Center for Artistic Activism
I’m a board member of the Center for Artistic Activism (C4AA), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that helps people use creativity and culture to effect power.
C4AA was founded in 2009 by Steve Lambert and Stephen Duncombe. Steve is the artistic director and Stephen is the research director; Rebecca Bray runs it as executive director. They’ve worked on the ground in 23 countries on 6 continents, training artists, activists, and organizations in creative approaches to social change.
The Art of Activism and its workbook. Photo by the Center for Artistic Activism, 2022.
What they do
C4AA provides training and methodology through:
- Workshops and direct training for artists, activists, and organizations
- Their book The Art of Activism: Your All-Purpose Guide to Making the Impossible Possible (OR Books, November 2021), with a workbook of 50 exercises
- Online materials: tutorials, podcasts, case studies
- The Innovation for Impact Leadership Intensive for nonprofit leaders
The core belief: successful activism fundamentally relies on artistic approaches. Creativity is critical in making a just world.
Projects I’ve worked on with C4AA
- LGBTQ+ Travel Alert (2023) — Chrome extension that warns you when booking travel to places with anti-LGBTQ+ laws. The idea and design came from C4AA and Steve, and I built it in about a week for the Center’s Uzbekistan campaign.
I met Steve at Eyebeam. Before C4AA existed we worked together on Add-Art (2008), the Firefox add-on that replaces ads with art, on the fake New York Times, and on other Anti-Advertising Agency projects.