The terrain of artistic activism and activist art is vast, and there is no one coordinate of success. In order to map some of this landscape we’ve created the following axes where one might situate particular practices and thereby better determine relative success. A work-in-progress. You can download the PDF here. Risë Wilson, George Perlov, …
Author Archives: The Center for Artistic Activism
Report on interviews with trainers & field-defining organizations
Download: Report on Interviews with Trainers Field-Defining Organizations March 2017 Background Following the development of a literature review last year on measuring the impact of artistic/creative activism, The Center for Artistic Activism (C4AA), conducted interviews with artistic activism trainers and other “field-defining” organizations to expand the learning for this part of the Æfficacy project. This …
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ÆFFICACY Project
Measuring the Impact of Artistic Activism AKA “The Æffect Project” In 2015 the C4AA teamed up with George Perlov, former VP of Research at the Ad Council, and currently with George Perlov Consulting, to study the æffect of artistic activism. What we’re looking for are answers to the question “Does Artistic Activism Work?” and what …
ÆFFECT ADVISORY BOARD
Artistic Activism Efficacy Advisory Board Kenneth Bailey — Founder, Design Studio for Social Intervention Luis Camnitzer — Independent artist James Chung — Founder, Reach Advisers Brett Davidson — Program Director, Open Society Foundations Kathy Eldon — Founder, Creative Visions Deborah Fisher — Executive Director, A Blade of Grass Jessica George — Executive Director, Revolutions …
LITERATURE REVIEW
Center for Artistic Activism Measuring the Impact of Artistic Activism Literature Review Report DRAFT March 25, 2016 Background Social change is hard. Over the years, social issue campaigners and activists have employed a variety of marketing and communications efforts to attract public interest to their issues and causes to varying degrees of success. More …
Join Actipedia
Actipedia is an open-access, user-generated database of creative activism. It’s a place to read about, comment upon, and share experiences and examples of how activists and artists are using creative tactics and strategies to challenge power and offer visions of a better society. Actipedia draws case studies from everywhere: original submissions, reprinted news articles, snippets …
How to Win #15: Make the News
We’ve all been there: you’ve done a brilliant, funny, creative action but no one except some passersby and a handful of your Facebook friends have any idea it happened. Or maybe worse yet, you get some press coverage but the journalist completely missed the point. Well, we’re here to help. We’re bringing in the press …
C4AA’s Steve Lambert talks Artistic Activism on Al Jazeera
Steve Lambert was a panelist in-studio on Al Jazeera’s The Stream on Monday and Tuesday’s show. It aired internationally and the topic was “Art and Activism.” He was a guest with Molly Crabapple, Annya San, and Rajkamal Kahlon. You can watch archived versions of the shows below or on the Al Jazeera site. Monday: Art …
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Rebecca Bray joins the C4AA
We’re growing! We’re excited to announce our new manager, Rebecca Bray. Rebecca joins us from the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History where she has been the Chief of Experience Design. But Rebecca isn’t new to artistic activism. Back in 2002 she was one of the producers of “The Meatrix” an online animation about factory farming …
Felicia Young
My theory is one of creative collaboration and joyous affirmation — activating change through the inspirational power of the arts and affecting the individual on a deep emotional level, which can be imperceptible, as well as through more visible and public, celebratory and collective community action. People may look to statistics and metrics, such as numbers engaged and gardens saved, which we …
Amin Husain
“Art actions relevant for today come from a place of vulnerability and radical love, from fighting back. They push back and it creates a little space, and that little space could be something more meaningful, if only for a second. And then you do it again. And it gives you that breath of fresh air.” …
No Longer Interested
In 2014, Center Co-Director Steve Lambert was asked to contribute to A Blade of Grass’ ‘Growing Dialogue‘, a series of practitioner-led articles and opinion pieces circling around questions of the affect and effect of art and social practice. Steve’s contribution was No Longer Interested, which you can read below… No Longer Interested I’ve worked to strike …
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY FOR ‘TRUTH IS CONCRETE’
In 2014, Stephen Duncombe and Steve Lambert were invited to write an introductory essay for “Truth is Concrete: A Handbook for Artistic Strategies in Real Politics“. It includes essays from, among many others: Andy Bichlbaum, Reverend Billy, Andrew Boyd, Tania Bruguera, Andrea Fraser, Guillermo Gómez-Peña, Hans Haacke, John Jordan, Kalle Lasn, Leónidas Martín, Antanas Mockus, …
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On Utopia
Keri Smith is a long-time friend of the Center, and even sits on our board! For her 2014 book, The Imaginary World Of…, Center Co-Director Steve Lambert was asked to write a few words on Utopia, so he did… (Also – check out her latest book, “The Wander Society“) On Utopia The problem with reality …
‘No One Wants To Watch A Drum Circle’ (and Something for the Letters Section of The Sun Magazine)
Back in 2011, Center Co-Director Steve Lambert wrote a short piece called “No One Wants to Watch a Drum Circle” for the Beautiful Trouble book (which you can read here). That piece was selected to be included in The Sun Magazine in 2014. After it was published, someone who didn’t like his criticism of drum …
And What Do I Do Now?
Center Co-Director Steve Lambert presented this talk at the Responsible Data Forum in January. We think it’s got a lot to say about how to turn data towards social goals so we thought we’d share it. USING DATA VISUALIZATION FOR SOCIAL CHANGE Those who visualize data can be reluctant to sully themselves in the messy world …
School for Creative Activism in Berlin – THE MOVIE!
In October 2015, in collaboration with Transgender Europe (TGEU) and funded by Open Society Foundations, we travelled to Berlin to carry out a School for Creative Activism Workshop with trans-activists and artists from across Europe. From 8-11 October, we worked with 17 participants from 13 European countries, developing a creative activism campaign to mark some …
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How do you measure the impact of socially engaged art?
In our new Æfficacy project we’ve been working with our colleague George Perlov, thanks to funding from The Open Society Foundations and The Compton Foundation to begin to answer that question. As a first step, we’re conducting a literature review on the topic and George will be spotlighting a few of the interesting things we’ve found so far. Today …
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The Axes of Art and Activism
What happens when 4 of the greatest minds in Æfficacy get together and brainstorm around creative activism? The Axes of Arts and Activism, that’s what! This is Artistic Activism Technology (AAT) so advanced even we aren’t sure what it means yet. But to be clear – when it is ready we’ll know how to use it.
C4AA IN BERLIN WITH TRANGENDER EUROPE
In October 2015, in collaboration with Transgender Europe (TGEU) and funded by Open Society Foundations, we traveled to Berlin to carry out a School for Creative Activism Workshop with trans-activists and artists from across Europe. From 8-11 October, we worked with 17 participants from 13 European countries, developing a creative activism campaign to mark some …
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