NFTs provide “all-access” pass to First Annual Afterparty NFT Art and Musical Festival
Afterparty has announced that it will host the world’s first NFT-gated art and music festival March 18-19th at the Las Vegas immersive entertainment venue AREA15. The Afterparty NFT Art and Musical Festival will bring together NFT artists, musicians, creators and collectors at the leading edge of Web3 for a live experience focused entirely on the NFT art movement. The festival lineup will be announced in the coming weeks.
Building on Afterparty’s founding vision to empower creators with the tools and community to realize their Web3 potential, the festival takes token-gated experiences from the metaverse to real-life. Produced in partnership with former Life is Beautiful partner, Ryan Doherty, and former Kaaboo senior executive, Chris Racan, with leading NFT artists, Nate Mohler and Alec Maassen, as creative directors, this will be the first festival in history where there are no tickets – NFTs unlock access.
“Digital art is just the beginning of how profound NFTs will be for the creator economy,” states David Fields, CEO and Founder at Afterparty. “Afterparty’s NFT serve as verifiable digital assets that give owners a membership to experience exclusive events and the vibrant community that is Afterparty – the festival brings all of this to life. We believe NFT art deserves its own celebration, to be front and center as the main event. Whether you’re an emerging artist, grammy-winning musician, new to crypto or a veteran collector, Afterparty welcomes you to one of the most creative, diverse and exciting experiences in the world.”
The Afterparty All-Access NFT Collection gives NFT holders artist-level access to the festival. The collection’s 1,500 NFTs are completely unique, exclusively minted in-real-life and live on the Ethereum blockchain forever. They also serve as a “membership” for the Afterparty universe, which includes collaborations and community events at the Hollywood Hills Afterparty House and pop-up experiences at some of the biggest worldwide art and NFT gatherings like Art Basel.
Nine-time Grammy winning Sia, TikTok singer/songwriter Jaden Hossler, Pussy Riot founder Nadya Tolonko, and LANY frontman Paul Klein are among some of the first creators – dubbed the Afterparty “Utopians” – to live-mint the eponymous NFTs at the Afterparty House. Afterparty privately sold its first 100 Utopian NFTs within 24 hours. Starting today, the public can earn or win their spot on the guestlist by heading to the Afterparty website and Discord – pre-sale opens January 20th.
“Being a part of Afterparty’s NFT festival in Las Vegas underscores the need for audio and visual artists to take control of their own careers, outside of the conventional recording, streaming and art industry,“ states Nadya Tolokonnikova, founder of protest art collective Pussy Riot.
“Being an artist isn’t always what it looks like and art isn’t always what it seems,” Hossler shares. “My life-long commitment to art was inspired by my grandmother’s passion for it, which is still with me today. I’d be doing a disservice to myself and the community if I didn’t engage with the things that inspire me. Afterparty’s team has given me the tools and community to fully embrace NFTs, which has helped me translate my own artistic expressions into something that creates long-term financial security for my family.”
Utopian NFT holders will be responsible for the entire festival guest list. Each owner can bring a “+1” and will have two “NFT Guest Passes” to use to invite friends or trade, ensuring the 6,000-person event is personal and all about community. Afterparty is also giving away a number of Utopians to its most active community members across its Discord and Twitter.
The Afterparty Festival is just one of the token-gated experiences featured on the Afterparty roadmap, which has also been announced. Utopian NFT owners can experience an Afterparty Super Bowl Weekend Event; Gallery showings from prominent artists and collectors at the Afterparty House; The Afterparty Pop-Up House at Art Basel 2022; and more surprises to be unveiled.
The announcement marks yet another milestone in Afterparty’s mission to build community around NFTs. From hosting token-gated experiences on its event platform to minting parties at its Hollywood Hills creator house, Afterparty continues to be the first and only community-driven platform that truly serves creators and fans by giving post-sale value to NFTs.
Afterparty debuted in June 2021, which quickly attracted some of the world’s most influential and emerging creators. From chart-topping bands like Echosmith to creators like Bryce Hall and Thomas Petrou (creator of Hype House), who hold some of the largest followings on TikTok, Afterparty continues to build the leading Web3 community. It has also attracted a coveted investor group, including Acrew Capital, TenOneTen Ventures, and angels Reade Seiff and Craig Clemens, to close a recent $3M seed round.
