Zk Av Club 2025 Wrap-up

Community Collaborations
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Documenting ourselves (in public, together)

2025 was the year Zk Av Club started to become what it was always supposed to be: not a “content pipeline,” not a top‑down media brand, but a small set of tools + rituals that help communities record their own stories.

Zk Av Club Recording Station: Devconnect 2025
Zk Av Club Recording Station: Devconnect 20251600×1200 398 KB

This post is a recap of the public activities we ran (and the receipts: links, livestreams, recordings). If you want the whole picture, check out the full timeline.

What happened in 2025 (high level)

  • We ran Foundry as a recurring livestream series focused on practical media skills and community coordination.
  • We supported community-led workshops in multiple languages (EN/PT/ES), with an emphasis on “teach what you know” and lightweight production.
  • We built and ran our Recording Station at major events in Berlin, Prague, and Buenos Aires—resulting in 80+ recordings across 8 events.
  • We used ZconVI as a proving ground for accessibility + participation: live text translations and clip games.
  • We tested funding in public: a shielded-ZEC crowdfund for Berlin (190 ZEC), a smaller Prague donation drive during a price run-up, and then grants + event partners to make Buenos Aires happen.
  • We had failures (technical, logistical). We wrote them down, shipped anyway, and kept iterating.

Foundry (livestream series)

Foundry is the backbone: consistent sessions where people can show up, learn, and then reuse what they learned in their own local contexts.

Foundry #1

Foundry #2

Foundry #3

Foundry #4

Foundry #5

Foundry #6

Foundry #7

Foundry #8

Foundry #9

Foundry #10

Workshops (community skill‑sharing)

Workshops are the “spore layer.” They spread. They localize. They grow.

Recording Station (in‑person media lab)

This is the part people feel in their bones: show up with a small volunteer crew, a plan, and a welcoming vibe. Record what matters. Share the source.

Between these 3 activations, we made more than 80 recordings with community in attendance at 8 different events.

Berlin Blockchain Week (Jun 10–21)

Dark Prague (Oct 3-5)

Buenos Aires: Sub0 + Devconnect

ZconVI activations (clips + live translations)

We used ZconVI as a proving ground for two things: (1) community-made clips that travel, and (2) real-time localization so more people can actually follow along.

Operations notes (the unglamorous parts)

This is the underlying bet: online spaces are useful, but they’re not the community. The community is what people do for each other, in real time, with real stakes.

What didn’t work (and still counts)

  • Foundry #2 failed on Mar 21 due to technical issues. We rescheduled and ran it on Apr 4.
  • Foundry #10 (Sub0 & Devconnect recap livestream) was scheduled for Dec 12 and failed due to technical difficulties.

Closing: why this matters

Zcash doesn’t need more “content.” It needs more people who can document what’s real, teach each other what they’ve learned, and tell their story without asking permission.

That’s the job. That’s the practice. That’s Zk Av Club.

Tracking what’s next? Our 2026 support proposal is here: https://forum.zcashcommunity.com/t/zcash-community-media-infrastructure-support-zk-av-club-2026/53913

Happy 2026 :high_voltage: :shield:

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Grant Proposal for Zk Av Club Community Support 2025
Zero-knowledge Audiovisual Club (Zk Av Club)
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It was really energizing to see you folks at work. There were a lot of flashy and pretentious booths at DevConnect but for those wanting to see beyond, one could look at people’s faces standing there with their brand new swag and huge signs… and you’d see emptiness they could be any crypto project. Generic.

To me, there’s no better advertisement for Zcash than going to conferences and seeing the ZkAvClub. A project with purpose and meaning with real people behind it. Plain old work. Humble people doing what they love. 100% cypherpunk. the real deal.

Cheers!

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It was such a pleasure to spend time with you at the Rec Station, @pacu!

BTW, the episode of Oktahedron you recorded with @j32804 and Dirk was published :high_voltage: :shield: Thank you for joining us!

In this episode our guest Pacu talks about the state of light clients in zcash, defi firehoses, and putting ancient zcashd to rest in favour of more modular architecture written in Rust.

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Big thanks to everyone in the Zcash communities who really made all this happen in 2025 :hugs: Our Workshop co-captains @AuraBritoSM @gordonesTV and Recording Station volunteers @robmarn @Autotunafish @j32804 @zerodartz @squirrel :high_voltage: :shield:

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Thanks to @ZCG for funding our 2025 grant making Foundry the start of a truly beautiful and fruitful thing :heart_hands: To @ZcashFoundation for believing in this weird dream from the beginning :smiling_face_with_three_hearts: and @ZecHub for being the shining example for all Zcash communities! Thank you @ElectricCoinCo for bringing private cash to the Internet and, of course, @zooko for leading the charge since day zero! :rocket:

See you on the moon.

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I love this phrase, @ryan.taylor ! Because this is our trully spirit!

And about this, do not worry! I feel those “failures” make us more patient, resilient, and persistent. So they were learning experiences.

Looking back, what a ton of work we did!

2026 will be more and more exciting! :muscle:

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This last year was an incredible jorney to me, with Zcash and with Zk Av Club.

I remember this, my very first video in english…

I made my first community workshop too!

At the Zcash en Español community we made a “Who wants to be a Zcasher?” episode about Zk Av Club… It was so funny to learn about!

This was totally new to me: Internet Archive and command lines.

The shielded camera was one of my favorite episodes of our year!

Definetly we connect communities! No matter what languages poeople talks!

And of course, in my personal recap I talked about my Zk Av Club experience. Thanks! :folded_hands:

In summary, it was a year of great learning for all of us involved.

But we also had fun, so that counts too.

Thank you for allowing me to be part of this magical team.

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Hi everyone!

2025 was a year of profound community building for me at ZK AV Club. I not only had the opportunity to participate, but I also took on responsibilities and supported processes that are now part of the club’s identity and growth.

As part of the core team, I experienced firsthand the challenges and decisions involved in maintaining a community space focused on education, audiovisual experimentation, and the values ​​of the ZK ecosystem. From strategic planning to daily execution, I was an active participant in key conversations, internal organization, and the definition of dynamics that strengthened the club and its impact.

One of the most significant roles I assumed during the year was co-leader of the community workshops alongside Roosevelt Gordones. In this capacity, I worked on the process, coordination, recruitment, and facilitation of training activities designed for people with varying levels of experience in Open Source tools that they then put at the service of the community, always with an inclusive, practical, and participatory approach.

This year was also a year of challenges and great courage: I was able to share my knowledge of Community Building in a Foundry session with Ryan and Roosevelt—without a doubt, one of the best experiences of the year! (https://x.com/SoyAuraBrito/status/1908185529910206696?s=20)

Beyond the specific tasks, one of the year’s greatest achievements was contributing to consolidating a safe and collaborative space. And if I have to highlight a significant lesson, it’s that the ZK AV Club’s philosophy isn’t imposed: it’s built day by day, with consistency and presence. Some of the workshops we shared were:

Editing for everyone: video workshop without complications

Basic video editing for social media

Logo in motion

Kdenlive for beginners

ZK AV Club in 2025 was, for me, a living laboratory of what it means to work from a service perspective, co-create from diversity, and sustain communities with purpose. I’m taking away profound lessons, valuable connections, and the certainty that community work, when done with intention and commitment, leaves a lasting mark on both people and projects.

Thanks to the entire Zk Av Team for making it possible, let’s keep building!

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