How can you use creative expressions to inspire social justice action?

Creative expressions, such as art, music, poetry, and storytelling, can be powerful tools for community organizing and social justice action. They can help you communicate your vision, values, and demands, as well as connect with your audience, mobilize your supporters, and challenge your opponents. In this article, you will learn how to use creative expressions to inspire social justice action in six steps.

1 Identify your goals

Before you start creating or choosing your creative expressions, you need to have a clear idea of what you want to achieve with them. Do you want to raise awareness, educate, persuade, or motivate your audience? Do you want to celebrate, protest, or resist something? Do you want to create a sense of belonging, solidarity, or empowerment among your community? Your goals will guide your choices of forms, styles, messages, and strategies of your creative expressions.

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Pascal Ashuza M.

Directeur de Publication, Le Live du Livre | Podcaster, Kitabu Podcast
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Ce qu'il faut avoir en tête est la nature de son audience. S'agit-il des gens instruits ? Dans ce cas, vous pouvez adapter le registre de la langue au niveau soutenu et plus technique, selon le sujet autour duquel vous allez débattre. Si c'est une audience pas trop érudite, vous pouvez si tel est le cas, produire un discours adapté à celui-ci. Tout ça pour dire que c'est en fonction de vos interlocuteurs, que vous devez connaitre dans un premier temps, que vous adapterez votre discours.

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2 Know your audience

Your creative expressions should be tailored to your specific audience and context. You need to know who you are trying to reach, what they care about, what they know, and what they need. You also need to consider how they will access, interpret, and respond to your creative expressions. Will they see them online, in public spaces, or in events? Will they understand your symbols, references, and metaphors? Will they be moved, inspired, or challenged by your creative expressions? You can use research, surveys, interviews, or focus groups to learn more about your audience and their preferences.

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Thomas Kneeland, MA, MFA

Tenure-Track Assistant Professor of English
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As a poet, author, and all-around creative, I think it’s important to make sure we leave room for equity in our artistic practices. Our audiences are made up of so many people and while we cannot create in a way that pleases everyone, we can open ourselves up for conversations that welcome all perspectives.

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3 Choose your forms and styles

There are many forms and styles of creative expressions that you can use for social justice action, such as paintings, posters, banners, murals, graffiti, sculptures, installations, photography, video, audio, podcasts, songs, rap, spoken word, poetry, theater, performance, dance, flash mobs, storytelling, comics, zines, memes, stickers, buttons, and more. You can use one or more forms and styles depending on your goals, audience, resources, and skills. You can also mix and match different forms and styles to create more impact and diversity. For example, you can combine visual art with music, poetry with theater, or video with storytelling.

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Pascal Ashuza M.

Directeur de Publication, Le Live du Livre | Podcaster, Kitabu Podcast
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Le choix du style s'adapte à l'audience que vous cible. Pensez donc à en savoir plus pour savoir quelle voix, style ou ton adopter.

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4 Craft your messages

Your creative expressions should convey clear, compelling, and consistent messages that support your social justice goals. You can use different techniques to craft your messages, such as framing, storytelling, slogans, metaphors, humor, irony, satire, or parody. You can also use different tones, such as emotional, rational, moral, or humorous. You can use your messages to inform, educate, persuade, or motivate your audience, as well as to challenge the dominant narratives, stereotypes, or myths that undermine your social justice cause.

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5 Plan your strategies

Your creative expressions should be part of your overall community organizing and social justice action plan. You need to think about how, when, where, and why you will use them. You also need to think about the potential risks, challenges, and opportunities that you may face. For example, you may need to consider the legal, ethical, and safety implications of your creative expressions. You may also need to consider the possible reactions, responses, or counteractions of your audience, allies, opponents, or authorities. You can use different strategies to maximize the effectiveness and reach of your creative expressions, such as online platforms, social media, public spaces, events, campaigns, coalitions, or media.

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6 Evaluate your outcomes

After you use your creative expressions, you should evaluate their outcomes and impacts. You should measure how well they achieved your goals, reached your audience, and influenced your social justice action. You can use different methods to evaluate your outcomes, such as feedback, surveys, interviews, observations, analytics, or indicators. You can also use your evaluation to learn from your successes and failures, and to improve your future creative expressions.

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7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?

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How can you use creative expressions to inspire social justice action?

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1 Identify your goals

2 Know your audience

3 Choose your forms and styles

4 Craft your messages

5 Plan your strategies

6 Evaluate your outcomes

7 Here’s what else to consider

Community Organizing

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How can you use creative expressions to inspire social justice action?

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

1 Identify your goals

2 Know your audience

3 Choose your forms and styles

4 Craft your messages

5 Plan your strategies

6 Evaluate your outcomes

7 Here’s what else to consider

Community Organizing

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