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A collection of musicians and artists have joined hands this week 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 runs from January 6 to 11, has already raised over £26,000 in bids.

Rodrigo, along with rappers MIKE and Dave are offering 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 are offering 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 — has received the highest bids of the auction so far, 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.

Other experiences on offer include getting a portrait drawn by musicians Pink Pantheress and Kelsey Lu, with Lu offering a signed vinyl and a meditation playlist based on the energy she receives from the winner during the portrait session. Fashion label Telfar is also offering an outfit and a bag from an unreleased collection.

Chef Omer Al-Tijani, famous for his cookbook The Sudanese Kitchen, has offered to cook a private meal for two and London’s Jazz Cafe has put four VIP tickets to any of their shows up for auction.

Award-winning British Nigerian filmmaker Akinola Davies Jr has offered a mentoring session for the auction while singer kieyaA is offering to coach an auction winner on songwriting and music production.

A raffle of Nike products is also available with £5 tickets and £2,235 have been collected so far in early donations.

Sudan is in the midst of a civil war between the government and the Rapid Support Forces militia since April 2023. Attacks last week in the country’s Darfur region killed 114 in what the United Nations has called a “war of atrocities”.

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.