Malaysian news portal Free Malaysia Today (FMT) is on a mission to boost art tourism in the Southeast Asian nation.
To turn this into reality, FMT collaborated with Mart Expo – a collective of artists worldwide – to provide opportunities to artists to showcase their works via Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs).
The FMT-Mart Expo will promote over 500 artworks – mostly consisting of paintings and calligraphy – produced online and offline by some 100 artists. 50 percent of the artists selected will be Malaysians.
The collaboration, launched by Malaysian Minister of Tourism, Arts, and Culture Nancy Shukri on June 2, 2022, also saw newly minted Ministry of Tourism, Arts, and Culture secretary-general Saraya Arbi. Among those who attended the event were 15 ambassadors and diplomats from Argentina, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Croatia, Cuba, the Netherlands, Namibia, Senegal, Kuwait, Iran, Ghana, and Tajikistan.
The FMT Accelerator program was also launched at the event as well. The program aims to invest in startups and artists in Southeast Asia who possess great potential. Works of these artists will be minted and sold in the global digital market.
"Artists have a significant role in our society and that's why we always measure the success of a civilization by how well they treat its artists," Mart Expo Globe Sdn Bhd founder, Mohsen Golshiri said.
He added that Mart Expo aims to identify and promote artists of diverse cultural backgrounds.
"?We make art accessible to everyone by having thousands of artists on our platforms with various types of artworks and prices."
Nancy said the ministry is looking into new technologies such as NFTs as alternative platforms for artists.
"The pandemic has left them without an audience or platform to continue their work. We welcome initiatives to promote tourism using art so that we can monetize art in a bigger and better way, even to the extent of promoting art globally as an export market."
"I believe the collaboration can bring foreign art buyers into Malaysia and showcase our artists and their works in the international arena," she said.
The collaboration now complements the Malaysian government's efforts to help artists.
FMT managing director Azeem Abu Bakar said the news portal is committed to bringing added value to artists.
"We are cognisant of the fact that many tech-related markets are currently experiencing some volatility, we firmly believe that the underlying technology and fundamentals of NFTs will continue to offer a net positive impact to artists worldwide," he said.
You can check out Mart Expo Globe’s Instagram to show your support to these artists.
Read more art-related stories:
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Cover image sourced from Free Malaysia Today (FMT).
