RIYADH — The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has collaborated with TikTok, the world’s leading short video platform, to launch an official account. To celebrate its debut on the global short video platform, The Met introduced TikTok challenges in an effort to spark new creativity inspired by artworks in The Met collection. The effort will encourage millions of TikTok users worldwide to discover the Museum’s exhibitions and its collection of 5,000 years of art from around the globe.

TikTok will kick off the global collaboration through a series of campaigns, in global markets including the UK, France, Germany, Poland, Spain, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, Turkey, Mexico, Brazil and others.

“As a global cultural institution, The Met’s mission is to engage audiences with art from our collection of over 1.5 million objects spanning over 5,000 years of human history – and there is no better place to do such than one of the world’s fastest-growing social media communities,” said Kenneth Weine, Vice President and Chief Communications Officer at The Met. “TikTok reaches hundreds of millions of users, many of whom are art enthusiasts. We look forward to deepening our connection with this audience, and to seeing the multiple creative ways they engage with The Met collection.”

“TikTok allows users to showcase and consume the world's creativity, knowledge and moments that matter in everyday life, and is committed to building a community by encouraging users to share their passion through their videos,” said Blake Chandlee, Head of Global Brand Partnerships at TikTok. “Together with The Met, we are launching a campaign with two challenges to empower people to express their creative ideas, as we celebrate trends and embrace diversity on this vibrant platform.”

Starting from April 25, the #SaluteToClassics challenge together with a campaign-special sticker album is launched in select countries, where users are invited to showcase their best imitation of an artwork scene or act like art figures. This global challenge offers a prize of an all-expenses paid five-nights trip to New York and the chance to be among the first to visit the spring 2019 Costume Institute exhibition, Camp: Notes on Fashion.

In addition to the #SaluteToClassics challenge, TikTok also launches a second challenge on May 4-10, called #MetGalaStyle, asking users to create original content inspired by the parade of fashion seen on the red carpet at The Costume Institute’s annual benefit, The Met Gala. The most viewed videos will have the chance to win from The Met’s assortment of retail products inspired by Camp: Notes on Fashion. — SG