Nelson Mandela’s family launches the “Mandelaverse”

Nelson Mandela’s family is launching a project in the metaverse: it is called “A Long Walk to Meta: Mandelaverse” and will feature art collections of Non-Fungible Token as early as next summer. 

Meanwhile, musician and producer Pharrell Williams supports blockchain and Web3 especially in the creative sector, meanwhile here comes Plush, the first animated film associated with an NFT collection.

NFT News: Mandela in the metaverse of “A Long Walk to Meta: Mandelaverse”

Nelson Mandela’s family brand, Long Walk to Freedom, is reportedly launching a new project in the metaverse: “A Long Walk to Meta: Mandelaverse”. 

The project is in collaboration with Range Media Partners, Tinywins and Phoenix James Art Haus and will include four NFT art collections and a holographic gala to be held in Los Angeles later this summer.

The first NFT collection of 100 silver and gold tokens, which will give access to the “Mandelaverse Gala”, will be auctioned in May with proceeds benefiting the Mandela Education Program. The owner of the gold coin will also win a trip to Johannesburg, South Africa, complete with a private safari. 

On this, Princess Zenani Mandela Dlamini said in a statement:

“My father was a great champion of education and believed it was the most powerful weapon we could use to change the world. Web 3.0 holds the promise of a decentralized, community-driven paradigm shift that will allow a new generation to democratize and restore the power of creators,” Princess Zenani Mandela Dlamini said in a statement on Tuesday. “It is here that we will amplify African voices, connect a global community through storytelling, and uphold the legacy, principles, and values of a revolutionary man”.

Pharrell Williams supports Web 3 and Blockchain and describes his entry into NFTs

Even the musician, producer and fashion designer, Pharrell Williams, at the VeeCon NFT conference last Saturday, said he is a big supporter of Web3 and Blockchain as technologies that can improve the creative industry in particular. 

Here are his words: 

“Blockchain and Web3—it’s unlocking something that is scaring the system. They are working really hard to put laws together to try to legislate around your concept, your idea. You all are the most powerful human beings on this planet. You don’t know it yet”.

Not only that, Williams also described his entry into the world of NFTs, stating that he started exploring the concept of NFTs a couple of years ago and arrived “late”. 

He explained that an NFT acts as a proof of ownership for an object, and is often used for digital assets such as artwork, profile pictures, collectibles and even music tracks. 

They can also provide access to restricted communities and experiences and are expected to serve as building blocks of the metaverse, a more immersive future internet.

In the creative industry, working with Non-Fungible Tokens also offers the possibility for artists to receive secondary market royalties from NFT sales that can be integrated into the smart contract (or underlying code) that powers these assets. 

In the traditional space, an artist may see no further benefit after the initial sale of a work.

At the moment, Williams is working on a couple of Web3 initiatives such as Gallery of Digital Assets, which he describes as “a safe space for traditional artists who have worked very hard to have a place to move into the digital world”.

The other initiative is Black Ambition, a non-profit scheme that aims to support start-ups by black and Latino entrepreneurs. In the Web3 category, the scheme provides mentorship to selected start-ups along with funding of up to $1 million.

Plush and the film industry

Non-Fungible Tokens are also increasingly finding their way into the film industry, with the Plush project being described as the first animated film to be associated with an NFT collection. 

In essence, Plush is the first French animated feature film financed by NFTs, for which owners will be able to:

• become co-producers
• participate in the writing of the script through a voting system;
• share 80% of the film’s box-office profits. 

To finance the film, anyone can buy one of the 50,000 NFT teddy bears that will appear in the animated drama, starting mid-May and priced at €1,250 each. 

All teddy bears will be created randomly and will be unveiled one to two weeks later. The bears will be similar yet unique, e.g. with feathers, wings, crest, angry face, accessories and a particular colour. Each purchaser will then receive a digital certificate of ownership.

A democratization of access to the film industry and bringing fans closer to the film production process, which was also recently promoted by Niels Juuls’ NFT Studios, the creator of Scorsese’s famous films.