Global Artivism Month Launches Worldwide Call to Harness the Power of Art and Culture for Change

Global South and Global Majority-led initiative invites creative action in communities worldwide during 40 days of global artivism, culminating on Human Rights Day


21 August 2026 — The Global Artivism Movement today launched Global Artivism Month, a new worldwide mobilisation inviting artists, activists, cultural practitioners, schools, community groups, organisations and movements to use the power of arts and culture to advance social, economic and environmental justice.

Running from 1 November to 10 December 2026, Global Artivism Month will connect locally rooted creative actions under one shared global identity, making visible what is too often experienced as thousands of separate acts of creativity, resistance and imagination. To participate and learn more: https://www.globalartivism.org/artivism-month.

In its inaugural year, the movement has set itself a target of more than 100 countries and 5,000 participating organisations, collectives, networks and community spaces.

Participation is free and open. The movement is not asking communities to create something new for the campaign. Instead, it is asking people to bring what they already make, do it where they already are, and connect it to something the whole world can see: a music performance in Johannesburg, a mural in Bogotá, poetry in Kathmandu, a classroom project in Berlin, a community festival in the Pacific, a street procession in Salvador, theatre in Beirut.

“For too long, those of us working for social and environmental justice have often spoken primarily to people's heads, while failing to reach their hearts, bodies, souls and imaginations,” said Kumi Naidoo, co-founder of the Global Artivism Movement, former Secretary-General of Amnesty International and former Executive Director of Greenpeace International. “Facts and policy matter enormously, but people do not build movements on facts alone. Culture shapes how we understand ourselves, each other and what we believe is possible.”

“Global Artivism Month is an invitation to artists and activists everywhere: let us find each other, learn from each other and make visible the extraordinary creative resistance already happening in communities around the world.”

Forty days of art, culture and action

Global Artivism Month has been designed as a decentralised mobilisation. Activities will remain locally owned, taking place in participants' own languages, communities and political realities. At its heart is a Sunrise Relay. As the Earth turns, the spotlight will move from region to region, amplifying creative actions through stories, images, performances and reflections. Contributions will also form part of a growing Global Artivism Mosaic, creating a collective visual record of cultural action around the world.

The 40 days were chosen to coincide with a remarkable concentration of global moments for justice and solidarity: COP31 in Antalya, Türkiye (9–20 November); the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women (25 November) and the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence (25 November–10 December); the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People (29 November); World AIDS Day (1 December); the International Day for the Abolition of Slavery (2 December); the International Day of Persons with Disabilities (3 December); and Human Rights Day (10 December).

Global Artivism Month encourages artists, cultural workers and creative communities to support and strengthen the struggles, campaigns and movements associated with these and other significant moments wherever appropriate to their own context. This is an invitation, not a restriction. Participants remain entirely free to determine the issues they address, the forms their work takes and the communities with whom they engage. The hope is simply that Global Artivism Month can become a cultural amplifier for movements already working for dignity, justice, peace and a thriving planet.

From regional convenings to a global movement

The build-up to November will include six virtual regional convenings between 21 September and 29 October, enabling people to meet others working in their regions, exchange ideas and help shape the mobilisation. A Global Artivism Convening from 3–7 November will open the month and connect the growing network internationally.

Global Artivism Month is being coordinated by Natalia Mallo, Global Artivism Month Specialist, working alongside the Global Artivism Secretariat, Regional Fellows and partners. A multi-artist, curator and cultural strategist based in São Paulo, Brazil, Mallo has decades of experience working across arts, cultural diplomacy and movements for social change.

“The creative work needed to change our societies is already happening everywhere,” said Mallo. “Our role is not to tell communities what to create. It is to help connect what they are already doing, make it visible and enable people working in very different places to recognise themselves as part of a shared movement.”

Culture is power

Global Artivism Month comes at a time of intersecting crises, including climate breakdown, war, growing inequality, racism, attacks on human rights and shrinking democratic space. But artists and cultural practitioners are also helping communities resist injustice, preserve memory, heal, shift narratives and imagine alternatives.

Global Artivism is a Global South and Global Majority-led movement built around three core commitments: being Global Majority-led, being powered by arts and culture, and working towards a safe and just world. Its premise is simple: art is not decoration added after the “real” work of social change has been done. Culture itself is power.

In 2025, the Global Artivism Convening in Salvador, Brazil, brought together more than 1,000 people in person, with hundreds more participating online, representing 86 countries. Global Artivism Month is the next step: taking the movement beyond a single convening and into communities around the world.

Anyone can join

Participants are simply invited to do something where they are, carry the shared Global Artivism Month identity, document what happened and uphold principles of consent, safety, care and shared authorship.

“The world does not suffer from a shortage of creativity,” Naidoo said. “What we have lacked is enough connection between the creativity already alive in our communities and the movements trying to change the world. Global Artivism Month is an attempt to close that gap.”

The Participation Form opened on 19 August and serves as the single entry point for all forms of participation: https://form.jotform.com/262294214279057

To learn more: https://www.globalartivism.org/artivism-month

Social media:
@globalartivism
#GlobalArtivismMonth
#GlobalArtivism
#Artivism
#CultureForChange

About Global Artivism

Global Artivism is a Global South and Global Majority-led movement harnessing the power of arts and culture to drive social and systemic change. It connects artists, activists, cultural practitioners, organisers and allies across regions to strengthen cultural power, shift narratives, build community and mobilise for justice and a thriving planet.

MEDIA CONTACT
Natalia Mallo
[email protected]
Telephone / WhatsApp +55 11 98184 3775