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We’re at Consensus, baby. We kicked off yesterday with a panel on digital <> cultural currency and we have more in the hopper throughout today and tomorrow. See you in the Gallery.

Consensus aside, today’s lede is our collaboration with Base for BaseCamp 001. Needless to say, this is huge. See deets below.

Finally, we’re announcing our next editorial series “Checking In On Squad Wealth” with a stacked list of contributors.

Steph (✿◉‿◉)🗡

P.S. We also have a community-led proposal up for vote plus Event Keys in Lisbon and LA on the cal.

P.P.S. Get your FEST tickets.

FEST24 gets based with BaseCamp

Introducing BaseCamp 001: Base’s inaugural gathering of builders and creators building the next generation of the internet onchain, and it’s all happening at FEST24 in Idyllwild, CA July 31 & August 1st. Attendance at BASECAMP is by application only, plus it includes a ticket to FEST24.

Checking In On Squad Wealth

Friends With Benefits started in 2020 as an experiment in experimental money, an exploration into the dark corners of creativity, culture, and digital currency, with aims at rewarding the people who instigate and grow scenes from the ground up. Inspired by Other Internet’s Squad Wealth essay, we sought answers to the questions that had been whispered by culture producers in the 2010s— What would it look like to be financially rewarded for being early to viral trends and chart-toppers? How could the relationship between cultural capital and financial capital be drawn together? What did it mean to have a group chat with a shared bank account? 

In the 3+ years since, FWB has seen many iterations of that experiment. We started an industry-defining FEST. We built a blockchain-enabled ticketing app. We supported 200+ cultural events online and around the globe. We almost bought a restaurant. At the heart of each of these projects, we stood by the notion that paying attention to culture and crypto pays off. Mythmaking creates and bestows value, and value valorizes and validates creative communities. 

Crypto is not just an “up only” financial reward, but a mechanism to ensure the people who build our tools and scenes have a say in how they grow.

But how is that value captured on the new internet? How is it bought and sold? How is it earned, transacted and stored? 

Late last year, our extended squad assembled the FWB Holiday Bazaar, a winter marketplace powered by PYUSD. Transacting in stablecoin ameliorated payment processing fees and allowed our vendors to be paid out in real time. We’re forever exploring what’s next in digital payments, and how our creative friends can benefit from emerging technologies. 

Today, we announce a new editorial series investigating the path toward a blockchain-dominant future, where financial tools are intertwined with cultural narratives. Stewarding our efforts as Editor-In-Chief is economist Kyla Scanlon. In her work online, and in her recently published book In This Economy? How Money & Markets Really Work, Scanlon interrogates the ways in which we are dually entrapped and empowered by financial systems, and delivers no-nonsense reports of her findings. 

Kyla is joined by a storied cast of eminent culture and finance experts Anna Gát, Austin Robey,  Gaby Goldberg, and Jose Fernandez da Ponte.

The editorial series will begin publishing in mid-June, with a limited edition print zine available later this summer. Stay tuned. 

⛁ PROPOSALS ⛁

“Road to FEST:NYC v2” by Brendan Bastion

Live from Tuesday, 5/28 9 AM PST to Friday, 5/31 9 AM PST

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⧞ ELSEWHERE ⧞

🗝 Lisbon Event Key 🗝 Thursday, May 30

Hosted by FWB member KD

We're back in Lisbon, at the city's newest book store, Well Read. Hosted by FWB FEST programmer and shop owner KD, join us for an evening of drinks and conversation during NFC Summit. RSVP: https://lu.ma/gay1jnav

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🗝 LA Event Key 🗝 Saturday, June 8

Hosted by FWB members Jacq Vaca + Matthewdavid

🌳𝓁𝒾𝓈𝓉𝑒𝓃 𝓉𝑜 𝓂𝓊𝓈𝒾𝒸 𝑜𝓊𝓉𝓈𝒾𝒹𝑒 𝒾𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒹𝒶𝓎𝓁𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉 𝓊𝓃𝒹𝑒𝓇 𝒶 𝓉𝓇𝑒𝑒🌳 ❁In collab w/ Leaving Records LA❁ June’s event is happening in Elysian at Leo Politi Park, LA with support from the flock. 🧡 Featuring performances by Miguel Atwood Ferguson, Mia Doi Todd, Geovariance (Anna Wise + Maurice ii), Chuck Sutton, +energyk. More info @ leavingrecords.com

𝓛𝓸𝓪𝓭𝓲𝓷𝓰 FEST24

A portal to a better internet: 3 days of music, ideas & emerging tech in the woods of Idyllwild, CA August 1-4.

THANK YOU TO OUR PARTNERS

Deep and many thanks to our FEST host, Idyllwild Arts Academy

Nestled amidst the breathtakingly beautiful village of Idyllwild, high in the San Jacinto mountains of Southern California, the Idyllwild Arts campus serves as a peaceful respite for artists seeking to explore the depths of their creativity and join a broader creative collective through the Academy (an international boarding arts high school) or the Summer Program (an immersive arts camp for all ages).

_{Idyllwild Arts respectfully acknowledges the Qawishpa Cahuillangnah (also known as Cahuilla Band of Indians) and all nine sovereign Bands of Cahuilla people who have stewarded this land throughout the generations and continue to steward this land for all future generations.}