Recording Academy Partners with United Nations Human Rights Initiatives Promoting Social Justice

The Recording Academy has announced a new initiative, revealing that it has teamed with multiple United Nations Human Rights-supported global initiatives to use music to promote social justice around the world. Named the Right Here, Right Now Music initiative and launched on Wednesday, the new campaign encourages artists to use their platform to encourage support for multiple United Nations Human Rights goals including advocacy for LGBTQ+ rights, gender equality, women's empowerment, climate justice and other human rights issues.

A concert, of course: To kick things off, the Recording Academy and United Nations Human Rights will host the Right Here, Right Now Mini Global Climate Concert Series, beginning April 13, at the Boulder Theater in Colorado with headliner Wesley Schultz, lead singer and co-founder of The Lumineers, and special guests including Yola. The show will be filmed by Citizen Pictures to be broadcast later and is the first of multiple Mini Global Climate Concerts planned around the world including potential shows in New York, Los Angeles, Nashville, London, Johannesburg, Bogotá, and Dubai. Proceeds from the concerts will go to United Nations Human Rights climate justice initiatives and MusiCares.

The power of music: The Right Here, Right Now Global Climate Alliance was unveiled in 2021 at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow and has become the largest public-private partnership addressing climate change as a human rights issue. Major artists have supported the alliance including Quincy Jones, Celine Dion, Leonardo DiCaprio, Cher, Camila Cabello, Annie Lennox, LL Cool J, Cyndi Lauper, Pitbull, Jack Black, the Lumineers, Ellen DeGeneres, Jeff Bridges, Edward Norton, Bob Weir, Dead & Company, Kesha, Joss Stone, and Michael Franti, with more to come following the Academy’s latest partnership.