A clear concise checklist from the Center for Artistic Activism of important things to remember when planning an artistic action.
Summary
These are four things can help shift your work from “just-okay activism” to really powerful stuff.
1. Get to know your audience.
Let’s say you and some friends want to get more people voting in local elections. First step is knowing your audience and understanding what appeals to them. What are their attitudes and beliefs around voting? What pop culture do they love? What are the stories that move them?
2. Grow your culture of creativity.
This means embedding creativity into the process every step of the way. Involve artists and other outside-the-box thinkers as you’re planning. Use tools to help you come up with creative ideas (ask us – we’re happy to share ours). Give room for weird ideas to develop so you can get your audience’s attention with meaningful spectacle. Commit to taking creative risks.
3. Give audiences something to do.
It’s amazing how often we see an advocacy campaign that doesn’t give audiences something specific to do (like play a role, vote, call an official, come to the next event,). If you think creatively and know your audience, there are so many fun ways to involve people so they join and keep coming back.
4. Go out there.
Sometimes the only way to make something great is to step out and do something unknown or half-baked, and learn from it. And then revise and try again. Every group we work with is astounded by how much they get from getting on the street to prototype an idea. And the key is reflecting on it, honestly and creatively, to make your next effort better.
Full Checklist
What is this? We wanted a clear, concise list of prompts to remind us of important things to remember when planning an action. We offer this to you and hope it helps.
The Foundation
Dream
- Have you wandered through your imagined utopia lately?
First Steps
- Which path will get you to your objective the fastest: Individual change, policy change, or advocacy?
- What’s your objective?
- Is it SMART?
Audiences
- Who is the primary audience? This is the audience that has the most power to achieve your objective.
- What do you want them to Think, Feel and Do?
- Ideally, what is the physical, visible behavior audiences will do as a result of your work?
- What is the old behavior?
- What is the new behavior?
- Who is the secondary audience? [An audience who may support the effort and become allies.]
- What do you want them to Think, Feel and Do?
- Are you taking into account the cultural, moral, and demographic backgrounds of your audience?
- And communicating in ways they can understand?
The Action
The Creative Process
To get to a good idea, first requires multiple ideas.
- Did you come up with more than 5 ideas? More than 10? More than 30? More than 50?
- Were some of those ideas impossible? (They should be)
- Did you choose the safest one, or are you taking some creative risks?
- Have you created drafts, versions, or iterations?
- Have you rehearsed, reflected and made changes?
- Have you done this more than once? More than 5 times? More than…
Surprise, Spectacle, and Story
- How will your action capture attention and get people thinking differently?
- Could it be more surprising? Weirder? Funnier?
- Could it involve a storyworld with characters, heroes, villains, conflict, resolution?
- How is it different from ordinary protests or street art?
Engagement
- How does your action engage people? (spectating doesn’t count)
- Is there something they can do?
- Can they have meaningful involvement in the action?
- Can they see the impact of their involvement?
- Can you give your audience something they will want? Physically? Metaphorically? Both?
- What can your audience take away?
- What will your audience think about later?
- How can they share their experience with friends and family?
- What can they do to take action?
- Does all of the above lead to achieving your objective and point toward your goal?
Access Resource
Explore Further
- How Artistic Activism can move us Toward a Better Future
- Creative Activism: Start HereTop Tips for Advanced Artistic Activism
- The Copenhagen Experiment: Measuring the relative effectiveness of creative vs. conventional forms of activism
- Changing the world via shock and beauty: Visual Artworks
- Arts and Creativity Topic Area
- (Opens in a new browser tab)Creative Activism: Start Here
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