# data[].attributes.body
The BLOCK BRIDGE BUILD framework is one framework that the Horizons Project promotes to help change-makers situate their work within the larger pro-democracy movement and tackle a wide-range of issues while working towards a shared horizon with others. The three focuses are:

BLOCK anti-democratic practices

BRIDGE across many differences

BUILD strong and resilient democracies that are ethical and inclusive

Watch an introductory video on the Block Bridge Build framework: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hmt92brtjnI

# data[].attributes.body
What types of differences need to be bridged?

Differences between justice-seeking and peacebuilding groups focused on different issues, since many are working in silos

Differences between those on the left and those on the center and center-right

Differences in ethnicity, race, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, age/generation etc.

Differences in educational backgrounds

Difference between the cultures and needs of urban and rural communities

Differences between Western and Indigenous worldviews and practices

# data[].attributes.body
What types of harms need to be blocked?

Harms to safety of individuals and communities

Harms to environment

Harms to cherished principles like rule of law

Harms to institutions (educational, business, medical, environmental, legal, etc.)

# data[].attributes.body
What is required to build the future we want?

Imagining a future we want for ourselves and our children

Dealing with tensions inherent in multi-sectoral work

Breaking down systems and silos that are no longer working, to rebuild more inclusive resilient systems

# data[].attributes.body
Blocking focuses on courageous energetic actions such as:

Actions of solidarity with those who are being harmed

Creating disruption to bring attention to injustices

Organizing and mobilizing affected communities

Protecting civil rights (from access to public services, due process, right to vote, protection against deportation)

# data[].attributes.body
How arts and culture can help:

Authoritarians create division through spreading "us" vs. "them" narratives. Protest music, spoken word, and theater create shared emotional experiences that can deepen solidarity and collective action.

From The Power of Cultural Strategies | Scot Nakagawa

# data[].attributes.body
How arts and culture can help:

Authoritarians rely on symbolism to communicate authority. Satire, public murals, and viral digital content can mock authoritarian leaders, and destabilize their legitimacy.

Authoritarians shrink expression in public spaces. Art that reclaims physical and digital space with dissenting visuals, disrupts authoritarian dominance over media and public consciousness.

Authoritarians rewrite history to justify their rule and erase resistance. Grassroots media, alternative news outlets and social media projects bypass state propaganda and challenge state-controlled narratives.

From The Power of Cultural Strategies | Scot Nakagawa

# data[].attributes.body
How art and culture can help:

Authoritarians use spectacle and propaganda to create a culture of fear and obedience. Writing, performing, and creating, empower individuals to see themselves as agents of change rather than passive subjects.

Authoritarians shrink public imagination. Art can make new futures feel possible. Time-based installations, performance pieces, and durational works, in particular, force audiences to engage deeply with complex issues and cultivate sustained resistance.

From The Power of Cultural Strategies | Scot Nakagawa

# data[].attributes.body
Faith organizations, unions, businesses, professional associations, cultural groups, and veterans’ associations are engaging in loving acts of defiance. Their strategies include declarations, legal disruptions, boycotts, public demonstrations, symbolic closures, refusal to conduct work that goes against democratic values, and refusal to implement policies without due process.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Across the country, groups are using creative forms of collective action and nonviolent defiance to challenge abuses of power and attacks on fundamental freedoms. Key pillars, including faith organizations, unions, businesses, professional associations, cultural groups, and veterans' associations are showing community care and engaging in loving acts of defiance. Here are some of their stories.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Inspirational Examples of Principled Collective Action and Loving Defiance

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Across the country, groups are using creative forms of collective action and nonviolent defiance to challenge abuses of power and attacks on fundamental freedoms. Key pillars, including faith organizations, unions, [...]

# data[].attributes.body
An animated short film that dares to dream of a future in which 2020 is a historic turning point, where the lessons of the Covid-19 pandemic and global uprisings against racism drove people to build back a better society in which no one is sacrificed and everyone is essential.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
A Message from the Future II: The Years of Repair

# data[].attributes.body
Marty Pottenger used poetry and theater in projects with the local municipal government to address police violence and strengthen community. The poems fostered curiosity and shifted relationships between the community and the local police force.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Art at work | Marty Pottenger | TEDxDirigo

# data[].attributes.body
The Horizons Project is a team of organizers, conveners, facilitators, and sense-makers, who are weaving together national efforts for a just inclusive peaceful democracy. They provide narrative tools, and spaces for knowledge sharing and relationship building, to coordinate the movement against authoritarian creep.

#blockbridgebuild

# data[].attributes.attachment_caption
Clowns, Reverse Boycotts, and Involuntary Walkathons

# data[].attributes.body
Humorous Performance Used to Block Political Violence

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Clowns, Reverse Boycotts, and Involuntary Walkathons: How Communities are Making Political Violence Backfire

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
*This article was written by Chief Organizer Maria J. Stephan and was first published on Just Security. The new dystopian Hollywood film, Civil War, has raised the specter of devastating violent conflict […]

# data[].attributes.body
Belarus Free Theatre uses performance to challenge the censorship of artistic freedom.

# data[].attributes.body
Jon Stewart uses humor to disrupt dominant narratives.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Jon Stewart on Trump’s Heel Turn on Zelenskyy In Favor of Putin’s New World Order | The Daily Show

# data[].attributes.body
The In Your Shoes™ methodology, employs techniques rooted in theatrical performance to promote deep listening and empathy. It takes 'Story Circles' one step further. Participants from diverse backgrounds engage in listening and performing one another's words to build trust through a mutually respectful creative exchange.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
Laboratory For Global Performance & Politics

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
In Your Shoes™ · Laboratory For Global Performance & Politics

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
About In The Media History and Reach Our Process The IYS™ Research and Practice Center Bring IYS™ to Your Community! … MORE

# data[].attributes.body
Lessons from Abroad on Protecting a Robust Civil Society

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How to organize under authoritarian creep in a closing civil society

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
With civil society under attack from a dehumanizing far-right government, it bears remembering: In crisis there is also opportunity.

