Dec 27 2022 1
In 2022 we helped more people bring more creativity, innovation, and impact to their pro-voter work than ever before
Read on to learn about what we accomplished!
This year, we set out to make civic engagement as joyful, vibrant, safe, powerful, accessible, inspiring, and irresistible as possible.
In the face of some of the most serious attacks on fundamental freedoms our country has seen in decades, we were able to accomplish truly extraordinary feats.
We helped turn out voters in record numbers, mobilized communities that have faced the highest barriers to voting, and used the full powers of art and culture to make a real difference.
Below we’ve collected highlights from our new Fellowship, workshops we led across the country, and creative campaigns we can’t stop thinking about.
2022 By the Numbers
supported over 200 actions across 23 creative campaigns reaching nearly 1 million people
led 15 workshops training 348 people in pro-voter artistic activism
worked with 34 organizations and 5 colleges and universities across 26 states
2022 By the People
2022 Highlights
Unstoppable Voters Fellowship
This year we launched a new program: the Unstoppable Voters Fellowship. For our inaugural cohort, we selected 5 fellows: Steve Alfaro with Poder Latinx, Andrew Dinwiddie with Democrasexy, Céshia Elmore with New Voices for Reproductive Justice, Aileen Loy with Fair Count, and Alannah Ray with the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Panthers Vote.
Our 5 Unstoppable Voters Fellows brought big, bold ideas to help their communities around the country vote during the election season: with huge whale kites across Georgia, mystery bags that took the mystery out of voting in Wisconsin, witchy rituals and Texorcisms in Austin, poetic protests in Pennsylvania, and votaco pledges in Atlanta.
We’ll be offering more Fellowships in 2023 — sign up for our newsletter to hear about your next chance to join us!
Unstoppable Voters Workshops
One of our major focuses this year has been leading trainings and workshops to support voting champions’ vital work and push the boundaries of what pro-voter activism can be.
In 2022, we held 15 workshops, training 348 people across 38 organizations in 26 states. We were able to conduct many of these trainings in-person — for the first time in the program’s history! — enabling us to travel the country and get on the ground to help voting champions, young and old, novices and veterans, working on a wide range of pro-voter issues.
Unstoppable Voters Actions
Here are just a few of our favorites from the past year!
Apollo 51
We started the year off by leading a workshop with friends For Freedoms for leaders fighting to bring fair representation to DC’s 700,000+ residents by making our capital a state. We worked with the League of Women Voters of DC, DC Vote, 51 for 51, Statehood4DC, Long Live Go-Go, and inspired and inspiring folks from across the country who understand the need to make DC a state as the social justice issue it is.
We were thrilled to support many of the creative campaigns that came out of our workshop, including the Apollo 51 Mission to Land a New Star on the Flag. Developed by janet e. dandridge, Mike Litt, and Anne Stauffer, with design by @csrmxt, we’ll continue supporting the project into 2023. Look out for it when you’re in DC!
Teens March on the Ballot Box
On Vote Early Day, October 28, 2022, hundreds of high school students gathered at Philadelphia’s City Hall for a Teens March on the Ballot Box civic extravaganza. As conceived by Unstoppable Voters Action Accelerator participant Lisa Jo Epstein of Just Act, teens paraded with pride, voted en masse, were cheered on by their peers, and spoke beautifully about why voting was so important to them.
The event was a huge civic success, and students are already planning their voting parades for next year.
WHYlie the Whale
Who knew whales were the key to getting out the vote in Georgia?
Unstoppable Voters Fellow Aileen Loy!
Working with her organization Fair Count, Aileen added whimsy and wonder to voting events across Georgia by flying giant whale kites and leading kid-friendly whale activities.
With the help of these whales, Aileen and Fair Count worked to collect 40,000 Commit To Vote cards in the 40 Georgia counties where there are many people who are registered to vote, but they don’t vote either at all or often.
Want to supercharge your pro-voter work in 2023?
Reach out to us — we’d love to hear from you! We offer trainings, fellowships, research, resources, and so much more.
You can also sign up for our newsletter to stay up-to-date with open calls, upcoming workshops, and lots of other exciting Unstoppable Voters news.
What is Unstoppable Voters?
Through the Center for Artistic Activism’s expansive Unstoppable Voters program, we support creatively risk-taking, strategic, ambitious organizations, people, and projects that address urgent and specific anti-voter attacks. We provide training and community building for individuals and groups who are passionate about protecting the freedom to vote and bringing the needed innovation to that fight. And we provide funding and support to help manifest that innovation and bring real, measurable impact. To date, we’ve helped over 80 organizations and over 900 individual activists, artists, and everyone in between make voting accessible, safe, joyful, powerful, and irresistible.
