Welcome to the evolution of Project FILO. Web2 meets Web3, expanding the realm of possibility and reality. Project FILO has always been about Web3 before it was even a thing.
Ever since our conception, Project FILO hasn’t been a definable thing. It’s always been an ecosystem that grows around the artist. By artists and for artists. It may seem simple, but in the startup world and within web2, it often limits the imagination beyond the status quo. Allow us to reintroduce ourselves.
Who is Project FILO?
We are a global creative hub that is by artists, for artists focused on creating, curating, and cross-collaboration to help artists exceed the vision of their future selves. Founded by siblings Brandon Washington and Lauren Washington, Project FILO represents expression - the tenacity to be multi-dimensional and undeniably boundless. When you think of originators within innovation and progression, they can not be boxed in. If you ask what Project FILO is, the answer will evolve and adapt each time, but what remains is that we are built by artists & for artists. Project FILO is a global ecosystem and hub focusing on creation, curation, and collaboration for excluded & emerging artists. We’re innovating on new modes of tools, curation, and collaborations for a new framework of strategy and accessibility within creative industries. FILO specializes in management, development, curation, and consulting for a wide net of creatives with a strong commitment to inclusivity. There is no bridge that cannot be built. Our network encompasses multidisciplinary creations, management, event series, a publication, platforms, and like-minded partners. It is difficult to process a vision counterintuitive to the grain because for so long the standard has been industries that are gate kept, inaccessible, and non-inclusive. PF is built by artists for artists within creative industries ranging from film, visual arts, design, fashion, and music. All art is interconnected and thrives better when you listen to artists first and foremost. The present and future belong to giving power back to the creators. PF facilitates a new creative ecosystem that builds on itself as we grow.
FILO stands for First In, Last Out. The acronym "FILO" was inspired by the legends Nujabes & Shing02's song entitled "F.I.L.O." off the album Metaphorical Music. Producer Shing02 even told one of our artists (MZA) that “the concept of being ‘first in’ and ‘last out’ is not only a phrase, but a motto that we should strive to apply to work, family, friends, and of course ourselves. By doing so, we can not only reshape the creative space for good but improve the world one mighty step at a time. When you think of originators of innovation and progression, it can not be boxed in.
Along with Project FILO, we’ve been building Project FILO Selects which is an eventual platform x protocol for creation, curation, & collaboration to support any artist. All artists deserve an opportunity and this is the infrastructure for artist support at any point in their journey. Pre- web3, we experimented with PFS by building out the culture and community of artists who align with our ethos and want to be seen. Giving others a spotlight or co-sign can be the catalyst for change and manifest in numerous ways, so there’s never an excuse for exclusivity. MC Blue Matter is spearheading the creative direction with Brandon on A&R scouting and relationship building, as well as Lauren overseeing partnerships + brand strategy. With web3, we will further build out an intentional incubation ecosystem our community deserves with cross DAO collaboration, an incubator of curation, our Zoetic x PF educational series, Selectships, and a new platform x protocol launch for all artists with comprehensive tools all in one place for creation, curation, and collaboration.
Our mission for Selects DAO Q1 mission revolves around a common goal of ideating on app integration and creative tooling. Since 2020, we’ve been building on an idea for a platform by artists, for artists that champions our ethos with a focus on creation, curation, and collaboration. Artists deserve tools that reflect the interconnectedness of all art forms and that focus attention on one designated portal. Artists are the heartbeat of culture, society, and the future but the hyper-financialization of society makes being an artist a race towards a small entryway of what success looks like aka an industry standard. We will build a protocol for artists that provides the tools all in one place for creating, curating, and collaborating. To do this, we want to align with our ethos by inviting partners to fully build this out properly with all the iterations we’ve been dreaming of. The goal is for this to become a DAO and will be PF’s first pivot into web3. The platform for collective governance forever dedicated to artists’ needs and tooling for creation, curation, and collaboration. Partnerships are a key piece to the foundation, just like the rise of DAO2DAO collaborations. Project FILO’s mission is not to compete with other game-changing brands, but to promote and potentially work with them. Our team firmly holds the belief that effective disruption of gatekept models requires a variability of solutions and routine collaboration with the best of the very best participants. That is why we plan to team up with like-minded communities and our network to build Selects as a DAO.
Our core team functions as :
A CREATIVE HUB
11 musicians
5+ filmmakers
2 fashion designers
4 visual artists
MANAGEMENT + A&R TEAM
PODCASTING
SELF - SERVING PUBLICATION/PR
EVENTS
PARTNERSHIPS + SPONSORSHIPS
ALUMNI NETWORK
In order to understand how we got here, let us narrate the beginning…
How Project FILO began?
In 2014, Project FILO was called N.A.G.E (New Age Golden Era) and led by Brandon Washington, who was a middle schooler at the time, and M1Darton. Inspired by his budding love of underground hip-hop and Soundcloud, Brandon became an A&R assembling a team of musicians across the globe to form a music collective.
“N.A.G.E. is both an independent music label, and advocate of artistically inclined individuals creating masterpieces.”
