Arts Help is excited to announce its participation in the annual United Nations SDG Action Zone on September 24th, 2021. An event that will kick off on September 22nd, 2021, Arts Help will gather virtually with the highest levels of UN leadership, activists, government officials, business leaders, and more to highlight how art is a vehicle for social change that provides solutions and plans needed to impact people's lives and the future of the planet.
“The function of art is to do more than tell it like it is – it’s to imagine what is possible” – Bell Hooks
Launching a 15-minute panel titled "Arts guiding the way to the SDGs", Arts Help will showcase how art has long played an integral role in conveying messages of evolution, revolution, freedom and creativity to the masses of global issues. In line with Arts Help's mission of using art to make the world a better place, the panel will highlight how art brings to the forefront the urgency of working towards accomplishing the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.
On the panel are Adiam Gafoo, Arts Help's Chief Operating Officer; Sutu, VR artist and Creative Director of Arts Help's new Conscious Crypto Creator program; and Kyle Gordon, multidisciplinary artist and Co-Founder and Creator of DoinGud. Dominic-Madori Davis, a reporter at Business Insider, will mediate the discussion underlining how artists also have a responsibility in using the work they put into the world for a greater purpose.
Big announcements during the event
At the SDG Action Zone, Arts Help will announce its new grant opportunity, sustainable cryptocurrency and NFT (non-fungible token) movement called Conscious Crypto Creator (CCC) and the Creative Director leading the new program. The organization will call on artists to join the movement for a more sustainable economy by offering $3.5 million in grants for new works that raise awareness of the climate crisis.
The grants will empower approximately 250 digital artists worldwide from every discipline to leverage the power of their craft to bring about critical social change. Their work will be the showpiece of an urgent new campaign for sustainable alternatives to carbon-intensive cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum, which already consume more energy annually than all the televisions in the United States. A master class education program encouraging artists to become Conscious Crypto Creators and create "clean" NFT artworks will also be launched.
At the helm as the Creative Director for the Conscious Crypto Creator movement is Sutu, also known as Stu Campbel. Sutu is an Eisner-nominated, Gold Ledger, and Webby Award-winning digital artist and director whose life is devoted to social impact, and pioneering new kinds of digital experiences.
How to participate in the SDG Action Zone
Participation in the SDG Action Zone is free. Each attendee will have the opportunity to submit questions to the speakers directly on the platform as they are watching each session, a selection of which will be posed to speakers who will reconvene at the close of each day’s program during a dedicated “Ask Away” session. The Action Zone also encourages everyone to share their experience on social media using: #SDGACTIONZONE2021 and #FORPEOPLEFORPLANET.
If you would like to help spread the word of the SDG Action Zone and its' goals, see the event's social assets here.