ImpactNFT Alliance Leads Fight for Social Justice & Environment with NFTs
SolChicks is a supporter of ImpactNFT Alliance. James Trower, Marketing Lead at SolChicks was a panelist for the ImpactNFT Connect+ event discussing the new paradigms that NFTs present.
Dear SolChicksFam!
My name is James, I’m the Marketing Lead at SolChicks!
Let me start with a story. In August 2021 the Taliban retook control of Afghanistan. Many had their assets frozen and a point was reached where hunger and the inability to buy food became a serious issue.
An Afghan-Canadian activist and artist drew together her artist community and they made a number of NFTs. These NFTs were sold around the world. They generated enough funding to be able to buy food for whole communities that were suffering.
The potential for good that is present in the crypto industry is significant, and it is because of that potential I found myself on a Tuesday night in December 2021 on Hong Kong Island looking for the SHOUT art gallery.
Social Impact of NFTs and Blockchain Technology
It isn’t every day that you find agents of social justice, a crypto trading platform CEO, a sculptor, a street artist, a digital mouth artist, and me, a P2E game marketing lead, all in the same room together.
I was honoured to be numbered among this eclectic quintet of incredible Hong Kong artists, crypto professionals and social justice advocates, all exploring together this new paradigm that NFTs bring to the art world and the positive social impact that they can have globally.
The event was hosted at the SHOUT gallery in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong, and organised by ImpactNFT Alliance which is a magnificent association of organisations that are firebrands in their own right leading the way globally for how crypto, blockchain and NFT technologies can be harnessed for social and environmental good in pursuit of the United Nations’ 17 sustainable development goals.
ImpactNFT Alliance welcomes impact projects from around the world that raise awareness, support communities and educate those currently fighting for social justice and environmental issues through the possibilities that these new technologies offer. Their goal is to create a vibrant community that sets aside differences and fosters collaboration using a myriad of innovative ways to bring about positive change.
Partnership for Advocacy
One such project is called Project Ark. Project Ark is a cutting-edge new blockchain-powered conservation platform built in partnership between Carbonbase and the WWF Panda Labs.
The partnership between CarbonBase and Panda Labs created a marketplace for rare NFT’s, which directly funds animal and environmental conservation efforts around the world. Their current efforts are to fund the re-wilding of 60 Bison into Romania. To do this they have made and are selling various NFT collections based on Romanian and Carpathian art and animals.
How ImpactNFT is Leading the Way for Social Advocacy
ImpactNFT Alliance is becoming a voice advocating for carbon accounting and offsetting solutions to be brought into blockchain based businesses. They are researching innovative ways in which carbon offsetting can be incorporated into P2E gaming environments so that effort in the digital world can be converted into real world environmental benefits.
ImpactNFT Alliance is forming a panel of industry experts and futurists to begin a deep dive into the higher-order questions that our rapidly-moving, 24/7 industry maybe hasn’t considered, or even asked. They will be taking time to ask those pertinent questions surrounding what tomorrow will look like from the decisions and the developments that are being made today in the crypto space.
How will the crypto industry affect the tomorrow of societies around the world? Are there any early warning flags that we need to be raised? ImpactNFT Alliance maybe one of the most important organisations growing in our sector.
ImpactNFT is becoming akin to an industry-conscience, as well as an industry innovator and enabler that brings to the table creative opportunities for the betterment of humanity and our world through the crypto space.
Empowering Arts Through Blockchain and NFTs
On the panel of ImpactNFT Connect+ were three incredible Hong Kong artists; Tiffany Cheng a mouth artist, Vivian Ho a painter and illustrator, and Jimmy Rice a sculptor and artist.
Tiffany has an absolutely incredible story of not allowing disability to stop her painting or creating. Tiffany is a mouth artist and the work she creates in a digital space is phenomenal.
Jimmy’s style is very striking and much of his work highlights the struggles we have as people with our environment and the world. Vivian is well known for her street art and very recognisable paintings that just ooze Hong Kong iconography. Hong Kongers living around the world find her paintings a beautiful and nostalgic window into the Hong Kong they love so much.
The panel discussion was excellently moderated by Cathal Donnellan, CEO & Co-Founder at SnapEx. We covered a lot of ground over our hour and a half discussion. We heard from the artists themselves concerning what inspires them, what their art is like, and how they have begun to engage with and understand NFT’s.
The panel explored the possibilities that NFT’s bring to the art space; for the artists themselves and intern how this can be translated into “levelling the playing field” concerning promotion and protection which only expand the societal impact possibilities that NFT’s hold.
Key Takeaways
A key takeaway from the panel discussion was that NFT’s are not digital art in themselves. Rather, the NFT is a mark of ownership and origin that can be held on a blockchain so it has ascribed value.
The paradigm shift in art heralds a new medium with new possibilities. Audience participation at the ImpactNFT Connect+ was phenomenal and much of the questioning led to exploring various types of NFT art that is seen today.
We discussed examples like Damien Hirst’s collection, “The Currency”, and how buyers must make a choice between the NFT and the original, and whichever isn’t chosen is then destroyed.
Artists like FEWOCiOUS was also mentioned during the event and how through digital communities and NFTs a young digital artist has been able to create a global community, and sell in a way that was never before possible.
“A painter can sell a painting for thousands of dollars, but a digital artist never had that. Maybe you get a good commission for some company or from some musician, but never really respected for just the digital craft itself. NFTs are giving digital artists that same platform.” Victor aka FEWOCiOUS
There was a great discussion around the commercialisation and marketability of NFT art that resulted in the panel agreeing that NFT’s should be seen as another medium and avenue to present art, not as a driver of the creative process.
The panel highlighted that there are many different kinds of artists. Some artists create for industry and are managed by others that tell them what needs to be created. Then there are other artists that have their own process and create art as an expression.
The Role of SolChicks & NFT Gaming in Social Advocacy
The same possibilities are present in the NFT space. Game artists will create inline with game studio specifications.
At SolChicks we have design and brand guidelines that need to be followed. But then you get artists like Mike Winkelmann, aka Beeple, who creates one of a kind NFT’s that can sell in the millions. Christies sold “Everydays — The First 5000 days” for $69 million USD. This is a really important understanding for artists exploring this space because it isn’t just about pixelated collections of postage stamp style NFT’s, it can be anything.
What we are seeing is the dawn of a totally new era of art that will be far more accessible globally not just orbiting around artistic centres. Although art communities will continue to play a significant role in the future, with the advent of NFT’s and the digitisation of community this will allow a totally new artistic landscape and ream of possibility.
Artists are going to have more power to control their art and more ways to monetise their art. Once a physical painting is sold and on a wall it can be hard to retain ownership and physical elements (fire, damp, theft, etc.) may damage the value.
With NFT’s, new business models can be developed to promote advocacies. One that was discussed on the ImpactNFT Connect+ panel was a subscription-based model for NFT art distribution around a city through digital frames.
The possibilities are extensive and the social justice benefits profound. Imagine an artist from a developing nation that can have their work on hotel walls on the other side of the planet and get paid well on a regular basis. These are the kinds of futures that we can create and its impact globally will be significant.
ImpactNFT Alliance has created this unique collaborative environment as a platform from which to address significant global issues and challenge all those inside and outside the crypto space to look at the possibility for good that these technologies offer.
Vivian Ho: https://www.instagram.com/vvvvnho/?hl=en
Jimmy Rice: https://www.instagram.com/jimmyrice_hk/?hl=en
Tiffany Cheng: https://www.instagram.com/gracerulean/?hl=en
