IMAGINE WINNING IN 2023

We can’t think of a better way to start 2023 than to envision winning BIG. One of the key exercises in our workshops is something we call “Imagine Winning.” We ask participants to imagine what would happen if they had limitless funding, countless volunteers, popular and political support, and everything that went their way. We …

Video: Unstoppable Voters Take on the Midterms Info and Q&A Session

Watch our info session about Unstoppable Voters Take on the Midterms, and apply by July 7 Learn all about Unstoppable Voters Take on the Midterms In our Info and Q&A session, we got into the details about the Unstoppable Voters Fellowship and Action Accelerator, the funding, training, mentorship, and community involved, and how to apply …

Video + Takeaways – How to Know If It’s Working

Asking if you can have impact using digital advocacy is like asking if you can have impact using the telephone. Digital advocacy is a tool – it’s not a strategy in itself. Liba Beyer We have big dreams and ideas, and we go after them. We want to know that what we’re doing is making …

Video + Takeaways – How to Strengthen the Vision of Your Advocacy

Activism, amongst other things, involves being willing to bring ideas to people on an unsolicited basis when they’re not necessarily asking for it? So, what happens when you bring the future to them? Stuart Candy At the latest edition of Revolutionizing Activism: The Power of Utopia, Stuart Candy (Berggruen Fellow at the University of Southern …

Video + Takeaways – 3 Tips for Humorous Creative Activism

At the latest edition of Revolutionizing Activism: Using Humor When Things Are Dire, Caty Borum Chattoo (Center for Media and Social Impact/ Yes, And… Laughter Lab) kicked off our discussion by underscoring the significance of humor across cultures and histories. Borum Chatoo notes: we find comedy in the most oppressive conditions over and over again, precisely …

Chase the Erase

With the soul of voting in Pennsylvania on the line, Chase the Erase catalyzed the fight for fair districts, creating a raucous, dual-city street theater action across Pennsylvania in October 2021. In Chase the Erase, a Center for Artistic Activism Unstoppable Voters project, colorful characters like “Gerry Mander” and “Phil E. Buster” battled to see …

Video – A big win for voting!

When people start voting young, they’re more likely to stay engaged throughout their lives. So we had a huge voting win last week when the Philadelphia School Board passed a landmark resolution to promote civic engagement to its thousands of students and help them register to vote. The Student Voter Education and Registration Resolution passed …

Video + Takeaways – I Made This For You: Strategic Generosity and Artistic Activism

Last Friday, at Revolutionizing Activism, Ibrahima Niang, the West Africa Advocacy Manager at the Open Society Initiative for West Africa kicked off our discussion with an important question – how can we as advocates use generosity to influence people? If we had any doubts about the power of strategic generosity, our incredible panelists showed us the …

Steve Lambert’s frank 2020 talk

This 10 minute talk from frank2020 tells about one of our favorite projects at the Center for Artistic Activism and how we worked with the Sex Worker Education and Advocacy Taskforce to win campaigns in South Africa. In February the Center for Artistic Activism headed to the 2020 frank Gathering hosted by the Center for …

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 …

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 …

ARTISTIC ACTIVISM LUNCHEON, DISCUSSING EFFICACY

The following video is from a research luncheon hosted by Artistic Activism at NYU (AA@NYU). Below this video you will find selected highlights with time markers so you may navigate each discussion to what might be most relevant to you and your practice. These working research group meetings are a time and place where academics, …

ASKING PARTICIPANTS TO DREAM THE IMPOSSIBLE

At the School for Creative Activism we often ask our participants to put colorful marker to paper and to dream the impossible. What would a “win” look like, without any barriers? This often leaves our participants slightly flummoxed by the freedom of possibility, but then opens them up to new ideas and amazing potential. Watch …

INTERVIEWS WITH MACEDONIA PARTICIPANTS IN THE SCHOOL FOR CREATIVE ACTIVISM

In 2013 the Center for Artistic Activism went to Skopje in the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia to train LGBTI activists and advocates. We did a 5 day workshop which included history, communications theory, cognitive theory, and cultural theory, as well as practice in developing creative actions, strategies, and goals. We also did an action …

Creative Catalyst Keynote III: Stephen Duncombe and Steve Lambert

CREATIVE CATALYST SYMPOSIUM ON ART & SOCIAL INNOVATION TORONTO, JUNE 11-12, 2015 Creative Catalyst brings together Canadian artists, designers, researchers, industry, and community members in discussion on how arts and culture catalyzes social innovation. In the face of “wicked” social problems, radical innovation is required to change perspective and shift culture. Artists and creatives are …