This is the story of a small group of friends, mostly ladies with a common dream. Founded in 2009, Passion for Freedom began as a tight-knit sisterhood dedicated to their shared values of free expression, and the power of art to inspire, awaken and shake the world. For any normal individual, dipping your toes into a world of government censorship, religious terrorism, and oppressed journalists takes real commitment to the cause. Our women fought these things for over a decade, all the while unpaid, juggling careers, relationships, secret agents, terrorist attacks, and Monday morning’s Central Line.
In today’s world, Passion for Freedom stands out. There are far too many cowards, bullies, virtue signallers and censors in the world today. When faced with true evil, the most people look away or bury their heads in the sand, but we are proud to say that PFF never wavered, despite its adversarial existence.
The true spectacle and focus has always been the yearly art festival, where artists facing censorship world-over send in submissions to the Passion for Freedom Art Competition. Creators like Mimsy, Ai Wei Wei, Atena Farghadani, Malala, Kubra Khademi, and countless others have been involved with the competition over the years, and their brilliance is, for lack of a better term; the main show. PFF is merely the stage.
Mission Statement
Passion for Freedom promotes human rights and freedom of expression through the arts while providing support to victims of human rights abuses. Passion for Freedom pursues its mission through diverse activities including art exhibitions, festivals, seminars and workshops, as well as educational, welfare and support programmes.
What we do
Passion for Freedom organises an annual international arts competition and exhibition on human rights and freedom of speech. This facilitates open, critical discussion about the value of freedom and the risk of losing it. Through exhibitions, seminars and workshops, Passion for Freedom creates space for artists, writers and the public to explore subjects and themes often omitted from mainstream artistic discourse. Passion for Freedom’s first international arts competition and exhibition took place in 2009 in London. By 2016, we showed more than 400 artworks from all over the world; represented 50 countries including China, Iran and Venezuela; were visited in person by 15,000 people. Since inception we have raised awareness and stimulated critical debate about human rights and individual freedoms.
Who we are
Passion for Freedom is a UK charity registered as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO). The charity number is: 1171186
The charitable objectives of Passion for Freedom are:
- To promote human rights (as set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and subsequent United Nations and European conventions and declarations) throughout the world through the arts and works of art with a view to: raise awareness of human rights issues; promote public support for human rights; and promote respect for human rights among individuals and corporations;
- To relieve poverty or financial hardship among victims of human rights abuses and other socially excluded groups throughout the world by providing grants, items, services, education, training and advice to individuals, and/or charities, or other organisations working to prevent or relieve poverty;
- To promote the advancement of health for public benefit, especially for victims of human rights abuses.