The Dispatch

TELL SHAWN WHAT TO PAINT.

Dear sovereign renaissance,

Four weeks out. Last week we put faces on the lunch-hour openers: Ainsley Costello on Wednesday and Rock 'n' Roll Andy Breakheart on Thursday. This week we add the next layer of Bitcoin Arts Park: Nadia Vaeh on film, and Shipwreck Sean on the gallery wall and a live canvas. Plus a new Substack essay that completes another arts story the press told one layer short.

◆ Bitcoin Arts Park at the Midwest Bitcoin Summit

What we are building.

Columbus. September 23-24. A park inside the summit where conference energy turns into something you can stand in front of.

Paintings on the wall. A blank canvas filling in public. A film teaser on a screen. Artists in the room. Noon openers on the Expo Stage. Space for conversation that does not fit a trade-show pitch.

The openers from Issue #21 still stand. Ainsley opens day one. Breakheart opens day two. Across both days, Short North Stage, Proof of Print, and Lindey Magee's children's reading remain on the board. This week's update is the gallery, the live painting, and the film.

Get your pass at midwestbtc.com. Help underwrite the park at bitcoinforthearts.org/midwest.

◆ Film at the booth

Nadia Vaeh.

Award-winning recording artist and filmmaker. At Midwest: teaser, talk, Q&A.

Nadia Vaeh

Nadia Vaeh is an award-winning recording artist and filmmaker. After more than a decade as an independent musician (touring, writing, performing, building businesses), she turned the camera on the creative life itself: documenting the unseen side of artist careers and asking what it actually means to "make it."

At Bitcoin Arts Park she brings a conference-length experience around One Poop Scoop Away, the indie feature she stars in (directed by Josh Bedsole). This is not a full feature screening. It is a teaser, a conversation, Q&A, and a pitch-deck walkthrough for anyone who wants to understand how an independent film gets finished and found. She will also help hold the booth and capture Summit footage while she is there.

We are filming her episode of Share Your Bitcoin Journey this Friday. That is where we will go deeper into her story. The Midwest booth plan is locked.

Watch the teaser: vimeo.com/jbedsole/opsa

◆ Gallery & live painting

Shipwreck Sean.

Artist, tattooer, and creator of Bitsby. Finished work on the wall. A blank canvas in the park.

Shipwreck Sean · Volatility Blues

Shipwreck Sean is an artist, tattooer, and creator of Bitsby, with over 16 years dedicated to his craft. His work now focuses on physical and digital art influenced by Bitcoin, blending traditional artistry with the culture, ideas, and evolving story of sound money.

This is Sean's first proper feature in the newsletter. A draft edit for last week's issue named him briefly, but that edit never shipped. So we are doing it right here.

His finished paintings hang in Bitcoin Arts Park for the duration of the summit. If you have followed him online, Midwest is the chance to see the paintings as objects.

Shipwreck Sean · gallery detail

The live canvas

Shipwreck Sean · blank canvas, starting point for the live painting

Sean will also paint live at the booth. This blank canvas is the starting point. One thing is already locked: Bitsby, Sean's signature character, will appear somehow, some way. The rest of the canvas is open.

Bitsby · Shipwreck Sean's signature character

He is open to suggestions from the audience for everything else: Bitcoin shapes, objects, depictions, symbols, scenes, jokes, mythologies. Whatever you want to see land on the canvas alongside Bitsby.

Reply to this email with your idea. We will also ask on social. Bring more suggestions in person at the park. Audience input is how we keep people coming back to the booth between sessions.

When the painting is finished, it becomes the raffle prize. Winner announced by 3PM on Thursday, September 24, the second day of the conference. Details on how to enter land closer to the summit. For now: help Sean decide what joins Bitsby on the canvas.

◆ New on the BFTA Substack

The Gaps in the Dam.

WBEZ told a clear story about healthcare gaps for Chicago dancers. It stopped one layer short of the money question.

Dance for Life is on track to raise half a million dollars for dancers who are uninsured, underinsured, and aging off their parents' plans. Every word of that reporting is correct. The essay is not a rebuttal. It is a completion: healthcare fills gaps in the dam, and money is the water putting pressure on the wall.

Written for dancers holding a lot of things in, and for the people who fund them. Start here if you missed it.

◆ Call for artists

Put yourself on the floor.

Short videos for the Bitcoin Arts Park booth. 30 to 60 seconds. Every discipline welcome.

We are collecting short clips to play throughout both days at Bitcoin Arts Park. Introduce yourself. Name your discipline. Tell us how Bitcoin has affected your life, what Bitcoin for the Arts means to you, or anything true about arts and sound money. Raw is welcome.

The point is visibility: signed, sovereign creators on the floor of the summit, showcasing the kinds of artists who align with BFTA's mission.

Send your clip to [email protected] or reply to this email. We are already asking on social. If you know an artist who should be in the loop, forward this.

A direct ask

Every artist appearing at Bitcoin Arts Park is doing so with little or no funding from BFTA. They believe in the mission enough to show up anyway. Belief got us this far. Funding is what lets us take care of the people on the wall, on the screen, and on the stage.

Prefer sats? Our Midwest campaign is live on Geyser Fund. Full sponsor menu at bitcoinforthearts.org/midwest.

Until next time.

Bitcoin for the Arts

Where to Start

Bitcoin for the Arts  ·  501(c)(3)

Sound money for timeless creators. Empowering artists with Bitcoin micro-grants & workshops.

bitcoinforthearts.org

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