Free Malaysia Today (FMT), a Malaysian news portal, is on a mission to increase art tourism in the Southeast Asian country. To make this a reality, FMT teamed up with Mart Expo, a global community of artists, to offer artists the chance to present their work through Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs).
The FMT-Mart Expo will feature over 500 artworks – principally paintings and calligraphy – created by over 100 artists both online and offline. Malaysian artists will make up half of the artists chosen.
On June 2, 2022, Malaysian Minister of Tourism, Arts, and Culture Nancy Shukri launched the collaboration, which included Saraya Arbi, the newly appointed secretary-general of the Ministry of Tourism, Arts, and Culture. 15 ambassadors and diplomats from Argentina, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Croatia, Cuba, the Netherlands, Namibia, Senegal, Kuwait, Iran, Ghana, and Tajikistan attended the event.
The partnership currently supplements the Malaysian government’s efforts to assist artists. Azeem Abu Bakar, managing director of FMT, stated that the news platform is dedicated to providing extra value to artists.
“While we recognise that many tech-related sectors are now experiencing some volatility, we are confident that the underlying technology and fundamentals of NFTs will continue to benefit artists globally,” he said.