Resources for Young Artists
Organizations to Follow / Be Part of:
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- Amplifier! – Community website that accepts art submission campaigns of various social issues and distributes the work around the world.
- Beautiful Trouble – Global community network of organizers, artists, trainers, and writers, sharing resources and training for social movements and grassroots organizing.
- Ruckus Society – A multi-racial network of trainers dedicated to providing necessary tools, preparation, and support to build direct action for social change movements.
- Advocates for Youth – Youth Activist Toolkit pdf
- Learning for Justice – Resources for students, teachers, and communities to establish human rights and equality for all.
- Center for Artistic Activism – Foundation that helps activists, artists, and organizations to be more effective in bringing about social change. C4AA has resources such as interviews with artistic activists, webinars, training courses, research reports, and more!
- Actipedia – Open-access, user-generated database of creative activism. It’s a place to read about, comment upon, and share experiences and examples of how activists and artists are using creative tactics and strategies to challenge power and offer visions of a better society.
- Spy Hop - a digital media arts center offering in-school and after-school programs for students in Utah
- Alternate Roots – a regional arts organization working to create a better world and dismantle all forms of oppression (region covers southern states of the US)
- Freechild Institute For Youth and Social Change – Freechild institute is a nonprofit program believes that young people can and should change the world. The institute website provides many resources for how social change happens through action.
- NDI Youth Political Participation Program – The National Democracy Institute offers helpful information for youth to lead grassroots advocacy campaigns in their community, and institutionalize youth-inclusive political practices.
Books to Read:
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- Youth to Power: Your Voice and How to Use It by Jamie Margolin – Climate change activist and Zero Hero cofounder Jamie Margolin offers the essential guide to change-making for young people.
- The Guerilla Art Kit: Everything You Need to Put Your Message out into the World (with step-by-step exercises, cut out projects, sticker ideas, templates and fun DIY ideas) by Keri Smith
- The Art of Protest: Culture and Activism from the Civil Rights Movement to the Streets of Seattle by T.V. Reed – One of the best books on the history of art and activism.
- The Dandelion Insurrection Study Guide: Making Change through Nonviolent Action by Rivera Sun (See the entire Dandelion Trilogy)
- Strategic Questioning Manual by Fran Peavey – Strategic Questions are Tools for Rebellion
- Re:Imagining Change: How to Use Story-Based Strategy to Win Campaigns, Build Movements, and Change the World by Doyle Canning & Patrick Reinsborough – This book provides resources, theory, and hands-on tools for the next generation of innovation change-makers (AKA you!). This is an inspirational and practical book with the methodology developed by the Center for Story-based Strategy.
Important Activist Artists and Their Work:
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- Ai Weiwei – Chinese artist and activists, whose work includes sculpture, installations, architectural projects, photographs, and videos.
- Banksy – Banksy is a pseudonymous England-based street artist, political activists, and film director whose real name and identity remain unconfirmed. His work features satirical street art and subversive epigrams which have appeared on streets, walls, and bridges throughout the world.
- Favianna Rodriguez – Interdisciplinary artist, cultural organizer, and social justice activist based in Oakland, California. Her art addresses social migration, gender justice, climate change, racial equity, and sexual freedom.
- Shepard Fairey – Frank Shephard Fairey is an American street artist, graphic designer, illustrator and activist.
- Tania Bruguera – Cuban installation and performance artist whose work is about social issues of power, and control.
- Faith Ringgold – American artist known best for her narrative quilts, Faith Ringgold is a painter, writer, mixed media sculptor and performance artist and her work covers the social issues of racial justice and feminism. To date, she also has illustrated 17 children’s books including the award-winning Tar Beach in 1991.
- Zaria Forman – American artist known for hyper-realistic pastel drawings that document climate change. She travels to remote regions of the world to collect images and inspiration for her work which is exhibited worldwide. Her goal is to help people experience the sublimity of these environmentally sensitive landscapes, so they will be inspired to protect and preserve them.
- Edward Burtynsky – Canadian Photographer known for large-format photographs of industrial landscapes. His work depicts locations from around the world that represent the increasing development of industrialization and its impacts on nature and human existence.
- Guerrilla Girls – An anonymous group of feminist female artists fighting sexism and racism within the art world.
- Suzanne Lacy – Renowned pioneer in socially engaged and public performance art. Her installations, videos, and performances deal with sexual violence, poverty, incarcerations, labor, and aging.
Other Misc. Resources:
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- The Commons Social Change Library – Online collection of educational resources for campaign strategies, community organizing, digital campaigning, fundraising, diversity, and more!
- Ted Talk Videos about Art and Activism – Playlist of videos about how art can grab attention, send a message, and make a statement for social change.
- Tate Museum Activist Art – Collection of activist art that is grounded in various political and social issues.