Artists and creative workers have the opportunity to mobilize their cultural power to create enormous and long-lasting change that will help every New Yorker across the state.

Apply by October 15th!

Creative Actions for NY Prosperity
Online Workshop
October-November 2021

This workshop brings artists and creative workers together with the amazing advocates and volunteers of the Invest in Our New York Campaign, who have been doing incredible work to refocus the New York State budget on economic justice.  The campaign, called IONY for short, is seeking strategic ways to educate friends and neighbors to advocate for a state budget that ensures thriving social services such as schools, healthcare, housing and infrastructure, and supports the arts and culture that make this state so remarkable.

Now, it’s time for artists and creative workers who care about economic justice to take up the mantle and collaborate on the next steps in this unprecedented campaign. 

Apply!

Who should apply?

Artists and creative workers in all mediums who are interested in activism and who dream of living in a New York State that invests in its people. We’re looking for participants who want to learn about using their creative skills for activism, are open to new perspectives and methods and are excited about exchanging expertise and insights with others. 

Note: You do not need to be in New York to participate, but this workshop will focus on the New York State budget.

About the Workshop

In order to refocus the $180 billion New York State budget on the vital services New Yorkers need, it’s critical we invent creative and new ways to engage people in topics many of us find daunting: state government and the budget process. 

The Center for Artistic Activism has been researching and training around the most effective ways that artists and activists create change together. Our methodology will help artists and advocates collaborate on creative strategic campaigns aimed to win.

When, and how much time?

This course will include online sessions and working groups throughout the months of October and November. The course will be structured around three or four 2-hour online meetings, likely on weekday evenings. Working groups will meet on their own time to develop ideas.

No prior experience is necessary. Dates will be finalized after participants are selected, but we do ask participants for a commitment of 2-3 hours per week over approximately 6 weeks.

What will you get from it?

  • New skills in using your creativity to support advocacy that has real impact.
  • An understanding of the power that artists and activists have to mobilize the public, pass progressive policy, and create a state where all can prosper. 
  • An understanding of how creativity has been effectively used in social movements around the world, and principles you can draw on for your own work.
  • The research and theory behind artistic activism, and methods for assessing and evaluating creative action campaigns.
  • Tools and skills to help you integrate creative strategy into your social change practice, and ways to include your colleagues, friends, and comrades.
  • A toolbox of tactics that can be used in the Invest in Our New York campaign and applied to other campaigns and social change projects.

Apply using the form below by 11:59pm EST on October 15th.

Application

This form is currently closed for submissions.

More on the Invest in Our New York Campaign

Invest in Our New York is an ongoing campaign to pursue economic justice by ending tax breaks for the richest New Yorkers and investing revenue for the benefit of all, especially Black and brown communities. Although many of us take pride in our state, the pandemic further exposed its deep and long-standing inequities. By ending tax breaks for corporations and the richest New Yorkers, we make it possible for us to  take care of one another and rebuild our economy. 

Last year, after months of COVID-era campaigning by hundreds of organizations allied in the campaign, New York state lawmakers enacted a budget with $4.3 billion in new, progressive, annual revenue to invest in communities. ​​These funds will pay for a long-sought multi-year commitment to provide court-ordered funding for greater equity for Black and Brown public school students; billions in new investments for health care and rental assistance for low-income New Yorkers; and a first-in-the-nation two-billion-dollar excluded workers fund to provide pandemic relief to workers left out of federal COVID aid programs due to immigration status. This is just the beginning.

After decades of austerity, we’re working at the state and federal levels to win economic, social, and racial justice in tax policies and public budgets. We have made real progress in this fight but our work continues. Looking forward, we will create ways to awaken the public to the impact of our revenue and spending mechanisms, and to wield their power, as constituents, to bring about transformative economic change.