NFT: What is it and Why Does it Matter for Artists?

with Joonho Lee (Partner, KBean)

Thursday, April 29th, 2021, 7:00 pm EST / FREE

 

AHL Foundation presents the first session of its online mentoring workshop series, “NFT: What is it and Why Does it Matter for Artists?” with Joonho Lee, General Partner at Kbean and former Chief Information Officer, Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The workshop will be held on April 29th at 7:00pm EST via Zoom, and is the first session of AHL Foundation’s three-part online mentoring workshop series scheduled monthly through late-June.
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT) have been making news around the world recently, especially within the digital art industry. The Beeple NFT artwork sold for $6.6M in a Christie’s auction in February 2021. Banksy’s work, Morons, which was a critique of the art market, was converted to NFT for $380,000 and then burnt.
This complex cryptography technology, NFT, is a component of a broader technology called “Blockchain,” which was far removed from the art world at its outset. However, in recent years a strong synergy between crypto technology and art has developed. What is this synergy and why does it matter to artists?
NFT and supporting blockchain technologies enable long overdue solutions to challenges within the art industry, including authenticity, provenance, price transparency, creator’s rights, security, and access to broader consumers. But the ultimate question still remains — how are these technologies actually utilized and by whom?
In this session, Joonho Lee will discuss what an NFT really is and is not, what problems this crypto technology can solve in the art industry, what benefit you may gain, what risk you may take by leveraging NFTs, and lastly, a few steps you can take to get involved with NFTs. If you have been thinking about finding a new way to secure your work, reach your audience directly, monetize, and build a more sustainable career as an artist, this session will be very informative.
Registration for the workshop is free. The workshop will be held via Zoom and a link to the workshop will be sent to registrants on the day of the event. For questions and inquiries please email us at info@ahlfoundation.org.

 

About Joonho Lee

With over 20 years of experience in Digital Transformation and Cybersecurity, Joonho Lee is currently a General Partner at Kbean, an open yet close-knit social network connecting artists and those who love digital arts. Before Kbean, he held various leadership roles in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and San Francisco, including Chief Information Officer and Head of Digital Transformation. He also instituted and led the National Cybersecurity Competency Center protecting the Federal Reserve System and the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Joonho received his J.D. from New York Law School. He holds both M.B.A and M.S. degrees from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, as well as a B.S. in Computer Engineering from the University of Connecticut. He is admitted to the New York State Bar as an attorney specializing in information law and policy.