BlockDown Festival: Portugal, hosted by Web3 Creative Marketing and leading authority EAK Digital, is set to launch its third in-person Web3 and blockchain festival in the beautiful Algarve region of Portugal from July 10-12, 2023.
The festival will bring together key figures in Web3 and the creator economy, focusing on creative industries such as music, fashion, real estate, sports, entertainment, and art.
With the massive migration of Web2 brands over the last 18 months, BlockDown Festival will also host speakers from major traditional brands discussing their transition and entry into Web3. Event content includes intimate home chats, panels, debates, and keynote speeches.
We caught up with Blockdown founder Erhan Korhaliller to learn more about the origin of the festival, this year's programming, and finally how Blockdown Festival brings together the creative arts across Web3 and beyond...
Disclaimer: CryptoSlate is an official media partner for BlockDown Festival.
Now in its third edition, Blockdown Festival returns to the Algarve, Portugal July 10th-12th, after originally launching as the Web3 industry's first ever live virtual event in April of 2020. What inspired you to launch BlockDown as the world shut down?
Our Web3 PR and Marketing agency, EAK Digital, was organizing the first Istanbul Blockchain Week in 2019, we had an epic speaker lineup and the Hilton Hotel booked in the center of Istanbul. This was the first event we had planned and things were going great, and then covid-19 hit and everything fell apart. Of course, we had to cancel the event and refund all sponsors; this was devastating to me as I'd worked extremely hard on putting this together.
When the world shut down in March 2020, we were all looking for things to take our minds off of the covid-19 pandemic. I was sitting in my childhood room at this point (due to the lockdown!), wondering what we should do. We had this great speaker lineup but no event, thus BlockDown was born.
BlockDown allowed me and my team to laser focus on creating a metaverse-inspired virtual experience that has never been done before in just 6 weeks. The excitement of bringing the entire blockchain community together for 12 hours per day live across 48 hours, engaging the huge speakers and projects from Beijing to Los Angeles, was an exhilarating experience.
I was also inspired by having Akon with us as a speaker for five BlockDown editions. Back in the first edition in April 2020, there was a lot of media attention about Akon speaking at BlockDown as it was the first global blockchain event he had participated in.
As somebody who spent his college life dancing to Akon on student nights late into the night, I never thought we would end up working together like this. So that was a big thrill.
Eventually, by tying the 'lockdown' into our name, we will never forget what inspired BlockDown and staying true to our DNA and core values of hosting events with interactivity, entertainment, and networking at the heart of the event.
BlockDown isn't your typical Web3 festival, as it focuses on bringing together the creative arts across Web3 with a unique mix of world-class content, technology, fashion, real estate, music and unique networking opportunities. Can you tell us more about what's in store with the programming this year?
As you rightly said, BlockDown Festival focuses on the intersection of Web3 and culture, the citizens of the creative industries such as music, sports, art, fashion, entertainment and real estate.
For music, we have partnered with Web3 music platform TokenTraxx, in creating a Web3 music takeover stage in the content garden stage of the festival. We will be inviting 8 Web3 musicians that have found success in the NFT space to speak and perform at the festival. We have a nice mix of diverse music genres, and It will give the festival great energy while giving everyone a chance to discover new up-and-coming Web3 music artists.
For Fashion, we have partnered up with the Metaverse Fashion Council for our fashion-related content. First up, on July 11th, we will have a metaverse-inspired fashion show on the festival's main stage, catwalk included! In between each fashion discussion content, there will be a fashion show for fashion lovers and curious minds alike to enjoy the latest in the future of fashion.
In addition, something we are really excited about is the world's first fashion AI hackathon event at BlockDown Festival this year. The Metaverse Fashion Council has just released Fashion AI, a first-of-its-kind fashion AI that will create fashion garments based on your prompts. In an America's got talent fashion competition, competitors will take the stage to try it out who can create the most stylish clothing and judged by expert fashion juries, which will be very exciting.
For Gaming, we have partnered up with the Blockchain Game Alliance to help us in bringing together the best gaming content possible. We will have W3E with us, who will have a gaming zone and experience hosting live Web3 gaming tournaments throughout the festival.
Featured speakers will include figures in Web3, the creator economy and major traditional brands. Can you share with us some of the key speakers and brands who'll be in attendance?
As Web3 goes more mainstream, more and more Web3 projects want to partner with the world's biggest brands to onboard the next generation of people into Web3. With that in mind, we have some major brands at BlockDown Festival this year.
To name a few, we have Pär Helgosson, head of Web3 and metaverse at PSG, one the world's biggest football clubs and brands,
Continuing on the sports front, we have John Doe, Web3 Lead at McLaren Racing. He will be hosting a keynote speech and joining an expert panel of brands discussing how Mclaren Racing has successfully entered Web3 and where they see the future growth of the industry.
Finally, on the fashion front, we have James O'Hayon, co-founder and CEO of BLVCK CITY. This luxury fashion brand has done amazing things in Web3 and is a pioneering example of other fashion brands integrating Web3 into their existing business models.
We also have the CEO of Animoca Brands, Robby Yung, joining us for a fireside chat live on our main stage alongside some great VCs like Bankless Ventures.
And the great thing is we still have so much more to announce. Check back to our speakers' page on the BlockDown Festival to keep updated on the latest speaker announcements!
There will be a metaverse fashion show taking place IRL and online, featuring awe-inspiring designs from top NFT designers. Can you tell us more about the event, and how you decided to choose which designers to work with?
Yes, we are looking forward to this. As mentioned before, this is in collaboration with the Metaverse Fashion Council, advising us on the best designers and fashion houses to partner with for the Metaverse fashion show. The fashion show will be divided into four segments, with a fashion-related discussion and panels in between each segment.
For those at the festival, We will have a 10 ft catwalk for the models to take to the stage and showcase the diverse fashion designs, and the show will be live IRL and, of course, in the metaverse on July 11th.
Blockdown will be hosting Europe's very first Bored Ape Yacht Club party! Can you tell us more about this collaboration and how you were able to join forces?
I met the Bored Ape guys in Miami world and attended one of their shows and knew instantly that we had to bring this to BlockDown Festival. I had a meeting with them where we were aligned with them regarding the content and approach of the party, and they are excited to come to Portugal for the first time.
They will be hosting two parties, the Bored Ape Yacht Club Party is very exclusive, of course, as it is on a yacht, the numbers are limited, and those on that cruise will also be treated to trips through the world-famous Benagil Cave and be with a stop at a private beach for a Bored Ape BBQ!
On July 12th, on the festival's main stage, DJ Ape will bring the Bored Ape experience to the entire festival for a 2-hour DJ set featuring unique tracks and visuals. I can't wait to see it!
Is it still possible for Web3 creators to get involved with Blockdown this July? If so, how can they get in touch?
We want to keep our doors open to collaboration for as long as possible. In particular, we would love to hear from music artists, NFT artists, Digital Fashion Designers, and anyone or company that can enrich the BlockDown Festival experience for our guests. The more creative the idea, the better!
For more information, see BlockDown Festival: Portugal.
Erhan Korhaliller is the Founder and CEO of EAK Digital, a specialist blockchain PR & Events agency.
