Written by Joe Jackson on Mar 7, 2022. Posted in General Interest

#CreativeShelter connects refugees with creative industry jobs

Guitarist and producer Martyn Stary explains to The Location Guide how the #CreativeShelter initiative offers creative industry jobs - including advertising, film, music and beyond - to refugees across Europe.

What is your role/background?

I came up with this idea of #CreativeShelter and launched it with two of my friends. We are all based in the advertising business and music industry, so we decided to help people in our industries. We believe that help is effective when you help in an environment you know well, so that is why we decided to make it for creative industries. We are (besides our regular daytime jobs) fully dedicated to developing #CreativeShelter into a working platform interconnecting refugees to creative work.

What is the #CreativeShelter initiative?

Simply, #CreativeShelter is a platform for connecting refugees from war zones to job offers in Europe. After the recent tragic events in Ukraine, we are witnessing thousands of people heading to central Europe looking for a temporary shelter. Not only do they need our help with transport and accommodation, they will also need to find a proper job that will provide them with money, give them a distraction from the terrible events at home, and engage them into life in their new (temporary) shelter.

How does the initiative operate?

Agencies and clients fill in their contact info to a Google sheet and we will then distribute the contacts to refugees from the industry. We wanted to act fast so this is a first and temporary solution and we are working on a more robust platform and website. We started as a Czech platform only but we are now going to Germany, Poland and Slovakia. Everything is developing and growing on-the-go and we are amazed by how great the response from the market is.

How can other people support the initiative?

For the time being the best way is to join our Facebook community and if you can offer a job, then fill out the Google sheet and we will connect refugees to you.

Thank you Martyn.