# data[].attributes.body
Alternate ROOTS is an organization based in the Southern USA whose mission is to support the creation and presentation of original art, in all its forms, which is rooted in a particular community of place, tradition or spirit. ROOTS is committed to social and economic justice, protection of the natural world and the elimination of oppression everywhere.

#south

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
We Are Alternate ROOTS We are a group of artists and cultural organizers in the US South, working together to create a better world. As a member-driven national network, we support artists and cultural organizers by promoting the important work they do and by advocating for social and economic justice. Our mission goes beyond the arts; we aim to build a strong community where the voices of artists and cultural organizers are heard and valued as essential catalysts for change. Learn More About Alternate ROOTS Alternate ROOTS supports the creation and presentation of original art rooted in community, place, tradition, or spirit. We advocate for social and economic justice and work to end all forms of oppression everywhere. We connect artists who are dedicated to creating work that involves and benefits their communities, and those whose cultural work aims for social justice. Learn More Become A ROOTS Member Alternate ROOTS is member-focused. As artists and cultural organizers based in the US South, we are creating a better world together. We strongly encourage all new members to attend an orientation and join us at a ROOTS event found under GATHERINGS. Joining ROOTS is the first step into a vibrant community that creates impactful art and supports each other along the way. Become a Member Programs & Resources Alternate ROOTS’ programs provide financial and other resources for the creation and presentation of original art rooted in community, place, tradition, or spirit. Our current grant programs include Partners in Action and Artistic Assistance (Project Development and Professional Development). Other ROOTS programs focus on coalition-building and member-led initiatives that support social and economic justice: ROOTS Week, ROOTS Weekends, ROOTS Rhizomes, Intercultural Leadership Institute, YOOTS (Youth at ROOTS), Indigenous Working Circle, and Heal/Teal team. Learn More Cultural Organizing Alternate ROOTS uses cultural organizing to live out our mission of eliminating all forms of oppression. As a member-driven national resource for artists and cultural workers, we champion social and economic justice by placing art and culture at the center of all of our organizing strategies. Through cultural organizing, Alternate ROOTS maintains relationships with members and partner organizations across the South by hosting many different kinds of gatherings. Alternate ROOTS participates in coalition-building in strategic formation with the Intercultural Leadership Institute (ILI), Southern Movement Assembly (SMA), and Southern Power Fund (SPF). Member-led Work Groups like UpROOTing Ableism, Gender Equity, Indigenous Working Circle, and Heal/Teal and member-hosted Rhizomes are also part of ROOTS’ cultural organizing efforts. We promote opportunities for organizing through our Justice Advocacy Fellowship. Giving Program Your gift helps Alternate ROOTS artists impact the culture and fabric of our country and beyond as they affect positive change in the communities in which they serve. Your dollars go toward direct support through grants, partnerships, travel stipends, and technical assistance. ROOTS advocates for Southern artists, communities, and those least represented in the national arts and social justice ecosystem. Give Now

# data[].attributes.body
Beautiful Trouble is an international network of artists, activists and trainers helping grassroots movements become more creative and effective. Their resources include a book, a strategy card deck, a creative campaign incubator and an online toolbox with stories, strategies and methods for successful movements.

#block

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Dive into the Beautiful Trouble toolbox, an interconnected web of ideas and creative best practices that puts the power of organizing for social change in your hands. Start anywhere and explore...

# data[].attributes.attachment_caption
Center for International Theater Development

# data[].attributes.body
The Center for International Theater Development fosters long-term, meaningful connections between inspired theatre-makers and unique thinkers by moving groundbreaking artists, bold projects, and powerful ideas around the globe. Their four online publications seek to illuminate and strengthen the international theatre conversation between US professionals and young, emerging artists and companies in Russia, Eastern, and Central Europe. And they facilitate several artist-centered expeditions every year to foster that exchange.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Center for international theatre development

# data[].attributes.attachment_caption
Laboratory For Global Performance & Politics

# data[].attributes.body
The Lab at Georgetown University has emerged as a global leader, widely recognized as unique for its pioneering interdisciplinary approaches integrating the performing arts and international politics.

#Midatlantic #WashingtonDC

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
Laboratory For Global Performance & Politics

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
History · Laboratory For Global Performance & Politics

# data[].attributes.body
StoryCenter is an innovative participatory media organization committed to the power of personal narratives for equity, wellness and social action. Our workshops foster reflection, connection, creativity, agency and joy. We value knowledge generated through lived experience.

