There will be a lot of hype in Miami and Miami Beach between November 28th and December 7th this year as thousands of people from across the world are expected to converge in the Magic City for the love of art and/or tech.

The first week of December has been known for years as the Miami Art Week; hosting over 20 contemporary art fairs and dozens of to-be-seen-at parties every first week of December.

Now that Miami is growing as one of the most dynamic tech hubs in North America, various tech conferences and events will take place at the same time, most probably creating a constant FOMO feeling for many residents and visitors, including myself.

Many tech entrepreneurs and employees, motivated by the possibilities offered by remote work from home, the warm Florida weather, the absence of state tax and a multicultural demographics have moved to Southeast Florida during the pandemic.

As a matter of fact, Venture Miami is even organizing a tech job fair next week.

The iconic Art Basel Miami Beach fair, which original art fair was created in Basel, Switzerland, is already celebrating its 20th anniversary and will be held, as usual, at the Miami Beach Convention Center.

Time flies…Miami Beach had just been selected to host the gigantic contemporary art fair when I moved from Paris to Miami.

This year, the art fair will take place from November 29th (private preview days are on the 29th and 30th) to December 3rd and will be gathering 282 art galleries from 28 countries and territories, celebrating paintings, sculptures, photography and video art. It will also feature 20 large-scale projects (large installations and live performances), solo emerging artist exhibitions and its famous “Conversations” which offer the opportunity for artists, museum curators, and art collectors to present talks and exchange ideas.

Art Basel Miami Beach is renewing its partnership with the Tezos blockchain for the second year, often referred to as the art blockchain, which is energy efficient, to showcase a live NFT experience as well as various talks meant to “explore the collision of creativity and data in generative art”. I am really looking forward to enjoying these experiences and learn more about the meaning of value in the world of digital art. I will visit the NFT experience created in partnership with the Tezos blockchain and attend some of the talks coordinated in collaboration with Tezos-friendly artists, curators and developers.

Over 15 other art and design fairs will also be taking place at the same time, spread out between Miami and Miami Beach, such as Art Miami, Context Miami, Design Miami, Scope Miami, Fridge Art Fair, NADA, just to name a few.

Simultaneously, and this is where it gets challenging for an attendee, a few major tech and web3 conferences and exhibits will also be hosted in the Magic City.

Depending on the amount of work you have, your budget, your level of interest, how you will fly from one place to the other, and your ability to wisely pick and choose, you may be able to combine learning, business and entertainment experiences both with the arts and in the tech tribes.

Decentralcon Miami is a large web3 conference (November 28th-30th), taking place at the James L. Knight Center in Downtown Miami, focusing on presentations and events around Defi, the metaverse, DAOS and NFTs. Metaverse Miami will be hosted by the beautiful Eden Roc hotel in Miami Beach (November 28-30).

Immerse Global Summit (Dec 5th-7th) will take place at the historic Fountainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach, featuring presentations and workshops gathering tech developers and creators to learn, grow ideas and create partnerships related to AR/VR, crypto, blockchain, 5G, NFTS, metaverse, cloud computing and storage.

Meeting at the convergence between art and tech, Bitbasel Miami will be hosting an exhibition showcasing the work of the 17 winners of the CryptoArt Challenge (Nov30th-Dec 5th) at 59 NW 36th Street in Miami (tickets for sale on Eventbrite).

There will also be a lot of parties connecting art and tech, hosted by local museums, galleries, bars, web3-friendly organizations and event spaces.

There is so much to learn, see and experience, it’s quite mind-blowing! Will you feel like attending some of these arts and/or tech events? Where will you go?

Remember: pick and choose wisely and have fun!