“We need to be able to promote unity in diversity. We puppeteers have always experienced difficulties with religions, and with power in general, because we speak the truth. And now we are the target of the jihadists, who consider the representation of human beings as [...]Read the full article
The year 2020 marked an inflection point for Hong Kong’s book sector, when the Chinese government imposed a sweeping national security law on the city, partly to crush the 2019 protest movement that challenged Chinese President Xi Jinping. Publishing words in Hong Kong has become a risky [...]Read the full article
Anime is on the rise. Translated manga are flooding into new markets, attracting readers from all over the world. But despite their remarkable popularity and sales, the inner workings of these dream factories are unknown, especially when it comes to the creators and their working [...]Read the full article
Katsuji Okada has spent a lifetime laying millions of kawara tiles. We spoke with him to learn about the details of this ancestral craft, part of an indigenous architecture that is now on the verge of extinction.Read the full article
“In the media, migrants are usually treated as number or statistics. Cinema, on the other hand, allows their personal stories to be told. It gives a voice to individuals.”Read the full article
Bettina Zourli:“While the repatriation of goods stolen during the colonial period is a key issue, the word ‘restitution’ in the DRC refers to a much broader concept. The term refers more readily to a long process involving not only the reconstruction of history but also the reconstitution of knowledge, [...]Read the full article
“The first five years of a child’s life is so important, because that’s when 80 per cent of the brain develops. The environment where they grew up, the type of human interaction and stimulations they have…can grow strong foundations for their wellbeing and future [...]Read the full article
American-style stand-up comedy is making its mark as a relatively new art form in the West Bank, with Ramallah emerging as a vibrant hub for its growth. Beyond serving as a platform for artistic expression, it has also become a therapeutic [...]Read the full article
A new arts project is bringing together various communities in Nineveh province, northern Iraq, to restore peaceful coexistence following the overthrow of the so-called Islamic State in 2017.Read the full article
The creative AI revolution has sparked fascination and fear in equal measure. Could AI be exploited to cut costs, to demand more work in less time, to make sectors such as design even more precarious or to automate the easiest [...]Read the full article
In Yerevan, Armenia, a group of LGBTQ+ and feminist activists have opened the FemLibrary, the first feminist library in the city, in an apartment.Read the full article
“One of the main problems is that many believe that they have come to work in a decent industry of nice, office jobs, as well as outdated convictions that workers’ rights struggles are important only to those working in factories and [...]Read the full article
Riadh Ezzawech has devoted his life to the practice and dissemination of stambeli, a musical genre born centuries ago with the arrival in Tunisia of enslaved people from Sub-Saharan Africa. In the last four decades, much has changed and, today, stambeli is in serious danger of becoming [...]Read the full article
Mereki’s female chefs not only defeat the pervasive, sexist norms present in the world of barbecues, but crucially, they earn enough money to head households on an equal financial footing with men.Read the full article
With songs, TV series, books and podcasts, creators from all over the world are giving visibility and generating debate around anxiety, depression and even suicide. A taboo subject until recently, the pandemic has placed mental health front and centre in the global [...]Read the full article
The sound of church bells, a local dialect or the smell of a city without pollution could today be considered endangered heritage. Their degradation is less visible than that of a monument, which is precisely why their protection is more [...]Read the full article
Young people on the African continent are becoming active through the art of slam poetry. They express themselves freely on social issues, raise awareness on matters such as responsible citizenship, gender, human rights, and make their voices [...]Read the full article
“If, thanks to my texts, just one little girl were able to say to herself, “So, it is possible”, then I will have contributed to building a female identity in Burkina Faso.”Read the full article
Thanks to the efforts of the YouTubers Union and IG Metall, content creators on the platform now have greater transparency, arbitration power, clearer rules, better communication and greater participation.Read the full article
More and more Black influencers are using social media platforms like Instagram and YouTube to connect with audiences, monetise their content and challenge dominant media narratives about what it means to be Black and Brazilian.Read the full article
From the Amazon rainforests to Central America, young, Indigenous artists are reclaiming their ancient heritage through music, mixing ancestral rituals and instruments with rap, electronica and reggaeton to fight racial discrimination and historical [...]Read the full article
A 28-year-old social entrepreneur has created an innovative solution to help rural folk artists in India create sustainable livelihoods and preserve the country’s richest oral heritage.Read the full article
Thanks to its constant motion, its excesses and its contradictions, the city of Kinshasa is a true source of inspiration for Congolese artists, but few manage to make a living from their art.Read the full article
Hard hit by the pandemic, artists and culture workers in Athens are mobilising locally and nationally to stand up for their rights and for their place in society.Read the full article
Despite the recent passage of a controversial national security law, Hong Kong’s independent filmmakers say that it is now more important than ever to speak up and tell Hong Kong’s stories through their lens.Read the full article
There is a socially-charged element behind the success of sounds like reggaeton and artists like Bad Bunny. The new stars of the Spanish-language music scene played a leading role in the marches that shook Latin America in 2019 and their influence could be decisive in the upcoming US [...]Read the full article
The pandemic has dealt a fatal blow to an already struggling sector. Those who will suffer the most are the anonymous workers who are trying to adapt to this uncertain, new reality. If arts and culture are essential, what should be done to ensure their [...]Read the full article
“One of the characteristics of this type of music lies in the subject matter is deals with, often linked to the poverty, violence and policy brutality that occur in their neighbourhoods.”Read the full article
“We often reduce seniors to economic cost or demographic burden. They are spoken of in a very dehumanising way and we wanted to change that by showing them as people in their own right, not just as clichés.”Read the full article
The Rock School in Mitrovica, a town in northern Kosovo split between Serbs and Albanians, is fighting to close the divide through music. Youngsters from the two communities play together in ‘mixed bands’, providing some with an opportunity to cross the bridge and to speak to the ‘other’ for the [...]Read the full article
Over the last few months, music from both the historical repertoire of protest songs as well as from popular culture and football stadiums are going viral on social media and breathing new life into musical resistance.Read the full article