#Westcoast #California

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
You may know us as The Center for Digital Storytelling. In 2015, we became StoryCenter, in order to embrace the heart of our work - story. Our methods of group process and story creation serve as a reflective practice, a professional development tool, a pedagogical strategy, and as a vehicle for education, community mobilization, and advocacy.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
We create spaces for transforming lives and communities, through the acts of listening to and sharing stories. Our public program enables people to register individually for storytelling workshops. Our custom program collaborates with organizations around the world, on workshops in story facilitatio

# data[].attributes.body
For Freedoms deepens civic engagement through the arts. We provide artists, institutions, and communities a decentralized space for connection, and the tools to support their creative capacities and resilience as cultural producers. Together, our network is building more robust civic dialogue, and inspiring a sense of belonging and responsibility for one another.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
For Freedoms is an artist collective turned arts organization focused on modeling and increasing creative civic engagement, discourse and direct action.

# data[].attributes.body
Geta Brătescu’s work positions the artist as a creator of freedom even in oppressive times.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Geta Brătescu's current exhibition, , at ' Hauser & Wirth, is the first solo presentation in New York devoted to the Romanian artist. The show was conceived in collaboration with the Bucharest curator and art historian, Magdu Radu. Brătescu s oeuvre is vast and includes drawing, collage, engravings, textile, photography, experimental film, video, and performances. The title of the exhibition, according to the gallery, "serves as a point of departure. " The Greek fabulist is known for the stories commonly referred to as "Aesop's Fables," in which animals and inanimate objects, often with human features, speak and solve problems. The concept of animals or inanimate objects speaking or solving problems suggests a kind of intervention on the part of the characters in the fables, perhaps on behalf of humans who are not otherwise able to solve them.

Radu writes in the gallery ' s press release that Brătescu envisions Aesop as a metaphor for the artist - in particular, the artist under totalitarianism. Right after the fall of the Communist regime in Romania, Brătescu declared Aesop a symbol of " everything that stood against totalitarianism." But Aesop, like Medea, is a sign of encompassing so many overlapping meanings that his literary embodiment is transcended and endlessly modulated in the artist ' s practice. Aesop is, above all, an agent of freedom, the entity responsible for sparking the creative process in the studio.

Indeed, space and, in particular, the space of the artist ' s studio, becomes incredibly pertinent in this regard: under a totalitarian regime, one must be cautious of what one says or does in public. An artist may in fact find him- or herself sequestered inside the space of their home or studio for fear of being seen out of doors. Here we can look to fellow Romanian artists such as Ion Grigorescu (with whom Brătescu collaborated) who filmed himself performing intimate experiments and actions in his home with the use of his body. Unsafe to perform outside the safety of his home, Grigorescu ' s actions suggest that such seemingly quotidian acts as washing one ' s body or attempting to sleep become for the artist acts of resistance, of not giving in to the system by taking care of one ' s own body, and continuing to make art and perform acts of resistance, even if alone and in secret. As the art critic and cultural theorist Jan Verwoert writes: " The reality, which many his pieces articulate and grapple with, is politics is the condition under which they are produced: a situation in isolation generated by the politics of the Ceausescu regime. "

The Brătescu show takes up the entire second floor of the 22nd street gallery. Another compelling aspect of seeing so much of the artist ' s work in one space is how apparent it becomes that she continues to challenge herself to make different work. For instance, enclosed in a vitrine is a notebook of drawings and collages with the word " Poem " on the cover. This word, written in pink, reminds the viewer of the artist's dedication to the written word as well as to visual art. Indeed, Brătescu studied English literature and regularly utilized text, language, and references to literature in her work. This is made more evident by the inclusion of three object books in the show: " Cartea fragmentelor (The Book of Fragments), (2002), " Memory VI " (1990), and " Anti-Faustus, " (1993).

The collection on view is so disparate it is simply not possible to reduce or sum up the work. And this is most probably not coincidental: Brătescu, unlike her fellow artists, did not create paintings, for instance, of occurrences in Romania. As Catherine de Zegher writes in her introduction for Brătescu ' s show Geta Brătescu: An Atelier of One (at the Museum of Fine Arts Ghent through January 14, 2018): " Instead of responding with traditional models and reaffirming obsolete conventions of pictorial representation, she formulated an independent voice and addressed the in-between-space of life and art, the public and the private, the feminine and the corporeal, the abstract and the real, the subject and the object. "

This in-between-space might be also described as the day-to-day experience of living under authoritarian rule - an experience that, one might imagine, cannot be reduced to one succinct statement nor one precise painting. Indeed, with the idea that Brătescu i s addressing the " in-between-space, " her wildly diverse oeuvre makes more sense. It is as if by making so many kinds of works - varied both in content and material - the artist was attempting to construct a language made of fragments, an embodied language that might speak to the effects of confinement.

Brătescu was born in 1926; she lived through the repressive Ceausescu regime. His secret police, the Securitate, conducted mass surveillance, wielded absolute control of the media and the press, and committed human rights violations against its own people. Like Grigorescu, Brătescu ' s work can also be read as the work of an artist confined inside space. Her three films included in the exhibition parallel Grigorescu ' s similarly filmed home actions. Like his, her films also focus on the body. And yet there is an important distinction: Brătescu ' s work concentrates more on the body itself in space, as opposed to Grigorescu's focus on what that body is doing.

