City Life Org — The Apollo Issues Limited Edition NFT of Its Iconic Marquee Commemorating Annual Spring Benefit

Image cred­it: Nir Arieli/Shahar Azran Photography

In cel­e­bra­tion of the Apollo’s Spring Ben­e­fit on Mon­day, June 13, the non-prof­it announced today it will release a lim­it­ed edi­tion non-fun­gi­ble token (NFT) com­mem­o­rat­ing the annu­al event. Approx­i­mate­ly 400 NFTs will be issued through Tick­et­mas­ter. The spe­cial NFTs will be giv­en to each per­son who donat­ed to Apollo’s Spring Ben­e­fit. The com­mem­o­ra­tive NFT will be a dig­i­tal keep­sake cel­e­brat­ing the world renowned organization’s largest annu­al fundrais­ing event.

The Apollo’s com­mem­o­ra­tive NFT fea­tures a dynam­ic image of the icon­ic Apol­lo Mar­quee on 125th Street tak­en by Nir Arieli/Shahar Azran Pho­tog­ra­phy. The Apollo’s spe­cial edi­tion NFT marks Ticketmaster’s first NFT with a the­ater. For more infor­ma­tion about the Apollo’s com­mem­o­ra­tive NFT, vis­it www.ApolloTheater.org/NFT.

“Each year, the Apollo’s ben­e­fit brings togeth­er lead­ers across the cre­ative, busi­ness, and phil­an­thropic com­mu­ni­ties to advance the non-profit’s com­mit­ment to sup­port­ing Black excel­lence and artis­tic inno­va­tion,” said Apol­lo Board Chair, Charles Phillips. “As the Apol­lo con­tin­ues to lead in cre­at­ing a 21st cen­tu­ry per­form­ing arts canon, it is also using new and exist­ing plat­forms to fur­ther inno­vate, advance its mis­sion, and expand its reach to audi­ences around the globe. We look for­ward to con­tin­u­ing to expand the ways the Apol­lo engages audi­ences and artists in per­son and digitally.”

“Through­out its near­ly nine-decade his­to­ry. the Apol­lo has been her­ald­ed for its con­ven­ing pow­er in Harlem, New York City, and around the globe,” said Apol­lo Pres­i­dent and CEO Jonelle Pro­cope. “As we saw with the launch of the Apol­lo Dig­i­tal Stage in 2020, it was equal­ly impor­tant to cre­ate space for our com­mu­ni­ty and artists to come togeth­er vir­tu­al­ly, pro­vid­ing access to diverse voic­es. With the release of the Apollo’s lim­it­ed edi­tion NFT, we are reaf­firm­ing our com­mit­ment to pro­vid­ing a plat­form for artists to cre­ate and inno­vate for future generations.”

Host­ed by Emmy win­ner and “Sat­ur­day Night Live” cast mem­ber Kenan Thomp­son, the Apol­lo Spring Ben­e­fit will hon­or film­mak­er, actor, and phil­an­thropist Tyler Per­ry with the Impact Award, pre­sent­ed by Acad­e­my Award win­ner and “The View” co-host Whoopi Gold­berg. The event will fea­ture musi­cal per­for­mances by The Roots with spe­cial appear­ances by Stephanie Mills, Antho­ny Hamil­ton, emerg­ing soul artist Ogi, and more. Inter­na­tion­al celebri­ty DJ, Der­rick “D‑Nice” Jones will return with his sig­na­ture sounds for a live­ly ben­e­fit after­par­ty. Glob­al invest­ment and mer­chant bank­ing firm Lion­Tree will receive the Cor­po­rate Award.

The Apol­lo season’s theme, “The Renais­sance is Now!,” and its pre­sen­ta­tions expand the non-prof­it theater’s role as a part­ner, com­mis­sion­er, and co-pro­duc­er of pro­gram­ming that cen­ters Black artists and voic­es from the African Dias­po­ra, while tack­ling social issues that are impor­tant to Harlem, New York, and the nation. Pro­ceeds from the Spring Ben­e­fit sup­port the non-prof­it organization’s year-round, world-class artis­tic, edu­ca­tion, and com­mu­ni­ty pro­grams and col­lab­o­ra­tions, as well as its com­mit­ment to using arts and cul­ture to artic­u­late and project the African Amer­i­can nar­ra­tive. For more infor­ma­tion vis­it www.ApolloTheater.org.

ABOUT THE APOLLO

The leg­endary Apol­lo Theater—the soul of Amer­i­can culture—plays a vital role in cul­ti­vat­ing emerg­ing artists and launch­ing leg­ends. Since its found­ing, the Apol­lo has served as a cen­ter of inno­va­tion and a cre­ative cat­a­lyst for Harlem, the city of New York, and the world.

With music at its core, the Apollo’s pro­gram­ming extends to dance, the­ater, spo­ken word, and more. This includes the world pre­miere of the the­atri­cal adap­ta­tion of Ta-Nehisi Coates’s Between the World and Me and the New York pre­miere of the opera We Shall Not Be Moved; spe­cial pro­grams such as the block­buster con­cert Bruno Mars Live at the Apol­lo; 100: The Apol­lo Cel­e­brates Ella; and the annu­al Africa Now! Fes­ti­val. The non-prof­it Apol­lo The­ater is a per­form­ing arts pre­sen­ter, com­mis­sion­er, and col­lab­o­ra­tor that also pro­duces fes­ti­vals and large-scale dance and musi­cal works orga­nized around a set of core ini­tia­tives that cel­e­brate and extend the Apollo’s lega­cy through a con­tem­po­rary lens, includ­ing the Women of the World (WOW) Fes­ti­val as well as oth­er mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­nary col­lab­o­ra­tions with part­ner organizations.

Since intro­duc­ing the first Ama­teur Night con­tests in 1934, the Apol­lo has served as a test­ing ground for new artists work­ing across a vari­ety of art forms and has ush­ered in the emer­gence of many new musi­cal genres—including jazz, swing, bebop, R&B, gospel, blues, soul, and hip-hop. Among the count­less leg­endary per­form­ers who launched their careers at the Apol­lo are Ella Fitzger­ald, Sarah Vaugh­an, Bil­lie Hol­i­day, Gladys Knight, Luther Van­dross, H.E.R., D’Angelo, Lau­ryn Hill, Machine Gun Kel­ly, and Miri Ben Ari; and the Apollo’s for­ward-look­ing artis­tic vision con­tin­ues to build on this lega­cy. For more infor­ma­tion about the Apol­lo, vis­it www.ApolloTheater.org.

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