N.A.G.E’s roster consisted of Entendre (now known as Cordae), MZA, M1Dartin, Benjo, Finesse, The Deli, Raff Alpha, $keleton, LaVon, gawdlee, Bryson McGee, Jon Bartley, Namuuna, Saib, Nymano, Sean RosatiTHIAGO, anigma, and Rival. Once in high school, Brandon shifted focus to pursuing soccer professionally and N.A.G.E. members all grew in their own new directions. Brandon remained tight with N.A.G.E members, notably Marc and Raff. Fast forward to 2017, Brandon wasn't content with the way things ended. Upon discovery that MZA was still making music, it took just one direct message through Soundcloud to convince him of joining the second attempt at N.A.G.E aka Project FILO. MZA and Brandon share the exact same age and birthday (March 7, 1998), just a fun fact. So in 2017, Project FILO became a reality with MZA, Brandon, and Lauren as co-founders. Lauren stepped in once realizing her own immense passion with storytelling in high school and both siblings decided to expand beyond just music. FILO Music, FILO Films, FILO Visual Art, FILO Journalists, FILO Managers. Since then, MZA has stepped down from the co-founder role to being an artist and is still a vocal member of the team. At Project FILO, we have always prioritized transparency with our team, so we believe founders to be fluid and look forward to exploring more in web3 with our founding inner team that includes everyone in PF.
The Journey of Project FILO
A lot of the journey has existed in phases corresponding to our journey as founders, as brother and sister, and life cycles. 2017-2018 was pivotal in the rebuilding phase of culture, community, and experimentation. It’s crucial to let your idea breathe and not shy away from the discomfort of needing to pivot. A lot of today’s culture is about who can be first and the quickest instead of intentionality and sustainability which will really cultivate culture. Although not directly always working on Project FILO, our journeys in our respective fields of intersets were crucial to the long-term and short-term development of what we’ve been building.
The next phase of Project FILO began as both Brandon and myself discovered more of our passions as artists & creative entrepreneurs. What makes anything run well is people and if you can’t identify how to work together, then how will your venture coexist in the long run and how will you cultivate culture? Brandon and I being brother and sister naturally already has been a cheat code. We both have been building out our own networks and experimenting which has only informed us more of the vision for Project FILO. It’s fitting as PF is a growing creative ecosystem.
It takes time to develop that culture and that’s what the past four years have been for us. We make it a point to be transparent with every step of the mission and that builds trust. Our entire PF team grows together and it is one of the best feelings to be at this point seeing everything coming into fruition. In 2020, Project FILO was accepted into Northwestern’s Wildfire accelerator program.
That journey was the next phase of our career and while we didn’t win, the real prize was our pivot for the future and aligning with our mentor, Doug Lambert.
Most of startup culture has always been about what can make the most $, so it is no surprise something that goes against the grain won’t entice traditional investors. After the summer of 2020, we were overjoyed to still be working alongside our mentor and now also advisory board member, Doug Lambert. Afterwards, the vision was never more clear. We worked alongside Mr. Lambert to construct our pitch deck for a true platform by artists & for artists and simultaneously, co-founder Lauren made her way into web3 in fall/winter of 2021. Lauren spent a lot of time on Clubhouse and stumbled upon Jodi Anderson from CreateSafe. All three of us began talking and it was extremely clear our ethos was aligned with being by artists & for artists. Partners are crucial to our mission and it should be encouraged especially in the artist economy so we can establish long-lasting collaborative ecosystems that don’t rely on gatekeeping, exclusivity, or inaccessibility. We had a series of meetings and developed a synthesis of where to first start our aligned efforts together. As a network with multidisciplinary artists, our first output collectively was with FILO Mixes and through CreateSafe, we’ve been able to carry that onward with a new beneficial system.
Huge appreciation to CreateSafe and all of their efforts as they have made the pivot into web3 as well with @createdao. Without realizing it, this journey was the next stone Project FILO needed to awaken everything we’ve been dreaming up and putting into motion the past few years. Co-founder Lauren has done the due diligence for us to take the next step with her success as an artist in this space, undergoing a @fwbtweets fellowship, and DAO experimentation with @V01D_DAO, @protein, @herstorydao, @radarxyz, & Maxiverse. The next step of the journey is cultivating more of our existing community with new interested parties and building an intentional entry into web3 by building our platform plus producing more original PF work. More on that will be shared in-depth soon but a recap of some of the highlights we’ve produced in the meantime:
-Lyrical Lemonade accolades
-Zoetics x Real Ones x PF “Navigating Creative Industry series”
-Juicebox Collective #FRESHPRESSED
Stay tuned for:
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Navigating the creative industry series…PF SELECTS
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FILO FILMS
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Wavelength - a creative lifestyle & duo w/ Lauren + Jordan
- Podcast, fashion, design, film, collaborative multimedia
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Real One's episodes
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New website
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Partnerships
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PF events
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Merch capsule designed by Gabe x Jordan
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FILO Mix 5
If you’re interested in working together, investing, sponsoring, or any other general inquiries please contact us via our website, socials, or emails at filobrandon11@gmail.com + laurenlomedia@gmail.com.