In her film " Atelierul (The Studio) " (1978), an 8mm, silent, black and white film (filmed by Ion Grigorescu), Brătescu draws lines along the walls and the floor and appears to measure her body against these confinements. Without the use of words or text and using only her own body and the movement of her hands to draw the black lines along the walls and floors, Brătescu is able to convey something. What is being filmed is the artist, her body, moving within this space; what becomes evident as a result is the pressure of the confinement. Later in the film she unrolls seven slabs of stones from a rope, dropping them to the floor. After placing them in a circle, Brătescu steps carefully, one foot at a time, along what is now a kind of foot bridge. Again, she must measure her body against the allotted space. Brătescu has made what on first glance may appear to be a simple, minimalistic film but is in actuality a work of direct protest against her government.

Similarly, Brătescu ' s film, " Les Mains. Pentru ochi, m ã na trupului meu î mi reconstituie portretul (The Hands. For the eye, the hand of my body reconstitutes my portrait), " (1977), also black and white 8mm and also filmed by Grigorescu, is a film that focuses on the artist ' s hands. Her hands are shown smoking a cigarette, performing the child ' s game, cat ' s cradle, and drawing, tattoo-like, thick black lines of ink down her fingers, across her hands and wrist. That the hands do things while being seemingly confined to one space (at a table, within the confines of the camera ' s gaze), suggests agency: though the artist, the people, are confined within space, resistance is still possible. Moving one ' s body, for example, or using one ' s body to do things, as well as creating meaning onto or with one ' s body (by drawing upon it, smoking a cigarette, and so on) are possibilities even when one is unable to leave the space they are confined inside. Furthermore, the film ' s constant gaze on the hands as well as the hands being cut off from the artist ' s body, create a sense of the hands as something Other - an animal or an entity all its own. In other words, the artist as Aesop, as fable-making troublemaker, is still possible, even when a government does all it can to keep the artist confined and afraid.
Geta Brătescu: The Leaps of Aesop continues through December 23 at Hauser & Wirth (548 West 22nd Street, Chelsea, Manhattan).

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
A Romanian Artist Tackles Art and Freedom in Authoritarian Times

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Geta Brătescu's work positions the artist as a creator of freedom even in oppressive times.

# data[].attributes.attachment_caption
Change the Story-Change the World with Bill Cleveland

# data[].attributes.body
Change the Story-Change the World podcast with Bill Cleveland is a chronicle of art and community transformation across the world. Bill introduces listeners to creative change agents working to re-imagine the social, political and cultural narratives that define their communities.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Easily listen to Change the Story / Change the World in your podcast app of choice

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Quickly and easily listen and subscribe to Change the Story / Change the World for free in your podcast app of choice.

# data[].attributes.body
The Center for Artistic Activism trains and advises organizations, grant-makers, and individuals to excel in activism and advocacy through creativity and culture.

#Northeast #NewYork

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The Center for Artistic Activism helps people use their creativity and culture to effect power.

Subscribe to our Newsletter

Get notified about our resources, updates, and more in your inbox

Support Artistic Activism all across the country and around the world.

Resources

Looking for tutorials, podcasts, videos, or case studies? Click here to learn all about our programs.

Programs

Our Unstoppable Voters program supports organizations and individuals that protect the freedom to vote in the US with creativity and innovation.

Featured Videos
WHAT IS UNTOPPABLE VOTERS?
Learn more about our program that has inspired over 3 million people.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Center for Artistic Activism helps people use their creativity and culture to effect power. News Subscribe to our Newsletter Get notified about our resources, updates, and more in your inbox Donate now! Support Artistic Activism all across the country and around the world. Resources Looking for tutorials, podcasts, videos, or case studies?

# data[].attributes.body
Story Circles

A method of facilitating conversation and fostering understanding, in which a small group sit in a circle and goes around the circle one-by-one telling personal stories based on a generative theme. While stories are shared, listeners are encouraged to listening with full attention and without judgement. At the end there is a group reflection on the stories shared.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Listening is as important as speaking; each person receives full attention while telling his or her story. A story isn't a performance: listen for the essence of what is being shared, rather than mentally critiquing the person's delivery.

Each participant has equal time to share a story on a generative theme identified beforehand.

Attention passes around the circle in either direction. Individuals can pass, and will be given the opportunity to tell a story at the end of the circle. If someone declines, that's fine. Don't insist.

There are no questions, criticisms, cross-talk, or comments on any story while sharing is going on.

People do not speak from notes, and are discouraged from preparing their own stories rather than giving others full attention. Spontaneity is important.

Stories may be recorded. If participants prefer that their names not be used if their stories are recorded, they should say so, and the recorder should note it.

How it works:

1. Eight or so is an optimal size for a story circle (though they can be a little larger or a little smaller). Guesstimate the number of participants, divide by 8, and find a facilitator for each circle. If you plan to capture the stories on a recorder or through notes, find a recorder for each circle too.

2. Choose your generative theme, picking something that requires no special expertise. For instance: "A time you understood something through a work of art-a movie, song, image, dance, play, or other such experience." Or "One of the best art-related experiences I've ever had."

3. Train your facilitators and recorders by sharing this material and doing a trial run with yourselves as participants.

4. At the story circle, the large group counts off into groups of approximately 8 (or you number nametags to correspond to the number of story circles you anticipate, and then people just need to look at their nametags, not count off)

For facilitators:

1. Briefly introduce yourself and recap the guidelines and time allocations. Answer any questions about these guidelines.

2. Remind people of the generative theme you have chosen.

3. Remind people that stories can be about any experience, any situation. All stories have value, and there is no right answer.

4. Explain that each person has a time limit (3 minutes is typical), and you will signal to wrap up when there are 30 seconds left. Let people finish their sentences when time's up, but don't let them eat too much into others' time. Please bring some type of timer!

