My Top 10 of 2022

I love to look back at the end of the year and list the 10 best things that happened. When I do this for C4AA, it’s honestly hard to choose.

Here are just 10 things we accomplished this year together, plus a couple of special treats below.

1. 2022 has shown me that there is hope.

So many people have picked up the fight against authoritarianism, disinformation and injustice and are finding creative and innovative ways to persevere and win.

A group of people laughing and shouting in a crowd

Philadelphia high schoolers cheer on their peers at the first Teen March on the Ballot Box, supported through our Unstoppable Voters Action Accelerator, which brought hundreds of students together to vote.

2. We launched the Smithsonian Artistic Activism exhibition.

Yetunde Sapp and family pose next to a section of the exhibition that covers his work

Artist Yetunde Sapp and family celebrate the launch of the Utopia Project experience at the Smithsonian's Anacostia Community Museum in November 2022.

3. We trained over 450 people (4 times our past annual average!)

Two people sharing a laugh in a workshop

Participants in the Unstoppable Voters training workshop in Columbus, Ohio. Learn about Unstoppable Voters training and what's ahead in 2023.

4. We helped people working on voting, climate, reproductive rights, LGBTQIA+ rights, health equity, restorative justice, and debt relief.

A workshop participant pointing to a drawing made during their brainstorming

Ricardo Negron-Almodovar, Florida Campaign Manager at our partner All Voting is Local, finds creative paths to help voters at our training in Orlando in May.

5. We distributed over 200 tools and resources.

People sitting at a table working on prototypes during the Utopia exhibit

Visitors to the Smithsonian exhibit that is based on our training and the book written by our founders, The Art of Activism: Your All-Purpose Guide to Making the Impossible Possible.

6. We created our first Fellowship program.

The group of 2022 Unstoppable Voter Fellows posing for a photo

The 2022 Unstoppable Voters Fellows hailed from Georgia, Pennsylvania, Texas, Wisconsin, and DC, and they developed incredible creative projects to support voting in November’s elections.

7. We supported 23 voting actions ahead of the midterms in Georgia, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and other states.

A group of students marching in the streets holding flags

Philadelphia students and their teachers parade through the streets at the Teen March on the Ballot Box in October.

8. We partnered with over 40 amazing organizations.

Gabriella Rodriguez, Executive Director at our partner QLatinx in Orlando, helps us lead our Artistic Activism: ¡La Mega Clase! Unstoppable Voters training.

9. Our C4AA family grew!

We welcomed terrific new workshop leaders, who facilitated the Learning Labs, online courses that are like book clubs for artistic activists. We also facilitated the creation of a new Artistic Activism Research Colab with 11 researchers from around the world!

10. We reached over 1200 people in our fantastic online series, Revolutionizing Activism.

A group of people in the streets of Barcelona holding reflective balloons

You can watch Revolutionizing Activism videos, featuring dozens of amazing artists and activists from around the world talking about how they've accomplished the impossible.

Some treats I want to share with you:

A New Book!

The Activist Angler is a new book about activism and fishing by our Co-Founder and Research Director, Stephen Duncombe.

A group of people sharing ideas at a table

A New Video!

Keyti, the Senegalese rapper and C4AA workshop leader, talks about building community.

A group of people standing around a table in a classroom

And an Invitation:

If you or a group you know is working on voting, check out our Unstoppable Voters workshops.

Thank you

As an organization devoted to helping people use their own creativity to make profound change in the world, I’m so pleased that we’ve been able to help many hundreds of people do exactly that. I have so much gratitude for the brilliant C4AA team, our network of partners and collaborators, and you.

If you can donate to help us unlock our anonymous donor match by the end of the year, wonderful! We also have some especially fun donor gifts this year.

Thank you for being a part of this.

Rebecca Bray
Executive Director
Center for Artistic Activism

Celebrate the mission for DC Statehood with the Apollo 51 patch, one of the gifts we're giving as thanks to donors this year!

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Photo credits: 1. Cain Images, 2. Andrea Jones, 3. Top5ive Photography, 4. Eli Berrios, 5. Andrea Jones, 6. Good For You Productions, 7. Cain Images, 8. Eli Berrios, 9. Good For You Productions and 10. Leonidas Martín Saura.

(CC) BY-NC-SA 2022 Center for Artistic Activism. Some rights reserved.

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