An unstoppable movement built on the backs of passionate activists and volunteers.
Our passionate volunteers are a vital part of our grassroots movement. While our researchers and campaigners hit the ground running in some of the most dangerous parts of the world, our army of activists are always striving to raise awareness and create change within their local communities.
Amnesty volunteers using art to light the dark side of humanity
ARTillery is just one of Amnesty’s many unique action groups. These are a group of passionate volunteers drawn together by their drive to defend the rights of vulnerable people all around the world.
The team is made up of people who love art with an array of skills which are used as artillery in fighting human rights abuses globally.
What They Do
ARTillery engage with the local community to create awareness, open up a dialogue and encourage people to take action on different national and international human rights issues. This can be through spoken word and poetry nights, live music events, art exhibitions and public installation projects that touch on campaigns close to the heart of Amnesty International’s work.
What have they been up to?
ARTillery often stage creative actions to get local communities thinking about human rights.
The creative volunteers took the opportunity to breathe some life into Amnesty’s National Annual General Meeting by organising a stunt to remind everyone what our grassroots movement is all about.
The group created a mock crib with bars just like a prison cell. The prison cell symbolised the overrepresentation of Indigenous kids in detention, who are 24 times more likely to end up in prison than their non-Indigenous friends.
The crib was carried throughout the streets of the community to demonstrate our solidarity with Indigenous people all across Australia.
Community members were invited to join in or ask questions which is a wonderful step towards raising public awareness of human rights abuses in our own backyard.
Find out how you can get involved
Learn more about our work with Indigenous communities. Or if you’d like to get creative with your local ARTillery group, send an email to Anna, Amnesty’s national artillery coordinator at artillery@amnesty.org.au.