About creation in conflict, and what you can do to help
"When the cannons are heard, the muses are silent...”
The war in Ukraine has been on for 10 months now.
Coincidentally, the quote above was coined by one of the Soviet cultural ministry staff, a fact that only makes it more relevant despite ~70 years that have passed since.
This war is without any doubt one of the biggest challenges we have faced at Coverr as a company and as a team, in almost every aspect you can think of.
Throughout this challenging time, even when we had to stop our development, we have never lost sight of why we exist, and we’ve doubled down on that vision as a way of proving that creativity and art are tools of inspiration, comfort and peace.
It’s just so much harder to feel it when the cannons are heard.
The freedom to create. The life you want.
Coverr is built upon the principle of being free.
Beyond the obvious free-to-use license for our stock videos and music, we believe that freedom is a basic human right everyone should have - as long as you don’t hurt anyone else you should have the freedom to live and/or create the life you want for yourself, your family and your community. Maybe because a major part of us (75% of our team members to be exact) are living in conflict areas (or areas with occasional conflicts), we do not take this right for granted.
With this spirit so strongly embedded in the company’s DNA, we try to bring to the world the content that speaks this language - proud, diverse, inclusive, vibrant free stock videos, to inspire and enable visionary content creators across the web and all other media outlets.
Building Coverr in the shadow of war
As a company with 5 core team members living in Ukraine, this war has been more than challenging for Coverr as a company and took an unimaginary toll.
The experience has been surreal, to say the least and devastating at a certain point - we’ve ran weekly all-hands meeting while some team members were sheltering from bombs in a subway station with no electricity and limited water and food supply. We saw our team members running for shelter in the middle of a meeting. Some of our female team members who could leave Ukraine have fled the country, living as refugees in neighbouring countries.
Not to mention the hardest and most devastating point, when some team members have lost family members that were drafted to fight in the front lines 💔.
We can only salute our powerful, brave and dedicated Ukrainian team members for carrying on, for fighting the good fight in peaceful ways, for never giving up, despite this unbearable reality they are forced to live in. We are so grateful and sad, but above all their perseverance gives us hope .
Our commitment to Creation
The cannons (and rockets, and drones and megatons of explosives) are well heard and felt across the globe. However loud they are or will become, we are here to let the muses sing, to amplify their voice as loud as possible. We will continue to empower creators to shine their endless talent and passion, to inspire others to set themselves free in turn.
To us the muses are the reason for living, for Coverr to exist. Without beauty and creation, life is just a technical state of being.
We ask you to never forget it, and help in any way you can, to raise awareness, to call out the absurdity of the situation.
How can you help?
If you’re a content creator - speak up. You are a muse to your people, an influencer, an opinion maker and changer. You can make this conflict end earlier rather than later, connecting between the two sides of the conflict, between the people who live this hell on a daily basis and the rest of the world who easily forgets and carries on scrolling down endless feeds on Instagram, TikTok and others. You can shine there, like a thorn on the rose, give them that tiny sting, make them remember, inspire change.
If you’re not a content creator, you can easily support Ukraine.
Here are a few immediate ways:
A word for our Russian users
We know you probably condemn the situation just as much as we do, and it’s hard to express these opinions from within the country. So first and foremost - stay safe, but also please spread this message of peace and freedom, carefully and diligently.
If you live outside of Russia - help us amplify this message, create peaceful and anti-war content, write posts, support Ukrainian refugees, do whatever you can to prove that this is a state-made problem, not a human-made one.
May we all see peace in Ukraine soon, as soon as possible.
Until then, we encourage you to find muses and support them, they need you.
In loving memory of all the brave people who’ve lost their lives or paid a price for freedom. May we all live free to celebrate your memory.
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