Rapper Drake is helping the dreams of an old Austrian artist to life by investing in his 35-year-old plans.
Back in 1987, André Heller tapped some of the greatest painters of the 20th Century, including Jean-Michel Basquiat, Salvador Dalí, Philip Glass, Keith Haring, David Hockney, and Roy Lichtenstein, to help him design an avant-garde amusement park called Luna Luna.
Heller’s goal was to create a carnival that would be a “bridge between the so-called avant-garde—the artists who were a little snobbish sometimes and didn’t connect with the masses—and the so-called normal people,” he said.
The amusement park opened in Hamburg, Germany, back in the day but shut down because of financial issues.
Now, according to The New York Times, Drake is stepping in to help the dream of reopening the park come true. Champagne Papi just invested $100 million into the fun land.
Anthony Gonzales, a partner in DreamCrew (Drake’s company) said, “within a 30-second conversation of ‘this existed,’ we were all in.”
“When I first heard about Luna Luna I was blown away,” Drake said. “It’s such a unique and special way to experience art. This is a big idea and opportunity that centers around what we love most: bringing people together.”
Heller is excited about the future saying, the partnership is like “when you promise your child a swimming pool, and then somebody comes and is like, ‘Wouldn’t you like to have the Mediterranean Sea?'”
“I am passing the baton to the partners of Luna Luna, who have the energy, vision, and respect to keep the spirit of Luna Luna alive,” says Heller. “It feels miraculous that the artworks from Luna Luna will again see the light of day, and I am honored that a new generation around the world will experience the wonder of Luna Luna for many years to come.”
They will now push the carnival out on a world tour, starting in America in 2023.
Also, with the tour will be a re-issue of a book to tell the story of how Luna Luna came to be. The book will drop on February 15th, 2023.