5. If someone wants to pass on the first go-round, that's fine. Come back at the end to give those who passed another opportunity, but don't insist.

6. Tell the first story to set the tone and demonstrate the practice.

7. Thank each person at the end of his or her story, then call on the next person.

8. Allow a moment of silence between stories.

9. At the end, engage the group in reflecting on the stories. Were there common themes? Notable differences? What stood out for you, if anything? What touched you, if anything? What feelings and ideas were sparked? Ask people to raise their hands and call on them in turn.

10. End on time, thank everyone, and return to the large group.

For recorders:

1. Record stories one of two ways: make good notes and/or use some type of audio recorder, preferably one that may be passed from person-to-person as stories are shared. Be sure to capture each person's name and email.

2. Take your turn telling a story.

3. Type up written notes and/or transcribe audio recordings. If it is not possible to do both typed notes and an audio transcript, do one and submit the other in raw form.

4. Notes and transcripts should be sent to a designated person by email or snail-mail.

Timing (this is a sample schedule for a 1.5 hours story circle experience):
:00: Exercise leader introduces process to everyone

:10: 5 minutes to get into small groups

:15: 3 minutes apiece for stories (with a brief introduction and a group of 8, this will equal about 30 minutes)

:45: 15 minutes to reflect together on the stories shared

1:00: Reassemble into the large group

1:05 15 minutes to share and discuss

1:20 End

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Storycircles - U.S. Department of Arts and Culture

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Listening is as important as speaking; each person receives full attention while telling his or her story. A story isn't a performance: listen for the essence of what is being shared, rather than mentally critiquing the person's delivery. Each participant has equal time to share a story on a generative theme identified beforehand.

# data[].attributes.body
Cucalorus is a multi-disciplinary arts organization supporting emerging and innovative artists through our annual film festival, a residency program, a community cinema, and an extensive community engagement program. More than 28 years in the making, Cucalorus has since grown into one of the most important film festivals in the South.

#south #WilmingtonNorthCarolina

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Cucalorus Film Festival is a non-competitive independent film festival in Downtown Wilmington, NC that supports innovative artists and encouraging creative exchange.

# data[].attributes.body
The Opportunity Agenda is dedicated to transforming the way we view racial justice. As pioneers in values-based communication, we work with experts, advocates, creatives, and communicators to generate communication strategies, create compelling stories, and ultimately build cultural acceptance for equitable and just policies. Our long-term vision is an inclusive America, where everyone has an equal voice and an equal opportunity to thrive.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Communications and culture have the power to move hearts and minds in ways that facts and advocacy often cannot.

This is how

The Amp

gender justice health equity lgbtqia+ racial justice reproductive justice

beyond policing criminal justice equity phrase guide racial justice

How we challenge the systems of oppression

Every day, social justice leaders work to expand opportunity by advancing policies and a culture that support the rights and voices of all people. Yet, too often the social justice community must counter well-financed communication efforts that support inequitable and unjust policies.

We believe in the power of communication and collaboration to drive lasting change. We partner with leaders to move hearts and minds, and to drive lasting policy and culture change by lifting up the inspirational voices of opportunity and possibility.

Ending poverty is within our reach. In partnership with Amplifier, we designed a discussion guide including original art for activists, cultural strategists, teachers, and youth across the country to start a conversation about what Economic Justice looks like and how to achieve it.

Learn More

Messaging & Reports

Explore our communications and research resources designed to strengthen your work and make an impact on the issues that matter most to you.

Culture is a powerful force for moving hearts, minds and policies, and we see cultural strategies as the secret to unlocking culture's social change power.

Cultural Strategies

By convening, connecting and supporting artists, media makers and advocates, we are amplifying the impact of cultural strategies, raising the profile of leading practitioners of these strategies, and showing movement leaders why creativity must be a part of their toolkit.

Learn more

Training & Workshops

One of the greatest strengths of the social justice movement is that we respect each others' perspectives and value the continued process of learning from our peers. Too often, though, we communicate in silos, failing to convey a shared narrative that can move hearts and minds, and drive lasting policy and culture change. The Opportunity Agenda helps bridge that gap through intensive, interactive communications trainings that include skill and capacity-building workshops, panels, and webinars that have reached thousands of leading advocates and activists.

economic justice

Economic Justice requires advocating for systems that provide everyone the opportunity for a dignified, productive, safe, and creative life-a life in which they can prosper for themselves, and for their loved ones.

immigration

Immigrants are critical to the vibrancy of American life. We push back against harmful immigration narratives to tell a values-based story that reflects the richness of immigrant communities across the nation. Our diversity has always been our strength.

inclusive democracy

Our government should be by the people, for the people. Everyone should have a say in the decisions that affect their lives, and this requires an open and inclusive democracy.

Kerry Washington turned to The Opportunity Agenda to help develop materials that could be used to discuss the difficult issues raised in both the play and the Netflix television event, American Son.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Communications and culture have the power to move hearts and minds in ways that facts and advocacy often cannot. This is how The Amp gender justice health equity lgbtqia+ racial justice reproductive justice beyond policing criminal justice equity phrase guide racial justice How we challenge the systems of oppression Every day, social justice leaders work to expand opportunity by advancing policies and a culture that support the rights and voices of all people.

