Sotheby’s Institute launches The Metaversity for Creative Business Leaders, a new eight-week virtual program designed to help cultural and creative professionals master web3 fundamentals.
Sotheby’s Institute is proud to announce the launch of The Metaversity for Creative Business Leaders, a new program dedicated to educating cultural and creative business professionals on the opportunities for innovation with web3 technology. The introduction of Metaversity signals Sotheby's Institute’s commitment to educating students on the most relevant skills and topics of our time while establishing itself as a destination for web3 education and thought leadership.
Metaversity is an eight-week virtual program designed for creative business leaders, brand managers, and entrepreneurs working in the art, design, luxury, fashion, sports, lifestyle sectors and other creative fields who want to master the fundamentals of web3 and identify new business models, products, partnerships and opportunities that will help take their career or business to the next level. The program draws on the research of Sotheby’s Institute faculty, case studies from global brand leaders at Sotheby’s, Tiffany, Nike, Gucci, and more, as well as insight from crypto and blockchain experts who examine web3 technology through a cultural and creative lens.
“The accelerating developments in blockchain, cryptocurrencies, NFTs and the metaverse continue to reinvent our understanding of material culture and how cultural objects and consumer goods are produced, consumed and transacted,” says Sotheby’s Institute faculty member and Metaversity program designer, Gareth Fletcher, whose current research explores the integration of traditional market processes within web3. “Being informed and responsive to these developments now forms an essential part of the skillset for creative industry professionals, and our Metaversity will be a hub for those looking to learn, incubate ideas and bring innovation to their workplace or business.”
Following the success of online courses and graduate-level electives in blockchain, cryptocurrencies and NFTs, and in response to growing mainstream interest in web3, Sotheby’s Institute is introducing its Metaversity program to offer a more advanced overview of this next generation technology, while also providing a space for workshopping new ideas and developing projects in an accelerator-like environment.
Program highlights include: a free self-paced starter course on the Foundations of Web3, case studies from the top brands innovating with blockchain technology, mentor matching, business plan development, and pitch preparation. Metaversity students will emerge from the program with a playbook for how to engage with web3 technology, examples and ideas for new web3-enabled products or businesses, a formal business plan and a robust professional network of experts and peers working in the space.
When asked about the significance of the program, Michael Bouhanna, Sotheby’s Vice President and Head of NFTs & Digital Art, said, “When we announced the launch of Sotheby’s Metaverse last year, we knew that the potential for NFTs and mainstream adoption of web3 was just beginning. We are pleased that the Institute is introducing its Metaversity as an educational onramp to help upskill creative brands and business leaders on the fundamentals of this new economy, and we are proud to support the program with case studies from our own experience as a leading destination for digital art and collectibles.”
Registration for The Metaversity for Creative Business Leaders opens in January 2023. The program includes a free starter course on the Foundations of Web3, which is open to the public and available on demand starting in January.