Turning Creativity Into Action
No ICE in the Cup, Our Next 250 & more!
Across the country, artists, cultural workers, and organizers are meeting this moment with creativity and collective action. Through music, art, dialogue, and community gathering, they are creating space for the civic conversations our communities urgently need. This month’s update highlights a handful of inspiring efforts already underway, along with concrete ways to plug in.
No ICE in the Cup
As the World Cup comes to the United States, No ICE in the Cup is organizing to keep the celebration joyful and free from fear by demanding that ICE stay out of World Cup. The campaign brings together artists, organizers, lawyers, athletes, business owners, faith leaders, veterans’ groups, and labor unions to protect that vision and ensure everyone can celebrate the game safely.
Join the movement:
Submit your art - Answer the call for No ICE in the Cup artwork and help shape the visual language of the campaign.
Host locally - Organize a watch party or a community soccer tournament using the toolkit.
Follow and amplify - Stay connected by following No ICE in the Cup on Instagram, TikTok, and Threads.
Create and share content - Post photos and videos from your community in No ICE in the Cup merch to help spread the message.
Everyday Democracy: Our Next 250 Toolkit
As communities across the country begin preparing for the 250th anniversary of the United States, Everyday Democracy has launched a new free resource to envision a collective future. The OurNext250 Community Gathering Toolkit offers practical tools and facilitation guidance for bringing people together to build relationships, spark civic imagination, and shape a shared vision for the future through community conversations and gatherings. The toolkit is designed to work for a range of group sizes and settings. It does not require a trained facilitator or host, making it accessible for anyone who wants to convene people in their community.
To learn more about the toolkit click here.
Backroads Tour
The Backroads Tour, produced by Rural Progress, launched in Decatur, Georgia on May 23, bringing together live music and community. The tour is traveling coast to coast through small towns and rural communities, creating space for artists, organizers, and local voices to gather around the cultural traditions and democratic spirit that continue to shape this country. Its next stop is Muskegon, Michigan on June 5.
Follow them on Instagram for live updates.
Training for Change and Look Loud: Visual Strategy Intensive
Training for Change is offering a week-long Visual Strategy Intensive facilitated by Look Loud’s Rachel Schragis and Josh Yoder. Designed for people building movements to defend civic life, the training explores how visuals can strengthen campaigns through messaging development, fabrication, action staging, documentation, and facilitation, using slide talks, storytelling, discussion, and hands-on practice.
This year’s intensive is prioritizing applicants preparing to use visual strategy for election protection or other major fall organizing. Hosted by Training for Change outside Philadelphia, the training runs August 17–21, 2026, with applications due June 15, 2026. The sliding-scale fee is $150–$3,000 and covers lodging, meals, trainer time, and materials. Full scholarships and childcare stipends are also available based on need.
To learn more about the Visual Strategy Intensive click here.
Race Forward Teach-In Webinars
As authoritarianism continues to rise in the U.S. and around the world, Race Forward is offering two webinar opportunities for people working to resist repression and re-imagine democracy.
June 4 at 3:00PM EST Race and Resistance Research to Fight Authoritarianism focuses on how research can expose repression, prevent harm, and support liberatory strategies that shift power to everyday people. Sign up here.
Race and Democracy Is: (Re)Imagining the Next 250 Years is a broader series exploring what a racially just democracy could look like through conversations on repair, belonging, institutional change, co-governance, and solidarity. Sign up here.
Gen Z for Change: Design as Resistance
Starting June 1, Gen Z for Change is launching Design as Resistance, a series of six biweekly art and design challenges hosted on Discord. Creatives will design for real campaigns and advocacy efforts—building portfolios and community along the way. This is a powerful opportunity to sharpen your skills, collaborate with others, and create work with real impact.
Watertown: Where Censorship Became Celebration
In Watertown, Wisconsin, a high school band’s performance of a piece honoring the Stonewall uprising becomes the center of a heated debate over art and censorship. After the school board removed the composition, labeling it controversial, students, educators, and community members pushed back—organizing an independent performance in defiance.
Read the article by K at We (the People) Dissent here:
An Artist Responds to War
After seven years of documenting Peter Schumann and the Bread and Puppet Theater, filmmaker Robbie Leppzer was preparing to edit his feature documentary when he shifted course, turning instead to a new short film capturing the artist’s urgent response to the war in Gaza. The film highlights Schumann’s decades-long practice of using puppetry, painting, and performance to address war and injustice, while offering insight into both his creative process and Leppzer’s broader career documenting grassroots activism.
Read more about the film here.
Democracy Under Siege
Directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Laura Nix, the film features Pulitzer Prize–winning cartoonist Ann Telnaes and leading political voices including Heather Cox Richardson, Rep. Jamie Raskin, Steven Levitsky, Melissa Murray, and Elie Mystal. The film examines the fragility and stakes of American democracy on the eve of the 2024 election.
“As the promise of American multiracial democracy faces a renewed backlash, can the nation preserve its democratic ideals, or will it fall prey to an authoritarian takeover?”
Find out more about the film here.