Top 10 Culture for Impact 2024
As we reflect on the year, we are excited to unveil the 10 most inspiring examples of popular culture for impact that have left a mark in our hearts and minds in 2024.
Backed by science, we know that popular culture can help shape norms, behaviours and opinions. Popular culture is a powerful - yet untapped - way to meet people in their everyday lives. It exposes us to fresh perspectives, and makes us relate to global challenges in a different light.
With the UN Live Culture for Impact List 2024, we spotlight some of the most inspiring and impactful initiatives and work that we have encountered in 2024 through our cultural programmes, partnerships and co-creations across the world, linking arts and culture with positive change. You can see the selection criteria further down.
The Good Lab by Micro Galleries
Chiang Mai, Thailand
A community-focused artist incubator bringing together 21 international and local artists with 14 community organizations to tackle displacement, climate change, and public space access through collaborative art. Over two weeks, the initiative created both artistic and social impact, resulting in the "Living Cultures Fest," the "Displaced Nation" movement, and professional development opportunities where over 50% of participants were Global South artists. By removing traditional barriers and bringing art directly to public spaces, The Good Lab demonstrates how cultural initiatives can create sustainable, community-centered solutions to global challenges.
Heliaki
Pasifika/United States
A digitally-native fashion brand using popular culture to drive social change and empower Pasifika communities worldwide. Through T-shirts that serve as canvases for cultural resistance and justice, Heliaki amplifies Indigenous Pacific Islander voices, provides economic opportunities, and builds a global movement for recognition and change. The initiative has raised over $27,000 for relief efforts in Tonga and Hawaii, advocated for Pacific Islander small businesses on Capitol Hill, and partnered with organizations like the Pacific Feminist Fund—proving that culture, when shared with intention, can turn entrepreneurship into a force for global impact.
NAAM Festival
Kenya
A creative activism initiative using performing and visual arts to mobilize communities for Lake Victoria conservation. Through human-size art installations made from waste, photography, music, theatre, and storytelling, NAAM has worked with over 430 artists across 50+ events, engaging 15,000 audience members and 204 fishing families in understanding environmental citizenship. The initiative has influenced local government to ban car washing at lakeshores, establish proper waste systems, and sparked meaningful dialogue on climate change—demonstrating how art can breathe life into constitutional rights and transform environmental degradation into creative solutions.
Anna-Laura Sullivan
Brooklyn, United States
A traditional artist and graphic novelist who has gathered over half a million followers through watercolor comics that offer gentle understanding and cosmic nostalgia. Using a deliberately childlike aesthetic to create a sense of relearning, Anna-Laura's pint-sized parables provide comfort, self-love, and hope through cuteness and nostalgia acting as a "trojan horse" to soften viewers to difficult messages. Her work demonstrates that vulnerability in art can transform darkness into fertile soil where empathy grows, creating an online community that uplifts and encourages each other—proof that bottled messages cast into the digital sea can provide profound comfort in someone's lifetime.
Mafigi Bakery
Nakivale Refugee Settlement, Uganda
A social enterprise training refugee youth, especially those with disabilities, in baking and life skills to build brighter futures. Since 2020, Mafigi Bakery has created 50 jobs and trained 800 youth (200 living with disabilities), linking 80 youth with disabilities to employment opportunities and self-reliance. By providing fresh, quality bread products to the settlement while fostering inclusivity and resilience, the bakery demonstrates how food acts as a universal connector—creating opportunities where marginalized individuals can provide for their families and communities, proving that no one should be left behind.
Global Goals World Cup
Global (17 countries)
An activist football championship using sports to empower women as advocates for global change. Since 2015, 25 tournaments across 17 countries have engaged 19,000 women who have taken Global Goals to heart, creating structures and policies in cities, companies, and schools—even influencing legislation. With 3.4 million people reached through community projects, innovative scoring that prioritizes creativity and "Style," and teams like Colombia's Malala's FC (158K Instagram followers) combating violence against women, the initiative proves that when you combine play with purpose, sport becomes a field for creativity, growth, and global connection.
MOTH (More Than Human Life)
Ecuador/Global
An interdisciplinary project reimagining the rights of humans, non-humans, and the web of life through MOTH Records—a pioneering music label creating songs in collaboration with nature. "Song of the Cedars," co-created by four humans and Ecuador's Los Cedros cloud forest, represents the first known legal attempt to recognize an ecosystem as moral co-author of artwork. With 143,000 Spotify plays, extensive global media coverage, and a petition pending in Ecuadorian courts, the initiative challenges anthropocentric copyright frameworks—demonstrating how recognizing nature's creative force can inspire a global shift toward symbiotic living and expanded legal imagination.
Learn more about MOTH here, and listen to "Song of the Cedars" here.
Human Impact Institute - Creative Climate Awards
New York/Global
A month-long arts festival showcasing emerging artists from climate-impacted communities using diverse mediums to explore climate inequalities and inspire action. Having collaborated with 253 artists from 55 countries and engaged tens of thousands through public exhibitions at iconic NYC locations, the CCAs transform climate data into deeply human stories that foster empathy. From poetry in Aymara that moved a woman to tears to installations that bridge tourists and climate reality, the initiative demonstrates how art becomes a bridge between audiences and lived realities—creating ripples of awareness and change across communities worldwide.
Ban-quet
Nicosia, Cyprus
An experiential project using food and dialogue to build empathy across Cyprus's UN buffer zone, bringing together Greek and Turkish Cypriots for shared meals and sensory exploration. The initiative creates safe spaces where participants reflect on how sights, smells, and tastes connect to memory and belonging, sparking conversations about shared history and hopes for unity. When participants chose to cross borders for self-initiated gatherings and individuals politically restricted from crossing participated symbolically, Ban-quet proved that approaching division from a human-first perspective—stripping away political overlay—can foster connection and challenge entrenched narratives through everyday actions.
Games for Change
Global (120+ countries)
A nonprofit empowering game creators to catalyze social impact through video games and extended reality, reaching 3.2 billion gamers worldwide. Through programs serving 58,000 students (75% from Title 1 schools) and 1,200 educators, plus the 21-year-old G4C Festival bringing together thousands of creators from 120+ countries, the organization demonstrates that games create immersive spaces for exploring complex problems and developing empathy. Their Games & SDG Summit united 180 cross-sector leaders to advance Sustainable Development Goals, proving that games are more than entertainment—they're powerful tools for fostering empathy, understanding, and collective action on global challenges.
Selection criteria
The selection criteria prioritize innovative cultural initiatives addressing societal challenges and fostering change:
Culture Innovation: Initiatives that demonstrate a pioneering or significant application of popular culture to address societal challenges or promote positive change.
Genre Diversity: Inclusivity across a spectrum of cultural genres, showcasing a diverse range of creative expressions and innovative approaches.
Topic Versatility: Recognition of initiatives that address a wide array of topics and issues, demonstrating the versatility and adaptability of cultural genres.
Global Inclusivity: Emphasis on initiatives that contribute to cultural impact on a global scale, promoting inclusivity and representation from various regions around the world.
Dual Impact Approach: Acknowledgment of initiatives that have achieved significant reach while also recognizing the nuanced impact of smaller-scale efforts that contribute profoundly to cultural change.