Art is a powerful tool to communicate your messages, educate the community, raise awareness about issues and build a base of support. This section provides toolkits and guides to use dance, public art installations, songs,signs, banners, flags, poetry, drumming, theater and kite festivals as just some ideas to get creative with your tactics. We want to acknowledge 350.org and David Solnit for their contribution to these creative tactics guides. 

 

Art Codes: An Art Code is a creative and symbolic representation of an issue. The facilitator unpacks the code with the community through a four-step dialogue process in order to perceive and relate to the problem, analyze the causes and generate possibilities for action.

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Banners: Banners are very large signs on long strips of fabric that often lead the front of a march, parade or demonstration to promote your  advocacy message.

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Colorful Signs:  Signs may be used for many different purposes. From providing information, protesting or marketing your organization; signs direct, inform and inspire your audience. 

• Cardboard Sunflower Signs : This instruction guide shows step-by-step how to make beautiful cardboard sunflowers to promote your message in a beautiful way!

• Repetitive Images: Repetitive images help to raise awareness and unify a group in a powerful, visual way.  This group activity will create a large quantity of visuals to maximize outreach efforts.

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Dance - 1 Billion Rising Toolkit: One Billion Rising is the biggest mass action to end violence against women and girls in human history. 1 in 3 women across the planet will be beaten or raped during her lifetime. That’s one billion women and girls. Every February, over 200 countries organize community events with a dance called Break the Chain to show the world what one billion looks like and shine a light on the rampant impunity and injustice that survivors most often face. This toolkit provides links to the dance choreography and instructions to organize a 1 Billion Rising event in your community. For more information, go to the website.

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Drum Corps: Drumming and rhythm call attention to an event and bring people together in a positive way.  Create a drum group that can accompany singers and dancers in the streets in marches, parades, demonstrations and events.

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Giant Storybooks: Giant Story Books can be used to call attention and educate about any issue in a visual way. It is a large comic book style book with bedsheets and mounted on poles. 

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Kites for Rights:  Kites can be used to disseminate social messages in a powerful way. In this toolkit, we will share instructions for how to make a beautiful kite that includes inspiring messages. We will also provide some guidance for coordinating a kite festival in your town or village to raise awareness and community support for the issue you want to highlight!

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Mural Painting:  A mural is an artwork painted on a large permanent surface such as a wall where it can be seen by the public. Murals can be made individually or by a group of people who work together to communicate important messages about social and environmental issues.

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Poetry for Girls’ Rights: Poetry is a powerful tool to express your thoughts, feelings and stories about an issue.  This toolkit provides a template to write and share poems for girls’ rights, based on the work and writing of Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani activist for female education and the youngest Nobel Prize laureate. 

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Radio Dramas Participants are assigned characters from a play script highlighting a key issue and a recording is made of the participants’ voices performing the script. 

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Ribbon Tree of Rights This toolkit offers instructions for a participatory public art installation and ritual by writing advocacy messages on ribbons and hanging them from a tree or other public structure to express affirmation and commitment to the issue at hand. This toolkit is oriented toward girls’ rights but can be used for any issue. It is inspired by the global  Climate Ribbon Project. For more information, you can go to their website.

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Songs:  Create an original song or rewrite the lyrics to a popular or traditional song (and accompanying movements) to use as a teaching tool to share information in a compelling way and to unify people.

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Theater Skits: Participants devise and write a script conveying a storyline with a message that is pertinent to their community. Characters are assigned and after a series of rehearsals, dress rehearsals, and an optional technical rehearsal, participants perform the play for their community. 

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