A collection of musicians and artists joined hands for a fundraising auction to benefit the people of Sudan. With stars like SZA, The Weeknd and Olivia Rodrigo offering concert tickets, meet-ups and merchandise, the Freedom for Sudan auction, which ran from January 6 to 11, raised over £26,000 in bids.

Rodrigo, along with rappers MIKE and Dave offered signed vinyls of their albums, with Rodrigo’s signed copy of Guts going for almost £800 at time of writing. The Weeknd and rapper Central Cee offered premium tickets to their shows, with the rapper offering to meet the winner at the venue with a plus one.

Singer SZA, whose offer for a one-on-one video call – or a meet-up if the winner is based in Los Angeles – received the highest bids of the auction, secured a pledge of £16,844 for the cause. The call, she explained in an Instagram comment, can include “anything” like singing, meditation, yoga, making mood boards and talking about current events.

Sudan is in the midst of a civil war between the government and the Rapid Support Forces militia since April 2023. While there are no definitive figures for how many people have been killed in in the conflict, the figure is said to be in the tens of thousands, with more than 11 million people displaced.