As we approach the 60th anniversary of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (please sign it), we have cause for both celebration and motivation. We celebrate the impressive development of over six decades of international human rights standards, laws and institutions that have improved the lives of millions around the world.

Yet, we still live in a world where these rights are being violated on a daily basis. Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Chair of The Elders, recently announced the launch of the “Every Human Has Rights” campaign, calling upon citizens everywhere to join together to protect and defend the rights of each other by upholding the goals of the Universal Declaration in their daily lives and to hold their governments accountable for the same.

In alignment with these goals, world-renowned aerial artist John Quigley and veteran digital media producer Marc Levey have created a global performance-art experience that can unite, inspire and motivate individuals on every continent to stand up and celebrate their rights, as well as commit themselves to defending the rights of those who cannot.

This summer, utilizing the unique experience of human aerial artwork, where thousands of people come together to form an image that can only be seen and photographed from the sky, two teams led by Quigley and Levey will produce a series of live global events as well as an online social action community to benefit the human rights movement and the organizations that fight for it on a daily basis. Spanning an 8-week period over June, July and August, an international team of art coordinators directed by Quigley will facilitate a series of human “Aerial Art Circles” at high-profile locations across the globe.

Launching in Johannesburg, South Africa, in honor of The Elders and co-founders Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela, Circle Up Now will then travel to the United States to bring attention to Amnesty International and its focus on torture and the situation in Guantanamo Bay. Similar aerial art images will be generated throughout the world over the following weeks bringing attention to leaders and their causes like Nobel Peace Prize recipients Aung San Suu Kyi (Burma), the Dalai Lama (Tibet), and culminating on the eve of the Beijing Olympics with a focus on China. The aerial artwork in each location will be unique based upon the sketch of a well-known, local or international artist, inspired by one or more of the thirty articles contained in the UDHR, while all the images will share a common “circle border”.

Meanwhile, in each location, another team of top photographers and filmmakers will chronicle the events from the air and ground, and immediately upload their images to a state-of-the-art, online media-sharing platform. Under the creative direction of Levey, this web portal will enable visitors from around the world to keep up with the production as it comes together in each location, as well as sustain a community of those who participated in it throughout the summer. This unique communications platform will empower participants at each event to share their own experiences by using their personal cameras and cell phones to shoot and post their content on this multi-lingual, user-generated “social action network.”

With the “Summer Tour” concluding in a multi-city finale on the eve of the Beijing Olympics, Circle Up Now is an ideal vehicle, at the ideal moment in time, to amplify the voice and the efforts of the human rights movement; and in the process, reach a broader spectrum of supporters than ever before.

As we approach the 60th anniversary of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (please sign it), we have cause for both celebration and motivation. We celebrate the impressive development of over six decades of international human rights standards, laws and institutions that have improved the lives of millions around the world.

Yet, we still live in a world where these rights are being violated on a daily basis. Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Chair of The Elders, recently announced the launch of the “Every Human Has Rights” campaign, calling upon citizens everywhere to join together to protect and defend the rights of each other by upholding the goals of the Universal Declaration in their daily lives and to hold their governments accountable for the same.

In alignment with these goals, world-renowned aerial artist John Quigley and veteran digital media producer Marc Levey have created a global performance-art experience that can unite, inspire and motivate individuals on every continent to stand up and celebrate their rights, as well as commit themselves to defending the rights of those who cannot.

This summer, utilizing the unique experience of human aerial artwork, where thousands of people come together to form an image that can only be seen and photographed from the sky, two teams led by Quigley and Levey will produce a series of live global events as well as an online social action community to benefit the human rights movement and the organizations that fight for it on a daily basis. Spanning an 8-week period over June, July and August, an international team of art coordinators directed by Quigley will facilitate a series of human “Aerial Art Circles” at high-profile locations across the globe.

Launching in Johannesburg, South Africa, in honor of The Elders and co-founders Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela, Circle Up Now will then travel to the United States to bring attention to Amnesty International and its focus on torture and the situation in Guantanamo Bay. Similar aerial art images will be generated throughout the world over the following weeks bringing attention to leaders and their causes like Nobel Peace Prize recipients Aung San Suu Kyi (Burma), the Dalai Lama (Tibet), and culminating on the eve of the Beijing Olympics with a focus on China. The aerial artwork in each location will be unique based upon the sketch of a well-known, local or international artist, inspired by one or more of the thirty articles contained in the UDHR, while all the images will share a common “circle border”.

Meanwhile, in each location, another team of top photographers and filmmakers will chronicle the events from the air and ground, and immediately upload their images to a state-of-the-art, online media-sharing platform. Under the creative direction of Levey, this web portal will enable visitors from around the world to keep up with the production as it comes together in each location, as well as sustain a community of those who participated in it throughout the summer. This unique communications platform will empower participants at each event to share their own experiences by using their personal cameras and cell phones to shoot and post their content on this multi-lingual, user-generated “social action network.”

With the “Summer Tour” concluding in a multi-city finale on the eve of the Beijing Olympics, Circle Up Now is an ideal vehicle, at the ideal moment in time, to amplify the voice and the efforts of the human rights movement; and in the process, reach a broader spectrum of supporters than ever before.