Apply to join our unique Unstoppable Voters Fellowship for leaders at US voting organizations, based in one-of-a-kind training, mentorship, professional development, and support
Applications open through March 1
Following the success of our first cohort of Unstoppable Voters Fellows, in 2023 we’re supporting another five voting champions who are leading civic engagement efforts in the US with creativity and innovation.
The Unstoppable Voters Fellowship is a special professional development program that runs from May through December 2023. It starts with a unique training retreat, continues with inspiring on-the-ground organizational workshops and exceptional one-on-one mentorship, and connects with a wonderful community of the most innovative voting activists.
Learn more about each program element below and apply today for the Unstoppable Voters Fellowship!
Table of Contents
Fellow Training Retreat
A multi-day Fellow training retreat in May, where all Fellows will come together to be trained by the Center for Artistic Activism. Our trainers have taught thousands of activists around the world how to use the powers of art to make their advocacy have more impact. This practical, professional development retreat will help each Fellow define their organizational goals, objectives, strategies, and audiences; brainstorm ambitious, innovative ways to advance their voting work; prototype their creative ideas; and build a close community of voting champions from across the country.
Past Fellows on the Training Retreat:
“I learned a lot from the workshop and from my peers.”
“I have a lot of ideas and tools to move forward with.”
“The retreat was a beautiful opportunity and I honor being selected as a Fellow and having that experience with the other Fellows.”
Organizational Workshops
Organizational workshops will follow the retreat, in summer 2023. The Center for Artistic Activism will visit each Fellow’s organization on the ground and — in collaboration with the Fellow and their expertise — provide greater artistic activism support and inspiration to Fellow’s colleagues and their communities at large.
Past participants on our workshops:
“The C4AA system works! All the exercises and prompts were helpful and led us to places we wouldn’t have gone.”
“Fascinating! All activists need to hear this.”
“I’m now a dedicated true believer in the importance, the root ideas, C4AA’s particular practice, and the fun of artistic activism!”
“Showed me how to think outside of the box and think twice before deeming something impossible.”
Mentorship
Mentorship throughout the Unstoppable Voters Fellowship period will help Fellows develop, iterate, implement, and evaluate their creative campaigns. We’ll meet monthly as a full cohort for community learning and support, and each Fellow will meet monthly one-on-one with the Unstoppable Voters team for individualized assistance on voting projects. Fellows will also have direct access to the Center for Artistic Activism’s expert directors, who have supported successful campaigns for decades, all over the world.
Past mentees on working with C4AA:
“The training, mentorship and support we received throughout the program was invaluable.”
“I found the guidance from the Unstoppable Voters team invaluable. They were so supportive and understanding. Loved how they validated our work! It was clear they have done this many times before and they were able to provide specific ideas and advice for each project.”
“They gave us the tools and resources we needed to succeed and offered help to take this even further in the future.”
Community
As an Unstoppable Voters Fellow, you’ll join over 900 exceptional voting champions we’ve worked with across the US. Get to know just a few of them: the wonderful voting leaders we worked with during the 2022 midterm election cycle.
Benefits to Fellows and their Organizations*
The Unstoppable Voters Fellowship program will directly support each Fellow’s organizational work. The program comes with a $5000 stipend for each Fellow. Additional benefits include:
Singular training to develop ambitious, imaginative activism
- Fellows will receive extensive training in artistic activism that will greatly advance their professional development.
- Fellows will learn skills to share with their colleagues across current and future work. C4AA will also co-lead organization-specific workshops with Fellows during the program, to further benefit pro-voting campaigns. We can also work with Fellows to plan local or state-wide training to share innovative ideas with Fellows’ communities at large.
Vibrant community of voting champions
- The Unstoppable Voters community is full of people across the country who are passionate about protecting our fundamental freedoms and committed to doing so in new, innovative, impactful ways.
- Fellows will meet colleagues new and old and gain vital perspectives and support from past Fellows and our artistic activism family at large.
Inspiration, joy, fun, and fresh perspectives
- We know how hard this work is and how real the burn-out and fatigue can be. But we’ve also seen how infusing pro-voter work with more creativity can make all the difference.
- The Fellowship will bring new ideas, approaches, and frameworks and help the Fellow and their organization stand out as a leader in pro-voter innovation.
