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Academy Museum selling Pillar Award NFTs to raise funds

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academy museum nft

The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures is raising funds by selling Pillar Award NFTs designed by the Haas Brothers.

The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures is raising funds by selling Pillar Award NFTs designed by the Haas Brothers, who also created the award itself.

LA-based artists Nikolai and Simon Haas have designed NFTs inspired by the Academy Museum Pillar Award, with funds going towards the institution’s access, education and programming initiatives.

The Pillar Award is presented annually to people who have supported the museum. It was first given to Academy Museum campaign chairs Bob Iger, Annette Bening and Tom Hanks earlier this year.

“We are thrilled to be working with Niki and Simon Haas on both the Pillar Award and on our first NFTs,” said Bill Kramer, director and president of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.

NFTs designed by the Haas Brothers

“Their work brilliantly embodies the optimism, beauty, and bold storytelling found at the Academy Museum,” Kramer added.

“The Haas Brothers are dynamically envisioning our gallery, The Future of Cinema, in a new way – and supporting activities that are vital to our own future as an institution – by reimagining the Pillar Award in the forward-looking medium of NFTs.”

The NFTs are moving renderings of the Pillar Award that feature quotes from film industry leaders, sourced from the museum’s ‘The Future of Cinema’ gallery.

The first grouping contains five NFTs featuring a quote from actor Whoopi Goldberg that reads: “The future of cinema is in your hands now.”

Other editions will boast quotes from filmmakers and film artists including Howard Berger, Effie T. Brown, Sid Ganis, and R.J. Kizer.

Academy Museum’s digital Pillar Award

academy museum of motion pictures

“Designing the Pillar Award represented an opportunity to pay homage to the film industry’s rich history and express our reverence for an art form which continues to change the world,” the Haas Brothers said. 

“Film as a medium is, at its core, fiercely experimental. We have looked to film as a touchstone for our own practice, holding its embrace of new media and experimentation as a guiding principle for artmaking.

“We are proud to carry this ethos into the newest medium of all, NFTs, with a digital Pillar Award whose existence is a testament to the power of curiosity and the relentless pursuit of storytelling.”

The Academy Museum opened to the public in Los Angeles on October 1 after nearly a decade of planning and construction. Designed by Renzo Piano, the museum boasts 50,000 square feet of exhibition spaces.

The Pillar Award NFTs are available via an OpenSea auction from October 20 to October 25.

Images: Academy Museum

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Bea Mitchell

Bea is a journalist specialising in entertainment, attractions and tech with 10 years' experience. She has written and edited for publications including CNET, BuzzFeed, Digital Spy, Evening Standard and BBC. Bea graduated from King's College London and has an MA in journalism.

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