Global Emotions Project
In 2024 & 2025, the foundation described itself as a 501 (c) (3) anti-hate machine. Knowing that fear is often the precursor to hate, we started asking our own global community what they were afraid of. While this approach would have generated hundreds of responses, it was when we started asking artists visiting the website that the responses grew into the thousands.
We saw the opportunity to develop the asking of a single question into a program. Working through Plutchik’s wheel of emotions, we can build a picture of how creatives everywhere are feeling, and use it to push back against othering.
Outcome
A softening in negative feelings about strangers
It doesn’t matter whether the answer comes from Lagos, Los Angeles, or Manila – our data shows we have a surprisingly large amount in common. The differences across cultures and generations are real, but underneath them, people share the same feelings about what it is to be human.
Where musicto.com works at the level of relationships, one connection at a time, the Global Emotions Project works at the level of information, changing the narrative around othering at a scale no single friendship can reach.
How it works
The project asks one emotional question at a time, each drawn from Plutchik’s wheel of emotions. We started with fear. We are asking about surprise now. Disgust is next.
Artists submitting their music to the musicto.com community are presented with the question after they have submitted their track through the website. We lead with the question and ask which generation they belong to and which continent they live on. Currently about 55% of artists who submit tracks answer the question.
Results to date
Our first question – What are you afraid of, and why? – gathered over 3,500 responses from seven continents and six generations, in more than 20 languages. The full analysis is available as a white paper you can download here. Its clearest finding is also its most important: the same fears surfaced in every continent and every generation.
We are currently asking – When was the last time something truly surprised you, and what did it feel like? That question has drawn 2,287 responses so far, against a target of 5,000, and a preliminary analysis of the first 1,500 is available to download here. Once we reach 5,000 responses, we move on to disgust.
What funding accelerates
The major challenge to the Global Emotions Project is how we get our data out into the world. AI has helped generate high-level analysis, and our Insights from Others Substack can deliver those insights in text format – but our data would resonate and connect at scale if presented in the right media on the appropriate social platforms.
We know our data will connect with millions of people. We even have the creative agency that knows how to reach them. What we lack is the funding to fully realize the opportunity.
Finally, funding of the foundation will ensure we can run this program not just for years, but for decades, and even centuries. Every 6 years we revisit the same question and develop a record of how global creatives are feeling over time. This comparison data gives us a reason to enter the conversation again, and again, acting as a consistent argument against othering.