RAD MUSIC INTERNATIONAL was founded on 20th June 2018 on the island of Lesvos (Greece) by Rouddy Kimpioka, a cultural mediator, social entrepreneur, humanitarian worker, and an asylum seeker himself. RAD emerged completely grassroots in Moria Camp, creating amidst the difficulty and trauma people were facing, and crafting environments for social support, creative expression, and connection among people at the time when it was needed the most. Music, Dance, and Educational activities became the means to reclaim dignity and joy, to cultivate confidence beyond the stigma many people were facing, and build new communities.
Since 2018, RAD Music International has grown to become a collective of refugees and locals that continues to support the community needs in solidarity (for example, with food and clothes) and, more importantly, carries on bringing together refugees, locals, and international volunteers in creative processes through the universal languages of Music and Dance. As an established community-based organization, RAD is still fully refugee-led, just as it was since its founding, and it is now based in a centrally located building in Mytilene. It collaborates with numerous organizations on the island and has also created an international community that supports it.
What is unique about RAD compared to other organizations active in Lesvos is that it has emerged from Moria Camp, it has been designed, nourished, and developed by refugees, and it has managed to sustain itself and grow through the community that made it possible.
More specifically, it emerged as a community initiative on 20th June 2018 and it got legally established as an association cultural club on 07/12/2021.