# data[].attributes.body
Animating Democracy inspires, informs, promotes, and connects arts and culture as potent contributors to community, civic, and social change. We work to make the arts an integral and effective part of solutions to the challenges of communities and toward ensuring a healthy democracy.

#Midatlantic #WashingtonDC

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
3 free Fall events gather trailblazing artists from Animating Democracy’s early years with this generation’s leading-edge practitioners in dialogue about: the practice & progress of arts for change, critical questions of the day, & the future of arts & culture work as a spark, invitation, & space for social & civic change.

# data[].attributes.body
Double Edge Theatre is a cultural cooperative and ensemble collective — a place of nurturing and a sanctuary. Like the water that runs around and through the land it occupies, Double Edge is a river for artists who thirst — from all ancestral legacies, cultural backgrounds, community contexts, walks-of-life. Often artists, educators, scholars come here to identify more clearly and understand themselves and to seek where their courage will allow them to go. It is a place of continuous experimentation and necessary risk taking.

#NewEngland #Massachusetts

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
See all events The Heron's Flight Directed by Jennifer Johnson & Travis Coe A great blue heron perches silently in a tree, then breaks the surface of the cool green water. Familiar and mythological creatures gather for a Midsummer Feast - an

# data[].attributes.body
The Story Center curated a collection of stories, one for each day between January 20, 2025 and April 30, 2025. Each has their own special call to celebrate the advocates, activists, artists, and just plain decent folks who stand up for others.

# data[].attributes.body
"The Art of Care" theatre performance is an ongoing initiative to create connection and community through our perspectives and stories on care.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
Laboratory For Global Performance & Politics

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Art of Care · Laboratory For Global Performance & Politics

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
THE ART OF CARE THE ART OF CARE is an ongoing initiative to create connection and community through our perspectives and stories on care. … MORE

# data[].attributes.body
Building the Cultural Power Ecosystem

How can we cultivate an ecosystem that intentionally and systematically advances a worldview of love, care, regeneration, and interdependence through our institutions so that a future based on that worldview becomes irresistible and eventually inevitable? What is already taking place that might be scaled, replicated, and shared more widely?

Learn more: https://ssir.org/articles/entry/building_the_cultural_power_ecosystem#

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Building the Cultural Power Ecosystem (SSIR)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
To win the battle for our world’s future, we need imaginative activism that moves culture to embrace mutual care and regeneration.

# data[].attributes.body
Read more about Block Bridge Build

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Block, Bridge, and Build: A Framework to Forge a More Democratic Future - Non Profit News | Nonprofit Quarterly

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Amid rising authoritarianism, people in US-based movements need to work together in new ways. Here are some diverse approaches to help guide collective action.

# data[].attributes.attachment_caption
The Power of Cultural Strategies | Scot Nakagawa

# data[].attributes.body
Learn more about why art and culture are essential to the movement for inclusive democracy in Scot Nakagawa's Anti-Authoritarian Playbook.

"We cannot defeat authoritarianism through policy and elections alone. Culture shapes the way people perceive reality, who they believe they are, and what they think is possible. By investing in cultural work, we lay the foundation for a democratic future where all voices matter, and no one is erased."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Power of Cultural Strategies in the Fight for Freedom From Fear, Intimidation, Violence, Repression, and Coercion

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Why Cultural Work is Essential to Defeating Authoritarianism and Building Inclusive Democracy

# data[].attributes.body
The Story Center, led by Joe Lambert, wrote short speculative fictions based on stories they crowd-sourced from the community to stage a resistance against dominant thinking.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
100 Years EdTech Design Project 2025 Scenario Stories

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Created as part of the 2025 100 Years EdTech Design Summit, March 19-21, 2025, University of Texas, San Antonio. https://100yearedtechproject.org/2025-design…

# data[].attributes.body
Facilitation Trainings with Michael Rohd. Michael is a theater-maker who has spent 35 years leading process and facilitating conversation around complex public issues across the nation, as well as supporting and training municipal and non-profit staff in designing effective public engagement work.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Summer 2025 Facilitation Workshops - Michael Rohd

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Preview text Summer 2025- Three Day In-Person Facilitation Workshops with Michael Rohd Co-hosted by: New 42 and Ping Chong & Company; Georgetown University’s Lab for Global Performance and Politics; Intiman Theater; Wirtz Center Chicago & Northwestern University’s School of Communication; The Old Globe. For people who facilitate, teach, lead, direct,…

# data[].attributes.body
Learn how Authoritarians Consolidate Power: https://horizonsproject.us/authoritarianism-how-you-know-it-when-you-see-it-url-twitter/

And how their strategies negatively affect our brains: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bp9Qg3OXp6g

# data[].attributes.body
Why rising authoritarianism is appealing to some in the current moment, how their mindsets can be understood, and what we can do about it.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The rise of end times fascism | Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The governing ideology of the far right has become a monstrous, supremacist survivalism. Our task is to build a movement strong enough to stop them

# data[].attributes.body
Theatre Communications Group ’s guide to assessing risk and taking collective action within a polarized political environment

# data[].attributes.body
Learning from U.S. history can offer insights into understanding the racialized nature of authoritarianism in the U.S. and help us think further about what an inclusive democracy could look like.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Long Shadow of Racial Fascism - Boston Review

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A debate is roiling about the aptness of comparing Trump to European fascists. But radical Black thinkers have long argued that racial slavery created its own unique form of American fascism.

