For Arts Organizations and Artists

Discovering paths to better worlds demands wild ideas and creative risk taking – mixed with clever strategies and rigorous planning. But the problem is: this is too rare a combination.

At the Center for Artistic Activism we help artists use their creativity and culture to effect power.

Creativity, culture, and the arts are powerful forces, but time is running out. Artists, activists, and organizations must deploy creativity with precision, skill, and expertise. We don’t just need artistic activism. We need artistic activism that works.

So, we work alongside artists, activists, organizations, and everyone in between.

We offer and tools and training in all our methods, in-depth mentoring and strategic planning, and assessment practices to help dramatically increase the success of artists in moving issues forward.

1. FOR ARTS ORGANIZATIONS

Helping arts organizations serve their artist communities by providing assessment, trainings, workshops and mentoring to advance skills and resources around using arts effectively for advocacy. Some of the programs we’ve done include:

• A Blade of Grass: artist assessment and mentoring
• Queens Museum: NEA-supported artist workshops
• Calgary Arts Development: assessment and mentoring
• Recess Arts: program assessment and mentoring
• Mass MoCA: online workshops for artists to establish advocacy goals
• Eyebeam: workshops for social practice fellows on goals and objectives
• Metropolitan Museum of Art: workshops for curators interested in assessment and social practice
• Public Assistants and Eureka!: establishing artist fellowships through the Divine Projects
• Golden Paints: training their creative community on civic engagement and advocacy

2. FOR ARTISTS

Supporting artists and other creatives who are creating work to advance social justice in their communities through programs like:

• Artists for the American Way, to support artists in creating artwork to increase voting freedom in 2024, in partnership with
• The Divine Project: Fellowships ****for LGBTQIA+ NYC artists of color working on mutual aid and community-based projects, with support from the Ford Foundation.
• Workshops through the U.S. State Department for global artists and curators
• Printer Residency for printers to support election and public health advocacy
• Campaign development with **#ArtistsWhoVote** on Arizona elections
• Training artists to be artistic activism trainers to combat corruption in West Africa and the Western Balkans through Regional Creative Hubs with the Open Society Foundations

3. FOR ADVOCACY ORGANIZATIONS WORKING WITH ARTISTS

Working with Advocacy Organizations to help them collaborate with their artist and cultural communities and helping to create strategic plans through research and strategic consulting, such as:

• Helping establish the **More Than My Art** workshop series and program with Cleveland Votes to activate and involve the Cleveland creative community in civic engagement
• Training artists in South Africa to work closely with Greenpeace on alternative energy economic solutions
• Working with People for the American Way to mobilize artists
• Working closely with the Open Society Foundations Arts and Culture program to integrate creative communities in their human rights work globally
• Conducting research to inform A Blade of Grass’s Advising new artist-led organizational models and strategic plans

4. FOR MUSEUMS AND EXHIBIT SPACES

Collaborating with museums and exhibition spaces to showcase creative activism:

• The Utopia Project and exhibition at the Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum
• A public health exhibition on the opioid crisis at SPACES, Cleveland
• Free the Vaccine exhibit on vaccine equity featuring global artists

Are you looking to connect arts and advocacy? Get in touch!