We launched yet another human rights innovation format called Fine Acts Sprints, a weekend-long creative bootcamp exploring the intersection of human rights and visual arts. It’s part of our Fine Acts Laboratories where we play and experiment with how we can improve our human rights talk.
NGOs and activists often lack the capacity and resources to make their work or campaigns visible. We know that powerful visual content will not only drive coverage but will foster empathy and push engagement.
In Sprints, after being briefed by experts, visual artists have just 48 hours to produce their works, that range from posters and postcards to GIFs and videos. Works are then shown in a pop-up exhibition and they are made available online on The Ammo, our free vault with carefully curated socially engaged visual content, open to anyone to use or adapt non commercially.
Our first edition took place on 17-19 February 2019 and focused on women’s rights, specifically tackling gender stereotypes and violence against women (see full gallery). We will hold three more thematic events, ranging from LGBTQ+ rights to Freedom of expression, by the end of 2019.
Participants in Fine Acts Sprints 1.0:
Albena Limoni, Borislava Willnevermadeit, Dessy Baeva, Rozalina Burkova, Stalker since 1993 – illustrators; Viktoria Nesheva, Kostadin Kokalanov, Momchil Zakhariev, Tsvetislava Koleva – graphic and typography designers; Gabrielle Minev & Rusen Minchev (GoldGrippin) – videomakers; Yana Lozeva - photographer.
The first edition of Fine Acts Sprints would not be possible without our partners Friedrich Naumann Foundation Southeast Europe, Bulgarian Fund for Women and Goethe-Institut Bulgarien, and the general support of Open Society Foundations. The event was also supported by Trastena Wines, Cosmos Coworking Camp, Vizh Sofia, TimeHeroes, Shipka Store.