How would the world look if everyone felt a stronger sense of connection to each other and the planet?

Museum for the United Nations – UN Live is a ‘borderless’ museum that sparks global empathy, action, and change through the power of popular culture and dialogue. UN Live takes the concept of the museum to a different level. With no physical building, we are a museum that reaches people everywhere, by meeting them where they are with cultural experiences. 

The world faces urgent, interconnected challenges such as conflict, climate change, poverty, and inequality. People are calling for change. Only by working together, building on empathy, care, and connection can 'the many' influence decision-makers and demand action at speed. 

Through the appeal and extensive reach of popular culture – film, music, gaming, sports, and beyond – UN Live curates engaging cultural experiences and generates positive global action. We stir empathy, spark a sense of a 'Global We', and ignite a feeling of agency in individuals to act for the collective good. 

  • Learn more about UN Live

    UN Live’s work is designed to move people to action through the things they love, with a vision to connect people to the work and values of the UN. Learn more about how we do this, working together with global partners.

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  • How popular culture can drive change

    Building on behaviour change science, popular culture has the power to change norms, behavious and opinions, and makes us relate to global issues in a different way. Click here to learn about research and initiatives from around the world.

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  • A 'borderless' museum

    Often associated with physical gallery spaces, curated collections of artifacts or immersive exhibitions, we have taken the concept of a museum to a new level.

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Cultural programmes: Exhibiting experiences of a connected world

There is a profound difference between a positive vision of the world and the ability to realize that vision. For many reasons, challenges don’t always provoke concrete action – be it political or structural change or local citizen-driven change. 

UN Live, in collaboration with hundreds of partners across five continents, makes global problems tangible through cultural experiences and programmes.  

The Museum for the United Nations – UN Live embraces popular culture formats and platforms to cultivate a felt understanding of the work and values of the UN, meeting people where they already are: on their screens, via their listening habits, on the sports field. Building on behavioural science, this can help create a stronger sense of empathy and agency, as well as design pathways to action. 

We are a frontrunner in this emerging space, giving us a unique edge and voice in the global discussion about the world we want and how to drive change. Explore the programmes below.

  • Global We

    In 2022, the Global We platform was launched to facilitate global discussions on climate action, generating a stronger sense of empathy, connectedness and belonging. Advanced audiovisual technology across 22 portals enables diverse individuals worldwide to engage in live, life-like dialogues with each other. With so far 3000 conversation excerpts and nearly 10,000 participants, it stands as the largest recorded conversation on climate action. We are now scaling up – covering more issues and more locations.

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  • My Mark: My City

    In 2019, UN Live collaborated with young people across 23 cities in 18 countries during the UN General Assembly Climate Week. Partnering with around 20 organisations, including Purpose and Anchorage Museum, UN Live incorporated diverse youth voices into the UNGA dialogue. Over four months, these stories reached two million people globally, providing insights into youth-driven aspirations for transforming their cities.

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  • My Body: My Planet

    In 2021, along with the Busara Center for Behavioural Economics in Kenya and London Natural History Museum, we brought together over 60 thought leaders and youth from Brazil, China, England, India, and Nigeria. Their goal was to prototype engagement solutions at the intersection of climate, health, and popular culture for the 18-24 age group, utilising local influencers in football, carnival, comedy, or gaming, coupled with social media.

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  • FlipFlopi

    In 2020, we partnered with FlipFlopi to use cultural heritage to combat single-use plastic in East Africa. The world's first recycled plastic sailing dhow, made from 30,000 flip-flops and a sail from 1,500 plastic bottles, sailed across East Africa, uniting media, policymakers, communities, and entrepreneurs to engage communities and politicians in the effort to stop and ban single-use plastics. The boat has garned a media reach exceeding 890 million views.

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  • Voz Terra

    In 2019, a diverse group of 40+ individuals met at the Maloka Museum in Bogota, Colombia for a UN Live workshop to explore creative ways of engaging people in nature conservation. The workshop led to the formation of VozTerra, a music collective, recognising Colombia's deep connection to the Amazonas and the country's universal love of music and rhythm. VozTerra's albums, featuring nature sounds, gained significant media coverage, and has provided the power of music to create awareness, traction and action. The success is now evolving into a global initiative set to launch in 2024. Stay tuned for updates.

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Global We: Amplifying voices and fostering global belonging

Creating a Global We – a sense of global belonging, increased empathy, and individual sense of agency – is at the core of UN Live’s work. This notion of a Global We has developed over time, and to let it continue to inform and inspire our thinking forward, we have created the ‘Global We platform’.

The platform consists of portals that enables direct dialogues with and between normally unheard voices from the global majority. To date, together with local and global partners, we have facilitated almost 3000 conversations with over 10.000 participants.

The content and impact of the conversations are continuously being collected, analysed, and synthesised. From this data we learn about the experiences of and solutions to global challenges by those who are at the forefront of these challenges.

  • Emerging themes from the Global We conversations

    UN Live together with Cortico have recently unveiled a digital collection featuring up to 3,000 insights from recorded climate dialogues, with the aim of cultivating a comprehensive understanding of the world's perspectives on subjects that connect all of humanity as a shared experience.

    Explore the collection

  • See whats on the mind of the many

    Together with a newly launched digital repository of Global We conversations across the globe, a data visualisation of the rich tapestry of interconnected voices and themes across conversations can interactively explored.

    Explore the Global We Galaxy

  • Learn more about the Global We platform

    Through the conversations, a space is created to listen, learn, and build a deeper connection to each other and global issues.

    Get more information on Global We

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