ARTS x SDGS Festival

Did you know?

The United Nation declared 2021 as the International Year of Creative Economy for Sustainable Development.

Amazing, right?

It's HISTORIC!

That's why we are continuing the important work beyond 2021 of uplifting and supporting the growing creative economy committed to a more equitable and sustainable world with a series of online festivals and events including the February 2023 edition of the ARTS x SDGS Festival!

One of the most resilient groups that will come out of these challenging times is the artists. We will create. We will problem solve. We will find purpose in all of this. We will forge a new path for a greater world.

The ARTS x SDGS Online Festival is an artist-led festival, bringing together members of the growing creative economy and influential UN/NGO actors to promote arts, creativity and storytelling to promote acceleration of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs.)

A combination of creative arts programming, workshop facilitation and unique networking opportunities, the ARTS x SDGS Online Festival invests in the development of artists and storytellers who want to forge a career path or produce creative content around social good issues such as gender equality, climate change, sustainable production and consumption, health, education, peace and security and more.

We, therefore are opening up this Call for Submissions for a variety of creative content (documentary/narrative films, music, spoken word poetry, dance, visual arts) on the following SDGs:

GOAL 1: No Poverty
GOAL 2: Zero Hunger
GOAL 3: Good Health and Well-being
GOAL 4: Quality Education
GOAL 5: Gender Equality
GOAL 6: Clean Water and Sanitation
GOAL 7: Affordable and Clean Energy
GOAL 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
GOAL 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
GOAL 10: Reduced Inequality
GOAL 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities
GOAL 12: Responsible Consumption and Production
GOAL 13: Climate Action
GOAL 14: Life Below Water
GOAL 15: Life on Land
GOAL 16: Peace and Justice Strong Institutions
GOAL 17: Partnerships to Achieve the Goals

The ARTS x SDGS Online Festival will include showcasing of the most powerful, moving and informative content submitted. Creative workshops will include those focused on developing sustainable partnerships and securing contracted work with UN/NGO agencies, grant writing/fundraising, curating high-quality arts and storytelling into policy and programming events, and more.

The ARTS x SDGS Online Festival is a festival by and for artists. It is founded and curated by Create2030 Founder, Lisa Russell, MPH who is an Emmy-winning filmmaker with 15+ years producing films and creative projects for UN/NGO agencies. She has also been the curator for the Women Deliver Film Festival since 2010. The festival is co-founded by Chesney Snow. Chesney is an award-winning, New York-based theater artist, poet, songwriter, educator, life-long student, and one of NYC’s premiere human beatbox/vocal percussionists and a pioneering figure in American beatbox culture.

Our sixth edition of the festival will coincide with Make Music Day and the Juneteen Holidays.

Guest speakers and participating creative professionals will be announced on a rolling basis.

We look forward to seeing you in February!