rest of the artworks in our first collection at the same amount, as it covers a scholarship recipient for one month of schooling, including wraparound costs,” she explains.
Says Hoffman, “The more NFTs we sell, the more children we can support with scholarships and reduce the waiting list for applications. The only way to change the trajectory of poverty in our country from the bottom up is through education.”
The school will continue adding to its NFT collection. It has also included a 5% royalty cost to each NFT traded in the future. “Hopefully this will create a passive stream of funding for the scholarship programme,” Hoffman says. The next Greyton House NFT collection will feature digitally rendered 3D mobiles to be sold as 3D GIF NFTs.
For more information, contact Marli Hoffman at marli@greytonhouse.co.za
