HIGH NOTE GLOBAL
High Note Global is the global platform where culture and human rights converge — built on a singular belief: that music, photography, and cinema do not merely reflect the world, they have the power to change it.
In partnership with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UN Human Rights) — the UN office charged with promoting and protecting the human rights of every person, in every country — High Note Global convenes iconic musicians, photographers, filmmakers, world leaders, and global institutions around a shared moral imperative: to place culture at the center of the human rights agenda.
THE PLATFORM
High Note Global operates across three artistic pillars — Music, Photography, and Cinema — each a distinct vehicle for the same conviction: that culture, when made with courage, can shape the world. The platform launched in 2018 with two founding pillars, High Note Music and Photography 4 Humanity, and expands in January 2027 with the addition of High Note Human Rights Cinema.
The High Note Global Prize in Music honors artists whose work advances human dignity — whether a single song that moves the world, or a body of work that sustains the movement at scale. Past laureates include Cyndi Lauper (2019), John Legend (2020), and Aryana Sayeed (2025).
High Note Concerts are global cultural activations aligned with the Prize and the causes it advances. Since 2023, the platform has staged concerts featuring Green Day, Ellie Goulding, and The Lumineers across the United States and the United Kingdom. Beginning in 2027, the Prize will be presented at intimate benefit concerts honoring each year's recipient — with the laureate using the night to champion the cause closest to their heart.
In 2027, the platform expands to include the inaugural High Note Global Legacy Prize — a posthumous honor recognizing music icons whose contributions to human dignity continue to shape culture long after the music was made.
The High Note Global Prize in Photography honors photographers whose images bear witness with extraordinary clarity — from climate displacement and inequality to conflict, migration, and the defense of fundamental freedoms. The Prize is awarded each year through Photography 4 Humanity, the platform's photography pillar since 2018.
Photography 4 Humanity invites artists around the world to capture images that illuminate dignity, injustice, resilience, and hope. The pillar harnesses photography's power as a universal language — one that transcends borders, cultures, and politics — to reveal the lived reality behind the words human rights, and to remind audiences that the promise is only meaningful when it is experienced in everyday life.
Each year, winning images are shared globally via UN.org and exhibited at UN Headquarters in New York on UN Human Rights Day
The High Note Global Prize in Cinema honors filmmakers whose work expands the language of human rights storytelling.
High Note Human Rights Cinema launches in January 2027 in Boulder, Colorado, presenting a curated program of the world's most powerful human rights films with our Global Impact Partner, UN Human Rights — each day a film, each night live performances by renowned film composers on the High Note Stage. The launch also opens submissions for the inaugural competition, with the first prizes awarded in January 2028.
Films will be drawn from the High Note Global 100 — our curated body of the world's one hundred most influential film festivals. Official selection at any festival on that list is an invitation to submit.
Three Global Prizes will be awarded annually: Best Feature Film, Best Short Documentary, and Best Short Narrative Film.