# data[].attributes.body
Learn more about Horizons' efforts to weave a multisectoral movement for inclusive democracy: https://horizonsproject.us/the-pillars-of-support-project-url/

# data[].attributes.body
The film Nine Parts, on PBS, brings to life the stories of Iraqi women. Set in Michigan at the height of the pandemic, an Iraqi American torn by her father’s death – and by a divided nation – attempts to grieve at the site of the oldest Iraqi church in North America. What starts in isolation becomes communal as Iraqi women come to and through her with personal stories of love and resilience. Nine Parts offers a bridge between the Midwest and the Middle East as it celebrates the unique Iraqi female experience.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Available from APT Exchange and airing on PBS for Arab American Heritage Month (April 2025) Directed by Mike Mosallam
Written by and Starring Heather Raffo
Produced by Nilou Safinya
One woman, nine stories.
NINE PARTS brings to life the stories of Iraqi women – ordinary and extraordinary - in a new film adaptation of the internationally acclaimed solo-show.
Set in Michigan at the height of the pandemic, an Iraqi American torn by her father’s death – and by a divided nation – attempts to grieve at the site of the oldest Iraqi church in North America. What starts in isolation becomes communal as Iraqi women come to and through her with personal stories of love and resilience.
A first of-its-kind bridge between the Midwest and the Middle East, NINE PARTS offers a unique celebration of the Iraqi female experience. An example of how art can remake the world. Powerful, Impassioned, Vivid, Memorable! Persuasive precisely because it is beautiful. HISTORY
Nearly 20 years ago Heather Raffo’s play, Nine Parts of Desire, premiered to widespread acclaim in London and Off-Broadway, later becoming a global theatrical phenomenon. Championed by The New Yorker as “an example of how art can remake the world”, it became the first theatrical commercial success nationally and internationally by an Arab American Playwright. It initially premiered in the UK in 2003, where critics hailed it as one of the five best plays in London’s Off West End theater season. Later, it ran Off Broadway for nine sold out months and was a critic’s pick (of the New York Times, Time Out and Village Voice) for over 24 weeks in a row”. Since 2005, Nine Parts of Desire has been produced in nearly every theater market in the U.S. and was one of the top five most produced plays of the 2007-2008 American Theater season with international productions in over a dozen countries, some being performed to this day. Now studied in universities across the nation, Nine Parts of Desire helped forge a whole new genre of Arab American theater and continues to impact new generations globally, offering audiences not only a deeper understanding of their relationship to the Middle East but to each other. [siteorigin_widget class=WP_Widget_Custom_HTML][/siteorigin_widget] Watch features at these links: PBS Newshour PBS One Detroit New Lines Magazine Podcast
PBS Books Interview [siteorigin_widget class=SiteOrigin_Widget_Image_Widget][/siteorigin_widget][siteorigin_widget class=SiteOrigin_Widget_Image_Widget][/siteorigin_widget][siteorigin_widget class=SiteOrigin_Widget_Image_Widget][/siteorigin_widget][siteorigin_widget class=SiteOrigin_Widget_Image_Widget][/siteorigin_widget][siteorigin_widget class=SiteOrigin_Widget_Image_Widget][/siteorigin_widget][siteorigin_widget class=SiteOrigin_Widget_Image_Widget][/siteorigin_widget][siteorigin_widget class=SiteOrigin_Widget_Image_Widget][/siteorigin_widget][siteorigin_widget class=SiteOrigin_Widget_Image_Widget][/siteorigin_widget] Nine Parts celebrates the work and
talent of these extraordinary people:
Director, Mike Mosallam: https://www.watchmmp.com Producer, Nilou Safinya: http://eyesuphereproductions.com
Executive Producer, William and Kumi Martin
Executive Producer, People’s Light Theater: http://peopleslight.org
Executive Producer, Detroit Public Theater: http://detroitpublictheatre.org
Director of Photography, Sheri Kauk: https://sherrikauk.com/9-parts
Editor, James Codoyannis and Assistant Editor, Janna Emig
Composer, Omar Fadel: http://www.omarfadel.com
First AD, Jackson Ezinga: https://www.jacksonezinga.com
Creative Consultant, Amy Raasch: https://www.amyraasch.com
Production Coordinator, Kristin Davis
Script Supervisor, Katie Reich
Production Designer, Jen Maseloff:
http://www.jennifermaiseloff.com/bio
Costume Designer, Joe Salasovich
Hair and Makeup, Fabiana Graziani
Featured vocalist, Lubana AlQantar

# data[].attributes.body
CoolCoolCool Productions creates engaging and hilarious original video content for TV and film, brands and non-profits. We use comedy to inform audiences and improve communities. We’ve produced comedic content about everything from voting rights to systemic racism and even a silly take on April Fool’s Day. We serve global leaders in business, social justice, public health, arts, and entertainment.

#Atlanta #South

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
We believe that listening is the key to successful collaboration. So our team will start by learning about your goals and how we can help you achieve them. From there, we can brainstorm a variety of creative concepts and ideas that can solve your problems using our special brand of humor. You can then use those ideas on your own, or you can partner with us and apply the cost of the brainstorm to continue our process and create an amazing video with our team.
Video Production
We are a one-stop-shop! That means we got everything covered from pre-production, production, and post-production.
Audience Targeting
We pride ourselves on our video having excellent engagement across all social media platforms. Once your video is complete, we will make sure that your video gets as many eyeballs as possible from your desired audience.
Super Chill Hangs
Let's grab lunch, we love to do that with potential clients. Other options include: a dog park visit, or just looking at clouds!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
CoolCoolCool Productions is a comedy-focused production company creating original content for non-profits, brands, film and TV.

