Artists are donating their work on Facebook to help refugees

A Facebook page for artists who wish to donate their works to aid the refugee crisis is raising thousands of pounds for those in need.

The Creative Collective for Refugee Relief has raised the money for the non-governmental organisations Calais Refugee Support and Syria Relief Charity, which both provide aid to refugees.

The works are being sold capped at £100, in order to encourage quick sales. All proceeds go to the nominated refugee relief charities.

The page is run by Fionn Wilson and Bo Gorzelak Pedersen. Fionn said that the idea originated from wanting to help the refugee crisis and being part of a wide creative community on Facebook.

She told i100.co.uk:

Artists tend to be cash poor and product rich, so donations of artwork was an obvious idea.

She developed the idea with fellow artist Bo and soon had launched a Facebook page. The donations came thick and fast.

So far we've sold around 200 artworks and we have around 200 for sale. The current total stands at £8,300 and we've been going for just under two weeks. It's staggering.

It goes to show that the overwhelming feeling amongst people is of sympathy for the plight of the refugees and one of wanting to help.

Donated works are placed in a ‘for sale’ album on the page, and users can message the page if they wish to buy the work. Users then pay via PayPal, and the artists send them the work upon confirmation of donation.

Fionn says the paintings are selling quickly, sometimes within five minutes of being posted online.

All works for sale are capped at £100 to encourage quick sales. Work donated by children is selling at £10 and we're selling work by established artists for amazing prices from £20-£100.

The artists are submitting work without links out or advertising, as the site is purely for charitable purposes.

The charities were chosen on the basis that they deliver the items most needed to those on the ground. Fionn said:

We found two charities which, as part of lots of other great work they do, also actually get stuff to people on the ground via donated items.

At the end of September we'll shut up shop and, with the grand total, divide this equally between Syria Relief Charity and Calais Refugee Support.

We'll talk to both and ask exactly what they need - this may change by the time we get to the end of September. For example, Calais Refugee Support really needed waterproof stuff last week because of the rain.

If any artists wish to donate their works, all they need to do is to get in touch with with the page and provide an image and details of the work, and a price.

The artists are responsible for the postage and packaging of the artwork. They can also specify where they are willing to send to, if worried about excessive postage costs.

Anyone wishing to browse the works for sale or wishing to donate, visit the Facebook page and get in touch by messaging.

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