The new gTLD .Art has been settled by private auction.

The string was schedule to go to an ICANN Last Resort later this month.

UK Creative Ideas Limited has won the right to operate the .Art new gTLD, beating out 9 other applicants including Donuts, Minds + Machines, Uniregistry and Top Level Designs.

The Board of Directors of the company are listed in the ICANN application as follows:

Andrey Chuykov

Elena Chinyaeva

Sergei Shumsky

Ulvi Kasimov

The registry in its application said the total number of registration would be difficult to predict but forecasted something between 25K-80K domain registrations in the first year.

Verisign is the backend provider for this .Art applicant.

According to its application .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.

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.

The creation of the .art gTLD will allow for increased speciality through its creation of domain names designed for use specifically for the art industry. It will provide people interested in art with an infrastructure for sharing of information, expertise, products and services, as well as encouraging the creation of various applications by the users themselves. By specialising in the art industry, the .art gTLD intends to open the world of art to internet users, including the art market and a broader audience, to make it easy for anyone to find, buy, and sell original works of visual art. Such services will be supported by the high-quality content and technological innovation of the .art gTLD. It is anticipated that the creation of an industry specific internet space for art will increase the service levels, relevance and accuracy of information that is available to the broader community of internet users. These increased service levels, combined with increased security measures and effective functionality will provide a trusted and positive user experience when engaging with the art community through the .art gTLD.