How To for Artist Activists
Would you like to create an Artists’ Rapid Response Team in your area? It’s actually a practical, low-tech, low-expense way to help local progressive causes. A committed group of artists, who are willing to donate a few hours a month, can use their talents to exponentially amplify the effectiveness of how non-profits get out their messages.
Our ARRT! group meets from 10-5, once a month at an artist’s studio that is centrally located to our homes. Numbers vary from 5 artists to 20 artists – this larger number of participants happen when a group planning an action sends its members to a specific session to help out. Our coordinator contacts non-profits and then e-mails the other artists with information about what is planned for each session. Artists e-mail around ideas and designs that are fleshed out at the ARRT! work session. Completed banners are delivered with a contract and instructions to non-profits, but are considered the property of the Artists Rapid Response Team.
We decided that we wanted to “own” the banners, to get them returned to us if they are not being used, to exhibit if we have an exhibit, to borrow them for related events and get them used by other groups. Your ARRT! group may have another idea about this and might just want to give them away permanently…
Ready to give it a go? Here’s everything you need…
Some of us in ARRT can’t participate in rallies, marches and demonstrations, but we can combine efforts for direct action, using the tools of our trade.
— Doreen Conboy
I feel so empowered when I see banners we make on the news. I really feel effective that I’m using my art to make a contribution, to make change.
— Anita Clearfield
There are so many good causes. I love being able to support a variety of worthwhile organizations in this collaborative process. This is an educational process for me as I also learn about the selfless efforts of other citizens.
— Christine Higgins