Bridgit Antoinette Evans

The Freedom to Learn: The Fight for Honest, Equitable, and Fully Funded Public Schools as the Foundation for a Just, Multiracial Democracy

In school districts across the United States, we have seen the results of the far-right’s relentless attacks on public education - whether through the proliferation of educational gag orders on race, gender, and sexual orientation in our public schools, the harassment of teachers who refuse to be silent on matters of equity and inclusion, or the banning of books that represent the full spectrum of experience that is essential to understanding our pluralistic world. Attacks on public education are not new; they are part of a long-term strategy to dismantle public schools (and public systems, writ large) and ultimately, undermine democracy. In this plenary, we are joined by movement leaders who are not just countering the far-right's attack on public education but are also fighting for a more just, multiracial democracy through organizing and narrative change.

Public Education: The Foundation for Multiracial Democracy

The future of our society hinges on our ability to truly realize a just, equitable multiracial democracy and it must start with honest and fully funded multiracial public education. Neither our political nor education system were set up for this, but that is the promise of what our movements can achieve by uniting our communities across all the lines used to divide us.

Transforming our Narrative Waters through Narrative Systems Design

Achieving a racially just future in which the majority of people are engaged in building pluralist culture requires more than just changing a few narratives — it requires transforming the toxic narrative oceans in which we swim. But how can we transform our narrative waters so that hundreds of millions of people can change their beliefs and behaviors in order to engage in the hard, delicate work of belonging together? And how can we design for impactful narrative strategy at scale across a broad range of sectors, issues, and stakeholders?

The Pop Culture Collaborative approaches these questions through narrative systems design. To transform the narrative landscape in America around people of color, immigrants, refugees, Muslims, and Indigenous peoples—especially those who are women, queer, trans, nonbinary, and/or disabled — we focus on bolstering the infrastructure and impact of the pop culture for social change field. In this hands-on, interactive workshop, the Collaborative team will share about narrative systems design — the creative, powerful, and responsive narrative framework and strategy at the heart of our grantmaking and field organizing. Participants will learn about the six components that work in synchronized relationship: a culture change goal, mental models, narrative archetypes, specific stories, inciting experiences, and desired behavioral norms.

Through storytelling and interactive exercises, the Collaborative will help attendees analyze past examples of cultural change processes, and learn about the building blocks of a narrative system — so that they can utilize narrative systems design to advance racial justice values and issues in their own work.

Making Waves: Cultural Strategies for Racial Justice

The social justice field has been abuzz with talk about cultural strategy and cultural shift. With escalating attacks on communities of color across issue areas of immigration, labor rights, mass incarceration and more, the need for deep cultural change for racial justice is becoming urgent. But what exactly do we mean by “cultural strategy for racial justice?” What does cultural strategy look like in the fields of community organizing, media and entertainment and policymaking? And how do we ethically partner with artists and leverage creative ecosystems to advance equity and justice?

Come join our workshop featuring some of the best thinkers and doers in cultural change, where we’ll explore strategies for fueling artist-powered change through organizing, pop culture and narrative shift. This session will be facilitated by Nayantara Sen, Manager of Cultural Strategies at RaceForward,and will feature short talks by Bridgit Antoinnette Evans from the Pop Culture Collaborative, Betsy Richards from the Opportunity Agenda, and Rufaro Gwarada from Power California.

Presenters will share examples from the field and dig into questions like: How should a cultural strategy talk about communications, organizing, narrative, and art? How do we build organized creative ecosystems that advance equity and justice?

How to Use your TV: Using Small Screens to Move Racial Justice

Calling all TV addicts — this is the workshop for you. Today’s television industry has more room for the stories of racial justice than ever before. This double panel presentation will focus on strategies for making the small screen work for racial justice by engaging writers’ rooms, taking advantage of reality TV opportunities, by hosting watch parties or generating social media commentary on TV content that applies to communities. We will include a special focus on the Netflix documentary “13th,” featuring activists from the documentary and a Skype appearance by its director, Ava DuVernay.

Change Culture, Change the World: An Introduction to Pop Culture Strategy for Social Movement