*Don’t work at a “voting organization,” but you’re still supporting voters in the US? That totally qualifies! And feel free to reach out to rachel@c4aa.org if you have any questions about eligibility.
Program Timeline
- January-March: Applications open, through March 1.
- March-April: Application review, finalist interviews, and Fellow selection and announcement.
- May: The fellowship kicks off with a week-long, in-person training retreat led by C4AA’s expert trainers, early in the month in upstate NY (specifics TBC in collaboration with selected Fellows). Fellows then return to their organizations to bring increased creativity and innovation to their work.
- June-August: Organizational trainings, in which the Unstoppable Voters team will visit each Fellow’s organization and work with them to co-lead a workshop that fits the organization’s needs. We will develop the workshop together so as to best support the advancement of the organization’s pro-voter work through increased imagination, innovation, and impact.
- September-November: Continued (remote) mentorship. We’ll continue to meet monthly as a cohort, and also one-on-one with each Fellow, to share successes and challenges and help each others’ common goals.
- December: Fellows, their colleagues, and C4AA will evaluate creative actions and the fellowship program overall.
As one recent participant said, “Set aside time to honor your commitment to this program and ready yourself to channel your amazing creativity & artistry to impact your community for the better!“
Info Session and Q&A
“It opened my perspective about what I’m capable of doing. The training was really comprehensive and explorative, and also collaborative, thought-provoking, challenging. The frameworks that were shared really invite you to shift your thinking around what’s possible vs. what’s comfortable. It challenged me in a really amazing way.”
– Céshia Elmore, 2022 Unstoppable Voters Fellow, on how the program helped her work and gave it more purpose
What is Unstoppable Voters?
Through our expansive Unstoppable Voters program, we support creatively risk-taking, strategic, ambitious organizations, people, and projects that address urgent and specific anti-voter attacks in the United States. We provide training and community building for individuals and groups who are passionate about protecting the freedom to vote and bringing the needed innovation to that fight. We also provide funding and support to help manifest that innovation and bring real, measurable impact. To date, we’ve helped over 80 organizations and over 900 individuals make voting accessible, safe, joyful, powerful, and irresistible.
What does Unstoppable Voters focus on and value?
We focus on working with civic engagement organizations, whether that be the main thrust or a small part of the organization’s work, whether the organization has been working in the space for decades or is doing so for the first time.
We most want to support those who are in US geographies and helping communities that face the highest barriers to voting. We support by meeting people where they are, bringing our expertise with artistic activism while knowing our partners understand what’s best to overcome anti-voter attacks and protect those they serve.
We understand creativity and activism expansively. The people we work with have no “typical” creative or activist experience. No formal training of any kind is required or expected.
We collaborate best with people of any background who, like ourselves, value new approaches, imagination, joy, experimentation, rigorous evaluation, and the high rewards that can come when we take risks, center utopia, learn from iteration, and work and laugh hard together.
Apply for the Unstoppable Voters Fellowship
Submit a brief application through the form below by March 1, 2023, at 11:59pm ET.
For the application, upload a letter of interest as either a PDF of approximately 2 written pages OR a link to a video of approximately 5 minutes.
In the LOI, provide each of the following:
- Background information about you
- An overview of your organization
- Your organization’s current pro-voter goals, including the communities you work with and/or are trying to reach
- The challenges you and/or your organization are facing and how you think the Fellowship could help overcome them
- Five (5) wildly creative ideas for how to achieve your organization’s pro-voter goals
- Information about your particular role in the organization, including how your position is a leadership role and how many people you manage
- Ways you use or have used creativity in your work, at your current organization and/or in prior roles
- What you hope to gain from artistic activism training and mentorship
- Confirmation that you would be free for all program elements, including: an on-site retreat in May, a workshop at your location with your organization in the summer, and two online meetings/month throughout the Fellowship period (specific dates will be determined in collaboration with selected Fellows)
- And anything else you’d like us to know!
You must respond to each point above for your application to be considered complete.
If you have any trouble with the application or questions, reach out to krystal@c4aa.org.
Please note: the Center for Artistic Activism is a 501c3 nonprofit, and the work we support cannot advocate for or against any candidate running for office or otherwise work to influence an election.
The deadline for applications has passed. Thanks to all who applied!
