L-FRESH The LION Named As Australia's YouTube 'Creators For Change' Program Fellow

Lauded Australian musician L-FRESH The LION has been named as Australia's sole representative among 27 creators from all over the world named as the inaugural fellows for YouTube's nascent Creators For Change program.

Announced back in September and launched overnight, Creators For Change is an initiative designed to lift up the world's forward-thinking creators to "help counter xenophobia, extremism and hate with stories promoting positive change".

The fellows join a previously announced group of 11 program ambassadors — including Aussie YouTube star Natalie Tran and US author John Green — who have already been put to work to create a range of unique "social impact projects" such as educational web series and workshops for secondary and tertiary students.

Along with L-FRESH, the 2017 fellowship class includes French creators Swann Perisse and Arthur Pires; Jette Lubbehusen and Firas Alshater of Germany; Nikharika Nm, Them Boxer Shorts and Sandeep Jha from India; Indonesia's Raja Gopalz, Gita Devi and Jovi Hunter; Omani creative Ashwaq Al Maskery; Turkey's Ozgur Turhan & Deniz Bagdas, and Ilker Gumusoluk; Maha Abdelghaffar of the UAE; Yemen's Ezaldeen Aref; and big groups from both the UK (Nadir Nahdi, Myles Dyer, Leena Normington, Taha Khan, Sam Saffold-Geri and Rosianna Rojas) and US (Subhi Taha, Amani Al-Khatahtbeh, Taylor Behnke, Tasneem Afridi and Evelyn Ngugi).

Find out more about the fellows, and see the full list of ambassadors, here.

Each of the fellows will receive equipment and production grants to assist their efforts in developing new projects in line with the program's goals of challenging hate and extremism through spreading positive messages.

They'll also be given production support through 'YouTube Spaces' in London, New York and Mumbai, which this year will host three-day social-impact camps built just for the fellowship class to further build their skills and and networks.

To further the goals of the program, YouTube's owner, Google, has contributed $US2 million towards non-profit organisations who focus on inclusiveness and cross-cultural understanding, such as the Active Change Foundation, Habibie Center, Maslaha, Skateistan, Southern Poverty Law Center, TAFNIT and Witness.

Find out more about the Creators For Change program at YouTube.