“Imagine if we got this many people organized to fight billionaires, fight against data centers and climate change, and fight for a thriving wage for healthcare… an organizer's dream. The past week in NYC has been an insane and electric time. But I can’t help but ask the question, “How in the hell do movements do this?” Get people to get up at 3 am to stake out for a spot, call off work, and wait for hours in sweaty, hot crowds surrounded by other people. And what might be possible if we could?” - Me, June 18th, Instagram
I’ve been in a state of despair around organizing and movement building. For the past 7 years, I’ve, through Sunrise, a youth climate movement fighting for a livable future for all, tried to figure out how to build the power and numbers to push the government to act on climate change with the scale and urgency it demands. Beyond climate as an issue, many of us are fighting for a world where people and the planet matter over profits and corporations.
In my 7 years or so in Sunrise, now, it’s getting harder and harder to believe that anything - the phonebanking, the door-knocking, the direct actions, the arrests- is worth it, or shifting the balances of power in society. I’m a bit… jaded. I’ve seen us struggle to bring in new members. I’ve seen us struggle to organize beyond the bubble of young people who already believe what we do. I’ve seen us struggle to… build power. We have not set out to stop climate change; in fact, the effects of climate change, in the form of increased wildfires, increased storms, increased flooding, are coming at us full force across the globe.
And yes, it’s not all hopeless. There has been an exciting wave of candidates, from Zohran in office to Will Lawrence, Darializa Avila Chevalier, Abdul El-Sayed, and Melat Kiros, very progressive candidates, winning primaries. But what I really think is necessary is sustained, long-term commitment and sacrifice of millions of people across the country to birth a new nation, one that is not run by the billionaires and the corporate elite. And movements haven’t figured out how to do that. So I’ve been trying to look to other places for inspiration.
Over the past week, I sat in a crowd of 20,000-ish people at an Olivia Dean concert at Madison Square Garden. I went to a Chance the Rapper concert in Central Park, packed with people bonding over their love of music. Earlier in the summer, I stood packed in Habana Outpost, watching thousands of New Yorkers watch the playoffs. I watched as thousands of New Yorkers descended upon Lower Manhattan, some getting up as early as 3 am, to celebrate the Knicks win. I sipped cider in crowded bars, celebrating and cheering on my favorite team (that was constantly changing with each loss or upset) in the World Cup.
In each of these moments, I’ve been so curious: if this many people can be mobilized for concerts, for soccer matches, for artists, why can’t they do the same for politics? Especially when the stakes – of winning livable wages, healthcare for all, of getting data centers out of our communities - are so much higher?
And this is the question - as an organizer, as an artist - that I feel deeply called to explore. What if artists used their platforms to not just re-post or uplift causes, but build real power by partnering with social movement groups? Inviting their fans to join direct actions, donate, or get involved with movement organizations? What if artists actually stood up to corporations and used their platform and leverage to get wins for everyday working people? One example is Olivia Dean, who called out Ticketmaster for their exorbitant resale prices; as a result, Ticketmaster capped future resale tickets and gave funds to those who overpaid for resale tickets. It didn’t stop ticket scalpers on other sites, but it was a start.
As I reflect on my journey organizing over the past 7 years, and look ahead to where I feel my interest is being called, I’m like so intrigued about the space that exists at the intersection of arts & social movements. So much so that I feel a calling and desire to explore what might be possible if more artists used their power, leverage, and resources to uplift movements, organize more young people, and fight back against corporations to achieve wins for their fans.
I always come back to this quote by Toni Cade Bambara, “The role of the artist is to make the revolution irresistible.” I’ve been dreaming about a new project (that sees artists as a constituency to be organized) that gets to the question of how to make politics core to the social fabric of this country… and it begins with artists.
Core Diagnosis
From the rising cost of living to AI to climate change, society faces several interlocking existential crises
In response to these crises, society has chosen to remain “complicit in our demise”
Though a small sliver of society- organized groups in social movements- is responding, they have failed to expand their membership and bring masses of the public into sustained mass action
If we are to build a world where people and the planet thrive, not profit and corporations, a world worth living in, we need millions of people in the United States to rise up and disrupt business as usual
We believe artists, people in society who are effectively organizing the public, have a critical role to play in bringing about social change.
The goal: To organize artists to use their talents, work, and platforms to push for radical social change in society.
Artists have immense power in society.
Power in their work.
Power in their influence.
Power in their fans.
Can we leverage that power to push for massive social change?
The project goals would be to:
Training: Run a training program for artists that builds community amongst artists, grounds them in the history of art as political, teaches them core organizing skills, and connects them with movement organizations whose efforts they could support
Creation: Support artists to create work that aids in building power for working-class people and connect with movement orgs who could use artists' skills to expand their work
Campaigns: Run campaigns with high-level artists to enable them to use power (platform, fans, resources) against the rich and powerful
Organizing: Enable artists to use their platforms to drive more of the public towards organizing & movement efforts
Thanks for exploring my mind and thoughts. Please share any thoughts, ideas, or reactions; I’d love to engage with them.