# data[].attributes.body
Everyday Democracy is building capacity within individuals and groups working to strengthen local democracies through dialogue, engagement, and action with an equity lens as our country faces challenges to our democracy. We provide facilitation, coaching, and tools to support truthful dialogue and deliberation to unleash the power of community storytelling, remembrance, and reclamation to heal and transform our communities.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Everyday Democracy is powered by Everyday People. As our country faces challenges to the core structures of our democracy, we are building capacity within individuals and groups working to strengthen local democracies through dialogue, engagement, and action

# data[].attributes.body
The International Teaching Artist Collaborative (ITAC) is a global network of Teaching Artists (also known as community artists, participatory artists, artist mediators, or socially engaged artists) who use their artistry to catalyze meaningful social change in their communities. Teaching Artists engage directly with people, activating their creativity and imagination to address pressing challenges such as climate change, health issues, and educational inequities.

# data[].attributes.body
The U.S. Department of Arts and Culture contributes to the strength and vibrancy of the movement for collective liberation by resourcing and mobilizing cultural organizers and artists. As a people-led and people-centered arts and culture department, we merge organizing, political education, and performance to create a vibrant ecosystem that activates and harnesses spaces ripe for social, cultural and political change.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The U.S. Department of Arts and Culture is a grassroots action network inciting creativity and social imagination to shape a culture of empathy, equity, and belonging.

# data[].attributes.body
The Highlander Research & Education Center serves as a catalyst for grassroots organizing and movement building in Appalachia and the U.S. South. Through popular education, participatory research, and cultural work, we help to create spaces — at Highlander and in local communities — where people gain knowledge, hope and courage, expanding their ideas of what is possible.

Highlander is a place where leaders, networks, and movement strands come together to interact, build friendships, craft joint strategy and develop the tools and mechanisms needed to advance a multi-racial, inter-generational movement for social and economic justice in our region.

#TN #Tennessee #South

# data[].attributes.body
Jane Sapp has a long legacy in energizing people’s spirits, creating courage, and strengthening community through her songs grounded in African American music traditions. She started a singing group in the South during the time of the Black power movement, “when the African American community was rediscovering itself. It was an exciting time to be traveling around, witnessing the rebirth of the knowledge, the history, and the creativity of African American people.” She discovered a powerful role for her music in the movement. An upcoming legacy project will bring all of her work together in an accessible archive.

# data[].attributes.attachment_caption
Articles Essays Research | Center for the Study of Art & Community 

# data[].attributes.body
Center for the Study of Art and Community

Offers insights from mapping the field of community based arts from theories, to case studies and professional development training resources.

#Westcoast #California

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
ARTICLES ESSAYS RESEARCH | Center for the Study of Art & Community | Alameda, CA

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Center for the Study of Art & Community: Since 1992, building new community arts partnerships, growing capable, sustainable, equitable communities, telling their stories.

# data[].attributes.body
D-Hub has written a very easy to read Authoritarian Playbook that breaks down all the new plays contemporary authoritarians are making and how we can be savvy about countering them.

# data[].attributes.body
The Abbe Museum illuminates and advances greater understanding of and support for Wabanaki Nations’ heritage, living cultures, and homelands.

#NewEngland #Maine

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
One mission, two locations - Inspiring new learning about the Wabanaki Nations with every visit. In recent years, the Abbe has grown from a small trailside museum, privately operated within Acadia National Park, to an exciting contemporary museum in the heart of downtown Bar Harbor. In 2013, the Mus

# data[].attributes.body
Theater as a Tool of Democratic Imagination

"Theatre of the Oppressed (TO), is a tool for artistic activism originating in Brazil and now practiced around the world. Through games and exercises, communities come together, build solidarity, and share their stories about challenging injustice and oppression. These stories are developed into short plays, developed and performed by community members."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Rehearsing for the Revolution: Theater as a Tool of Democratic Imagination - Non Profit News | Nonprofit Quarterly

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Theatre of the Oppressed empowers people to advocate for themselves and could revitalize democratic practice at the local level.

# data[].attributes.body
Publicly funded arts: Equity, collective thinking and societal transformation

"Publicly funded arts have a unique responsibility to enable collective dreaming. By reflecting on the past and acknowledging the legacies of colonialism, capitalism and exclusion, the sector can help communities imagine futures that prioritise resilience and justice."

# data[].attributes.attachment_caption
In an era of increasing authoritarianism and democratic fragility, artists and cultural workers offer not just inspiration, but vital infrastructure for resistance, imagination, and renewal. Arts activism and cultural organizing are not peripheral — they are essential.  In this article Bill Cleveland makes the case.

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.artandcommunity.com/post/why-arts-activism-cultural-organizing-are-a-pro-democracy-imperative

# data[].attributes.attachment_caption
Stages of Change | Engage, Heal, Connect

# data[].attributes.body
Stages of Change is a "community of professional theatre artists who are committed to using their extensive knowledge and experience to meet the moment. They are developing and implementing practices that foster changes in our communities towards greater understanding of the “other'“ increased empathy and well-being."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Welcome to Stages of Change | Engage, Heal, Connect — Join Us

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Discover theatre practices that promote healing, empathy, and community engagement through training, workshops, and events.