Fine Acts is a playground for social change.
See our Annual Report for 2023.
Or our Annual Reports for 2022, 2021, 2020, and 2019.
We are a global creative studio for social impact that operates across issues and borders. We believe in the power of art and play. In our work, we think about ways to make people care and act, and we create novel avenues to empower activism. We:
Nurture collaborations: We bring together activists, artists and techies from across the globe to work on collaborative projects.
Produce powerful art: We create and commission art that raises awareness, triggers action, and fosters greater support for human rights campaigns.
Create effective campaigns: We work with groundbreaking nonprofits from around the world, designing and implementing tailor-made creative campaigns for their needs.
Boost innovation: We design and apply novel formats to explore the intersection of human rights, art and technology.
Support organizations: We consult and train civil society organizations in creative thinking, utilizing art and embracing play as a tool for social change.
Practice playtivism: We see the process of incorporating play and experimentation in activism as vital. We came up with the concept of playtivism – learn more about it from our founder’s TED talk.
Fine Acts is co-founded by two TED Senior Fellows and an Obama Scholar, and is advised by some brilliant minds. The Fine Acts Collective currently features more than 40 TED Fellows, and is growing to include other prominent artists and advocates. Fine Acts launched at TED 2015.
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Board of Trustees
Shoham Arad
Artist, Designer, Director / TED Fellows
Maria Popova
Founder / Brain Pickings
Yana Buhrer Tavanier
Co-Founder / Fine Acts
Pavel Kounchev
Co-Founder / Fine Acts
Julie Freeman
Co-Founder / Fine Acts
Advisory Board
Colleen Keegan
Art Business Advisor
Esra'a Al Shafei
Founder, Director / Mideast Youth
Rebecca Lichtenfeld
Philanthropic Advisor & Curator / Bertha Foundation & TED
Safwat Saleem
Artist, Designer, Filmmaker
Lars Jannick Johansen
Founder / Den Sociale Kapitalfond
Benedetta Berti
Policy & Security Researcher, Analyst
Alexander McLean
Founder / Justice Defenders
Gayle Karen Young
Culture-builder
Arthur Steiner
Founder / Mideast Creatives
Founders & Team
Yana Buhrer Tavanier
Co-Founder, Executive Director
Yana is a human rights activist and a social entrepreneur, with a background in investigative journalism. She is board member and advisor of many awesome nonprofits across the globe. Yana has an academic background in communications and political science, with executive education from Harvard University (Kennedy School of Government), Yale University, and Oxford University (Saïd Business School). She is a TED Senior Fellow, a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum, a Fulbright Scholar, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
Julie Freeman
Co-Founder, Curatorial Advisor
Julie is an artist, who translates complex processes and data into a variety of art forms. Julie has an MA in Digital Art from Middlesex University and a PhD from the School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science, Queen Mary University of London. Her work has been exhibited widely in the UK and internationally. She co-leads the Data as Culture art programme at the Open Data Institute, is a TED Senior Fellow and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. Her focus is on human rights activism and social change through the intersection of art, data and technology.
Pavel Kounchev
Co-Founder, Special Projects Advisor
Pavel is a social entrepreneur with a strong background in advertising and marketing. His work has won awards for online, viral and integrated advertising. He is also co-founder and Board Member of TimeHeroes.org, the largest do-more-good platform in Bulgaria and main source for volunteers for local nonprofits. Pavel was named one of Forbes Bulgaria 30 Under 30. He is also a WEF Global Shaper, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. Pavel is one of the 12 inaugural Obama Foundation Scholars at Columbia University.
Ana Alexieva
Programs Director
Ana is a cultural and art manager with a background in international documentary film production. A graduate in media and gender studies from Ruhr University Bochum and Utrecht University, she specialized in audio-visual entrepreneurship at EURODOC and EAVE. Fellow of Friedrich Ebert Foundation, YTILI and Mercator Stiftung. WEF Global Shaper. G-20 Young Global Changer. Selected in "30 under 30" of Forbes Bulgaria and Emerging Producers IDFF Jihlava. Founder of "Your Future", a local youth support and mentoring network.
Svetla Baeva
Campaigns Director
Svetla is a human rights campaigner and activist with an academic background in communications and political science from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. She has devoted the last ten years to championing issues concerning women's, LGBTI, refugee, minority and children's rights at a number of nonprofits. She is a 2018 Fulbright Scholar, and as part of the program, she joined Change.org. Also an entrepreneur, Svetla is the co-founder and CEO of Power Pops, a company dedicated to supporting social change through popsicles.
Petar Trifonov
Creative Producer
Petar is a producer with extensive experience in the creation of digital content in all formats. He’s worked across industries on campaigns for international brands such as McDonalds, ZEISS, LIDL, VMWare and Jägermeister, as well as a number of prominent Bulgarian companies. His multidisciplinary skill set allows him to efficiently bridge any gaps between artistic vision and predefined specification requirements.
Sofia Hussein
Copywriter & Social Media Strategist
Sofia is a digital content creator, who shares the same name as her hometown. She graduated fashion, textile & costume design in Germany, later obtaining a Master's degree in Spain. She is also the founder of Dinya Magazine - an online publication dedicated to photography, music, design and contemporary art. Sofia has worked across diverse industries (and countries - UK, Italy), gathering extensive experience in creative direction, public relations and social media marketing. A creative cocktail (shaken, not stirred) - just like her heritage.
Martina Koleva
Digital Expert
Martina is a digital specialist with a background in communications, psychology and design. She is one of the co-founders of CoderDojo Bulgaria and is actively involved in the organization of Rails Girls Sofia, making coding more accessible to women and children.
The NGOsource’s Equivalency Determination (ED) completed their analysis and was able to certify Fine Acts as equivalent to a Certified Public Charity.
NGOsource’s Equivalency Determination (ED) on File “badge” means that Fine Acts has been determined by NGOsource to be equivalent to a U.S. public charity or government instrumentality for a specific funder during a specific period of time. The U.S. grantmaker evaluates whether an intended foreign grantee (Fine Acts) is the equivalent of a U.S. public charity. The grantmaker collects a set of detailed information about the grantee’s operations and finances and makes a reasonable determination of its equivalency.