Connecting Bridges
Here in The Art Dome, we celebrate all the amazing opportunities that have taken place around this year, showcasing how much our initiative has grown in such a short time frame, so we would like to showcase one of the awesome victories we had as a company during the first half of the year.
During early May, our founder and CEO, Eduardo Ojeda had the great opportunity to be part of the renowned Finding My Virginity event, in the private island of Virgin Group CEO, Richard Branson, this been a huge step for not only our CEO as entrepreneur, but for our whole company, as the knowledge that he learned from this event was apply into our as soon as Eduardo arrived to mainland.
Finding My Virginity
For those who may not know either what the Finding My Virginity initiative or who Sir Richard Branson is, may not understand yet why this is such a big deal for us at The Art Dome.
Sir Richard Branson, is British born magnate, who co-founded the already mentioned Virgin Group, a multinational conglomerate which operates household names from different industries, like Virgin Mobile, Virgin Atlantic Airline, Virgin Megastore, Virgin Records and many other industries.
Branson has dip his toes in many important industries around the whole globe, and the innovation that he has brought through his many companies made him worthy to be given the title of Sir by the British crown.
Richard Branson story is one of inspiration and shows how someone can find success through trial and error, as his attempt of entrepreneurship didn’t start with Virgin Group back in 1970, years before its foundation, Branson had already been knock down with some failed starts up, it wasn’t until 1968, with the help of Nik Powell who would become the other cofounder of Virgin group, that they had their first breakthrough with their magazine Student.
With this amazing background and great success, Richard Brason created back in 2019 the Finding My Virginity event, where he would take up to 52 rising leaders from different industries and nationalities into his private state in Necker Island, where he and his team of entrepreneurs from Virgin group would share all their knowledge to the lucky few that were able to participate.
Our CEO was able to take this knowledge acquired through this once in a lifetime experience and bring it to The Art Dome, but he also brought a little of our team to Necker Island; during his stay, Eduardo gave a really important gift to Richard Branson, this been the highlight of the whole trip, as Richard Brason was given an original oil painting by one our own artist Didier Bedoya.
Bedoya and Branson
Giving a painting made by an Art Dome artist to a person like Richard Branson is by itself a huge deal for us, but there is a bigger meaning behind giving specifically an artwork by Didier Bedoya to the CEO of Virgin Group.
For those readers who haven’t looked into the stories of our artists, Didier Bedoya, one of the original artists that The Art Dome started supporting through our role as an incubator.
Born to a Colombian-Venezuelan family and living in the frontier between the two countries, Bedoya’s artwork portrays the reality that many Venezuelans immigrants lived, both through the events he saw during his childhood in the frontier to the modern day influx of migrants coming to Colombia.
In his latest series of painting “Puentes (Bridges)”, Bedoya sheds a light on the story of migrant families crossing rivers through makeshift bridges made out of wooden pallets, showcasing how the resilience that Venezuelans take crossing over dangerous water looking for a better future, among the many painting of this series was the one that we gifted to Branson.
The reason we chose to do this connection between our artist and Richard Branson was the common ground where their ideals meet, while Didier paints this reality for the world to see and take action, Richard Branson has also done his part when it comes to the Venezuela frontier.
Among Branson’s many philanthropic actions, was the 2019 Venezuelan Aid Live, a benefit concert in the frontier town of Cucuta, Colombia, with the help of other celebrities, Branson shed a light on the humanitarian crisis between the nations.
Through social media presence and donation to aid for Venezuelans, the concert’s main goal was to put pressure on Maduro to open the border, allowing the aid to be distributed among Venezuelans.
Both Bedoya and Brason had a common goal of showcasing to the rest of the world the reality of the crisis, each using their unique set of talents to help in any way with the difficult situation, showcasing that middle ground where art and political action stand together.
We know that to Didier is glad that his work is in the hands of someone who, without been from the region or have lived his experience, shows such compassion and the drive to find a solution to the same problem, and we are glad to said to Brason received an artwork with open arms back in May.
That is the real victory for us in The Art Dome, showcasing the power that an artwork has to offer, not only those coming from the artist we represent, but from any person that put their hard work, ethic and believes in his pieces to achieve a greater cause.