How can the metaverse bolster African culture in the global scene?
Africa has a great opportunity for development and promotion of its own culture with the Metaverse, which will provide a generous stream revenue for artists and cultural institutions as well as businesses centred around digital technology and e-commerce, and encourage entrepeneurial and innovative spirit. The Metaverse is also an opportunity to spread a different narrative on African history and culture for the whole world to see, one that defies the stereotypes still latent from the time of colonialism. The African Metaverse summit intends to discuss the issue and bring together sponsors and experts in the field. Metaseum will be there and talk about how our project can be a valuable contribution to promoting African art and culture.
The Metaverse is a great opportunity for African businesses and individuals to bolster their visibility on the world stage and bring initiatives to the eyes of big investors and partners. There is already one Metaverse that stands out in Africa, Ubuntuland, a space where land can be sold, bought and rented, and which brings businesses and individuals together. Ubuntuland buildings are based on traditional African architecture, showcases African art, fashion and entertainment, and has its own currency, $UBUNTU, built on the Ethereum blockchain. On February of 2022, African company MTN and South African M&C Saatchi Abel bought at least 144 plots of land on Ubuntuland, these large transactions boost the continent’s digital market, and research firm Analysis Groups indicated that the Metaverse will bring $40 billion into the GDP of sub-Saharan Africa within a decade. The Metaverse will also attract big names in the business, such as Epic Games or Nvidia, already sponsoring this year’s African metaverse summit.
Web 3 technology also has the potential to be a motor behind the promotion of African culture, putting this task in the hand of Africa artists, musuems and companies. UNESCO points out that technology is a key instrument in the promotion and protection of cultural diversity, and Africa has the opportunity to build its own narrative around its history and culure along with the meaning and origin of most of its artifacts. Nowadays, most people come into contact with African art and culture through museums in Europe, often with an inaccurate or biased perspective of it. Since the Metaverse can be accessed from anywhere in the world from most digital devices, promotion of African culture can come directly at the hands of africans with their own narrative and view of history and art, and different story-telling and contextualisation of artifacts and artwork.
More precisely, there are various ways that Africa can benefit from the Metaverse in a holistic way. In the first place, it is important to know that every object in the Metaverse is a tradeable NFT, from art sold in virtual galleries to plots of land. In the case of NFT art, African museums can digitise their artwork and other objects in the Metaverse and sell them in NFT format, individual artists can also sell their art in NFT format and further promote themselves in the Metaverse. Both of these things encourage institutional innovation and individual entrepreneurship, and would provide NFT creators with royalties for each transaction on their artwork. The sale, purchase and renting of plots of land in the Metaverse is a large market that can make good revenue for different cultural organisations that may want to have presence in the Metaverse. Finally, the possibility of organising virtual events with extended accessibility beyond physical constraints and membership schemes based on NFT ownership provide good networking and outreach strategies.
The African Metaverse Summit brings together a number of businesses, individuals and other organisations to discuss and build a common vision on how the Metaverse will work for Africa. The summit has a pedagogical dimension, with information and skill exchange as a priority, as well as weighing the challenges and opportunities Web3 technologies entail for Africa. The African continent possesses an exceptional pool of creative talent, with impressive digital skills, and individuals with entrepeneurial spirit willing to bet on the latest digital innovations, the African Metaverse Summit intends to provide the platform, organisation and resources to channel this potential. One of the star proposals of the event will be the creation of the. African Metaverse Academy, in order to train more than 300 young people and women free of charge in the Metaverse professions (Blockchain, Crypto, AI, NFT, VR, AR, 3D, Gaming, Design…) in more than 15 African countries from July 2022. Metaseum will also be present at the event, sharing our vision of accessibility of culture and knowledge for all and the importance of providing a platform for everyone in this emerging market.
Africa has immense human potential for making an impact in the Metaverse, which is an excellent opportunity to encourage economic development and cultural promotion. The key feature of the Metaverse in this context is its accessibility and in consequence, the opportunity for promoting projects to a diverse and large audience. Metaseum will be highlighting these issues at the African Metaverse Summit, which intends to be a forum for knowledge exchange with the development of the Metaverse in Africa in sight.
