ADVOCACY & ORGANIZING fellowSHIP
The Advocacy & Organizing Fellowship is a year-long stipended leadership development cohort for artivists, creative workers, and emerging cultural leaders to sharpen their community organizing capacity and grow their advocacy skills for a more equitable and inclusive creative sector.
Each fellow focuses their year on a cultural policy or creative community issue they are passionate about changing through community organizing and political advocacy. They will develop an advocacy campaign plan to address their issue through research, training, and peer feedback. Upon conclusion of the program, the fellows will present their issues and creative solutions developed during their fellowship to bring sustainable change to their issue.
Fellows attend bi-monthly sessions as a cohort to learn from experienced organizers, artist leaders, and organizational advocates. Fellows receive technical and financial support to plan community events that promote their projects and opportunities to engage with community leaders and partners regarding their issues.
The Fellowship is possible thanks to support from the Barr Foundation.
PROGRAM OVERVIEW & COMMITMENTS
Individuals must apply with a cultural policy issue or challenge facing the creative sector that they plan to address through the Fellowship. Throughout the year, they will develop a sustainable advocacy strategy to confront their issue. This will include researching programmatic and policy solutions, identifying key decision makers, and organizing their communities to advocate.
Fellows meet for two-hour sessions every two weeks for virtual trainings on organizing, advocacy, and policy development. Sessions are facilitated by experts from across Massachusetts who have experience advocating for the advancement of the creative sector.
Bi-monthly sessions are a core component of the Advocacy & Organizing Fellowship and critical for fellows’ success through the program. Active attendance and participation are required of Advocacy & Organizing Fellows. The Fellowship requires time outside of cohort sessions for research, strategy development, and organizing community meetings. We estimate fellows will need to dedicate 6-9 hours on average per month. By the end of the year, fellows will give a presentation on their issue and how they are choosing to address it.
APPLICATIONS ARE CLOSED FOR THE 2024-2025 COHORT.
For questions about the program, please contact Director of Organizing Richeline Cadet at rcadet@mass-creative.org
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