Georgia Arnold is Senior Vice President of Social Responsibility at Viacom International Media Networks and is responsible for developing social initiatives for the company’s portfolio of over two hundred TV channels and websites. Ms Arnold has initiated unprecedented partnerships andcampaigns for MTV on HIV and AIDS awareness and for Nickelodeon on children’s rights.
Ms. Arnold has been overseeing The Staying Alive campaign since its launch in 1998. Staying Alive is forged upon partnerships including; UNAIDS, UNICEF, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, PEPFAR and Kaiser Family Foundation. The campaign has delivered award-winning HIV and AIDS awareness programming, concerts, events and public service messages involving high profile individuals such as Nelson Mandela, Bill Clinton, Alicia Keys, Beyoncé and Mary J Blige.
Building on the success of the Staying Alive campaign, Ms. Arnold was instrumental in establishing the MTV Staying Alive Foundation in 2005, and was appointed Executive Director in October 2007.
The MTV SAF is a global charitable body that provides grants to grassroots, youth-led organisations to set up HIV and AIDS awareness campaigns in their communities, and has supported 208 organisations in 70 countries since 2005, totalling over $6million.
A particular highlight of Ms. Arnold’s career is her involvement with the multi award-winning MTV Shuga – a 360 degree mass-media HIV prevention campaign. With the fifth season due to premiere
in March 2017, the award winning drama reaches over 720 million people worldwide and discovered the Oscar-winner actress, Lupita Nyong'o. MTV Shuga boldly addresses sexual health topics head-on; bravely confronting taboo topics such as gender based violence, and transactional sex, told through the lives of characters and emotional situations drawn from real life. MTV Shuga’s compelling storylines have been broadcast on TV and radio stations around the world.
In 2013, MTV Breaks was born - Ms. Arnold’s latest international initiative to inspire and give real life opportunities to the next generation of creative talent around the world, including 20 opportunities to work on MTV tentpole events around the world, and free pop up workshops for the MTV audience.
Ms. Arnold also oversees the Viacom UK apprenticeship scheme, which offers four young people a 12-month paid placement, giving extensive work experience across the business’s headline brands (MTV, Nickelodeon & Comedy Central). The scheme is also complimented by specially designed educational components integrated throughout the programme.
Ms. Arnold was CEO of the MTV EXIT (End Exploitation and Trafficking) Foundation, 2012-2015. MTV EXIT Foundation was a registered UK charity launched by MTV Networks Europe in 2003 to use the power and influence of MTV's brand and broadcasting network to educate young people about the social issues affecting their lives. In addition to her influential work at Viacom International Media Networks, Ms. Arnold has previously sat on the board of The Burma Campaign UK, a global initiative campaigning for human rights and democracy in Burma; and was on the Advisory Board for 'Rays of Sunshine', a charity which grants the wishes of terminally and seriously ill children between the ages of 3-18 who live in the United Kingdom.
Projects
- MTV RE:DEFINEMTV RE:DEFINE, an annual charity art exhibition and auction, was founded in 2011 by the MTV Staying Alive Foundation and the Goss-Michael Foundation.It has grown to be one of the leading events on the contemporary art calendar and is now produced in collaboration with Dallas Contemporary. All proceeds from MTV RE:DEFINE benefit HIV and AIDS prevention and education through the MTV Staying Alive Foundation, and Dallas Contemporary’s commitment to arts education and awareness through its innovative roster of curated programming. Through generous donations from leading artists and support from local and national philanthropists and sponsors, MTV RE:DEFINE has raised over $8m to date.
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Projects credited in
- No more excuses for all male panels: here's 50 of the best women speakersIn light of CES' 'challenge', finding enough women to fill its 2019 line-up, The Dots is shining a light on 50 women the tech conference – and any conference – would be lucky to host on its panels. In 2017, the network's founder Pip Jamieson spoke at more than 50 panels, talks and events. She found that while speaker line-ups were becoming more gender diverse in general, all too often she was in the minority or sometimes even the ‘token woman’. In 2018, The Dots is on a mission to ensure there i77
- Female Creative Leaders 2017 - Meet the 150 women redefining the creative industriesTo celebrate International Women’s Day 2017 we asked 15 incredible female leaders in design, advertising, illustration, tech, film, fashion, arts, social enterprise and more to nominate the 10 women that they believe will redefine the creative space over the coming years - all with the aim of inspiring the next generation of female creative leaders. Discover, connect and be inspired by these amazing women, listed below and stay up to date with our 2018 list of women redefining the creative indu72
Work history
Executive DirectorMTV Staying Alive Foundation
London, United KingdomFull Time