Learning and Research

 

 

The USDAC is also a learning laboratory for cultural democracy. Everything we do is action-research into how to activate creative citizen engagement in the service of social and environmental justice. We invite others to learn with us.

Research Projects and Resources

Actions
Artists Unite for a Green New Deal — Toolkit
Artists Unite for a Green New Deal — Toolkit

What is the Green New Deal? How will it address the climate crisis? What are creative ways to get involved? As artists, educators, cultural workers, and community leaders, it’s our job to envision the more just world we know is possible—and to invite others to help bring it into being. Use these resources from the USDAC to get started!

USDAC Lab
USDAC Lab

We collaborate with public and private entities to research, design, implement, and disseminate projects that enact our aims and values. We seek opportunities to share our creative cultural development expertise, deep knowledge of civic engagement, and transformative storytelling with partners in experimentation.

Report on the first two years
Report on the first two years

An Act of Collective Imagination: The USDAC’s First Two Years of Action Research is the first publication to summarize the USDAC’s work to date, along with the lessons we’ve learned about translating community members’ visions into powerful ideas and action. 

HI-LI Database
HI-LI Database

"HI-LI" stands for High-Impact Low-Infrastructure.  Explore our catalogue of HI-LI models for building creative community. Every project listed is participatory, replicable, and volunteer-friendly.

Citizen Artist Salons

Actions
Artists Unite for a Green New Deal - Summer Call Series
Artists Unite for a Green New Deal - Summer Call Series

Check out the recordings from this three-part series of calls with artists, organizers, scientists and others to unpack the policy and science behind a Green New Deal—and dream into the cultural strategies and creative actions that can help make it real.

Citizen Artist Salon: Creative Strategies for Commemorative Justice
Citizen Artist Salon: Creative Strategies for Commemorative Justice

Hosted in partnership with 400 Years of Inequality: A People’s Observance for a Just Future, this salon explored place-based creative strategies for truth-telling and collective healing.

Citizen Artist Salon: The People's EPA: Art as a Strategy for Climate Justice
Citizen Artist Salon: The People's EPA: Art as a Strategy for Climate Justice

In this Citizen Artist Salon, we’ll get ready for the Global Climate Action Summit by hearing from leaders of three projects centering art to build power and confront the climate crisis—and we’ll discuss ways that we can all step up our creative action.

Citizen Artist Salon: Art & Well-Being
Citizen Artist Salon: Art & Well-Being

Art & Well-Being Citizen Artist Salon takes place on Wednesday, July 25 at 6pm EDT/3pm PDT. Join John Govea, Marina Tsaplina, Veena Vasista, and Arlene Goldbard to talk about what you can do to build a culture of health.

Citizen Artist Salon: #HonorNativeLand
Citizen Artist Salon: #HonorNativeLand

The USDAC launched #HonorNativeLand, a campaign and call to action to spread the practice of acknowledging the original Native inhabitants of the land at the opening of all public gatherings. In this Salon, we’ll be joined by culture-bearers, leaders, and activists to discuss the practice of acknowledgment, how it fits into a larger framework of truth, decolonization, and reconciliation, and how to move beyond beyond acknowledgment in our organizations and communities.

Art Became the Oxygen: An Artistic Response Guide
Art Became the Oxygen: An Artistic Response Guide

If you’re engaged in artistic response to build caring, protest, or resilience in the midst or wake of crisis, if you work with a funder or emergency management agency, or if you’re considering getting involved and want to know more, this video is for you.

Policy on Belonging
Policy on Belonging

Learn how to adopt a Policy on Belonging and spread the #RightToBelong far and wide.

LA CULTURA CURA! (Culture Cures!): Cultural Organizing and the Immigrant Rights Movement
LA CULTURA CURA! (Culture Cures!): Cultural Organizing and the Immigrant Rights Movement

Ever heard of #SalsaShutDowns to boycott companies with exploitative labor practices? How about NewYorkTlan, an indigenous language and cultural festival that reunites families from both sides of the border? Wondering how you can bring your creativity to the fight for immigrant rights?

Activate Your Community with the 2016 People's State of the Union
Activate Your Community with the 2016 People's State of the Union

In this session, you’ll hear from several USDAC organizers across the country who've hosted story circle events for different groups and audiences. 

Create your own Super PAC (Participatory Act of Culture)
Create your own Super PAC (Participatory Act of Culture)

Join this Citizen Artist Salon to learn all about the USDAC Super PAC and how you can step up to create a Super Public Act of Compassion or Super Participatory Act of Culture.

Cart (0)