Bill Shipsey
Bill is a human rights activist, artist event promoter, producer and consultant, barrister, and the founder of Art for Amnesty, Amnesty International’s global artist engagement programme. As founder of Art for Amnesty, Shipsey has brought together a number of world-renowned artists for music, literary, visual art and other artist lead projects that benefit Amnesty.
Shipsey initiated and produced Amnesty’s Ambassador of Conscience Award from 2003 to 2015, an accolade that has been bestowed on such diverse activists as Nelson Mandela, Malala Yousafzai, Harry Belafonte, Václav Havel, Joan Baez, Ai Wei Wei, Peter Gabriel, U2 and most recently Greta Thunberg. The Ambassador of Conscience Award was inspired by Irish poet Seamus Heaney, a supporter of Amnesty for over 30 years. Shipsey was co-executive producer of ‘Instant Karma’, Amnesty’s multi-star benefit album of John Lennon compositions.
So far the album has raised over $5m in royalties for Amnesty. The album hit number one on iTunes stores around the world, and was nominated for several Grammies. Shipsey said the idea was “to allow Amnesty to engage with the iPod-listening, music-downloading, 16-to-26-year-olds. The album enabled us to reach out and engage young kids in a way we hadn’t for years. Bill devised and produced the Small Places Tour, a 2008 music concert project which partnered with over 800 concerts in some 40 countries worldwide. From 2009–2019 he has overseen the participation of Amnesty on U2’s global tours. In October 2010, he partnered with German entrepreneur Jochen Wilms and their mutual musician friend Carl Carlton to create a commemorative song for Amnesty’s 50th Anniversary.
This led to the groundbreaking Art for Amnesty Band ‘Toast to Freedom’ song with contributions from nearly 50 singers from all over the world. ‘Toast To Freedom’ was launched worldwide on 3 May 2012. Shipsey also promoted and produced ‘Electric Burma’, a concert held on 18 June 2012 in honour of Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi featuring Bono, Damien Rice, Lupe Fiasco, Bob Geldof, Angelique Kidjo and many others. He co-executive produced ‘Bringing Human Rights Home’ a concert held on 5 February 2014, benefitting Amnesty International in the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. As a Barrister, Shipsey appeared for Amnesty International before the Court of Justice of the European Union. He has consulted widely with other human rights organisations around the world seeking to partner with artists in the promotion of human rights campaigns.