MTV: Staying Alive!

mtv_sa_logo1_formatted copyAbout the Events

Boston University will host the MTV Staying Alive Foundation on April 21 and 22 for a series of events highlighting the foundation’s HIV/AIDS awareness campaign. A component of the campaign, “Shuga” — an edgy television drama focusing on the effects of HIV/AIDS on the lives of young people in Kenya and Zambia — will be screened on both campuses. Georgia Arnold, Senior Vice President of Social Responsibility and Director of Staying Alive, will also be on campus to share insights on MTV’s role in HIV/AIDS around the world.

April 21, 5-7 p.m. MTV’s Shuga: An HIV/AIDS Soap Opera in Kenya 670 Albany St.
Auditorium		 Medical Campus
April 21, 7:30-9 p.m. COM hosted screening and Q & A, SHUGA 871 Commonwealth Ave.
CGS Room 511		 Charles River Campus
April 22, 2:15-3 p.m. Interview with Georgia Arnold BU Pub
225 Bay State Road		 Charles River Campus
April 22, 3-5 p.m. Coffee and Conversation with Dean Elmore Howard Thurman Center
775 Commonwealth Ave.		 Charles River Campus


The Campaign: Shuga

MTV Staying Alive Ignite is an initiative that aims to prevent the spread of HIV by attempting to change the attitude and behaviour of the young people around issues that can often either increase the risk of infection or drive the virus underground where it cannot be treated.

Shuga_Title-Plain_F_00189 formattedBrand new from MTV Staying Alive is a new campaign that challenges young people to ignite a movement to change their sexual behaviour, and turn previously held norms on their heads to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS specifically in Kenya, Trinidad and Tobago, and Ukraine. This campaign, under MTV’s award winning global HIV/AIDS campaign, “Staying Alive”, addresses sexual networks, multiple partners, drug use and living with HIV, all in the context of national cultures and norms.

Kicking off all campaigns are explosive dramas in the three countries, all locally shot and produced, that will take a microscopic lens into the lives of young people. Shuga is one of these dramas to take place in Kenya.

Georgia Arnold

Georgia_Arnold_1_03.10Georgia Arnold is Senior Vice President of Social Responsibility at MTV Networks International 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 and campaigns 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, a partnership between MTV, the Henry J Kaiser Family Foundation, UNAIDS, UNICEF and UNFPA, among others. The campaign has delivered award-winning HIV and AIDS awareness programming, concerts, events and public service messages involving spokespeople such as Nelson Mandela, Bill Clinton, Alicia Keys, Beyoncé and Mary J Blige. Ms Arnold was also the architect and Executive Producer on MTV’s first-ever made-for-television film on HIV and AIDS, Transit, which premiered December 2005.

About Georgia

Building on the success of the Staying Alive campaign, Ms. Arnold was instrumental in establishing the Staying Alive Foundation in 2005, and was appointed Executive Director of The Foundation in October 2007. The Foundation is a global charitable body that provides grassroots grants for supporting HIV and AIDS awareness education and prevention campaigns, and has distributed 130 grants in 48 countries since 2005. Ms. Arnold has also overseen Nickelodeon’s participation in the Say Yes for Children, a far-reaching children’s rights initiative spearheaded by the United Nations Children’s Fund, as well as Nick 2015. In addition, Ms. Arnold orchestrated the company’s involvement as a founding member of the Global Business Coalition on HIV and AIDS, which encourages other businesses to become involved in the fight against HIV and AIDS. She has also been closely involved with MTV Networks International’s involvement in the UN-founded Global Media AIDS Initiative. In addition to her influential work at MTV Networks International, Ms. Arnold has been on the board of The Burma Campaign UK since 2007, a global initiative campaigning for human rights and democracy in Burma. She is also 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.