The Movement Strategy Center

“Art Is Change: Art & Creative Practice for Cultural and Political Transformation” will be an interactive/experiential session that introduces the idea of cultural transformation as a framework for political and social justice work. Participants will explore and experiment with the impact of art and creative process, tell stories of the impact in their own work and challenge each other with learning edge questions that are on the cutting edge of cultural organizing including; the tension between cultural equity and cultural transformation and the challenges of embodying our cultural values.

Can you imagine a time when social justice movement work in the United States doesn’t depend mostly on the wealth of rich people and corporations (foundation money)? With the deep cuts to many non-profits and a record number of organizational closings, we’re feeling more need to rediscover the ways in which our communities have done social justice work in the past! In this workshop, you will hear about how several different radical, culturally based, young adult grassroots membership organizations in urban communities of color in the East Bay (California) do their work inside and outside of non-profit agencies. Come hear about how we work across non-profit borders to build movement, share membership, build radical leadership, and do transformative work! Exchange ideas about how to evolve out of our dependence on non-profits by creating other structures; share lessons learned, challenges, and inspiration from our experience. We want our participants to take away (1) examples of how several youth organizations run outside of the non-profit system, (2) examples of how grassroots organizations can be in mutually beneficial relationships with non profits, and (3) conceptual understanding of why doing most of social movement work through non profits alone does not serve us [the non-profit industrial complex]. We will also introduce the ideas of resistance to and reform of the current system plus building alternative institutions to pave the way for the future we want – we will relate this to non-profits and grassroots organizations. This workshop will be really youth friendly and fun!

“Art Is Change: Art & Creative Practice for Cultural and Political Transformation” will be an interactive/experiential session that introduces the idea of cultural transformation as a framework for political and social justice work. Participants will explore and experiment with the impact of art and creative process, tell stories of the impact in their own work and challenge each other with learning edge questions that are on the cutting edge of cultural organizing including; the tension between cultural equity and cultural transformation and the challenges of embodying our cultural values.

Can you imagine a time when social justice movement work in the United States doesn’t depend mostly on the wealth of rich people and corporations (foundation money)? With the deep cuts to many non-profits and a record number of organizational closings, we’re feeling more need to rediscover the ways in which our communities have done social justice work in the past! In this workshop, you will hear about how several different radical, culturally based, young adult grassroots membership organizations in urban communities of color in the East Bay (California) do their work inside and outside of non-profit agencies. Come hear about how we work across non-profit borders to build movement, share membership, build radical leadership, and do transformative work! Exchange ideas about how to evolve out of our dependence on non-profits by creating other structures; share lessons learned, challenges, and inspiration from our experience. We want our participants to take away (1) examples of how several youth organizations run outside of the non-profit system, (2) examples of how grassroots organizations can be in mutually beneficial relationships with non profits, and (3) conceptual understanding of why doing most of social movement work through non profits alone does not serve us [the non-profit industrial complex]. We will also introduce the ideas of resistance to and reform of the current system plus building alternative institutions to pave the way for the future we want – we will relate this to non-profits and grassroots organizations. This workshop will be really youth friendly and fun!