David Bianchi: Unlocking The Modern Day Minstrel

By Kelly Kristin, Editor Exertion Films

David Bianchi burst onto the NFT scene dropping the world’s first Award-Winning Spoken Word Film NFT. His genesis drop, “I Can’t Breathe” was a painfully honest look at being black in America in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd. In an unprecedented move, David donated 100% of the proceeds to the George Floyd Memorial Foundation, getting the attention of some of the largest collectors in the space and Forbes magazine. Fortunately, his efforts in philanthropy are just getting started.

As the creator of a new art genre he calls Spinema (spinning cinema through spoken word), his vision is to change the world through poetic-cinematic experiences utilizing the blockchain. Every piece of Spinema, along with all of his art, is centered around socially conscious issues and he has vowed to donate a portion of all proceeds from his NFT’s to non-profit organizations that are the boots on the ground working to change the issues he speaks of in the real world. To invest in David’s work is to invest in art as activism meant to change the world.

As a multi-hyphenate artist, David’s work spans far beyond the NFT space. He is a celebrated actor, filmmaker, screenwriter and globally known spoken word poet. He holds over 100 professional film and television credits. He is a member of the prestigious Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and is the founder of Exertion Films. As a person of color, over the past sixteen years he has been a strong advocate for diversity and equality in Hollywood, the Modern Day Minstrel is no different.

History : The Minstrel Show

The Minstrel Shows were the largest American theater movement in history, spanning over a century that would evolve into Vaudeville. It consisted of racist comedy skits, dancing and music, performed by white people painted in blackface. Minstrel shows painted black people as dim-witted, lazy, criminal, sexual deviants and superstitious. The first minstrel show was performed in 1828. The name of the founding character was “Jim Crow”.

By 1848, blackface minstrel shows were a national art form, overtaking opera in popularity. It infiltrated film, television, and radio all the way through silent films and the 21st century. Amateur performances continued until the 1960s in high schools, and local theaters throughout the south.

The social impact of over 140 years of racist belittling and mocking the black community in the country’s highest form of entertainment, undeniably has left a subconscious and conscious scar on America’s view of black people in America and around the world.