Cultural Organizing Institute

What is the Cultural Organizing Institute?

In 2020 we created a series of workshops designed to inspire organizers to create a Cultural Strategy plan tailored to their campaign. Organizers learned about how art has been a fixture in every youth led movement throughout history. They learned dozens of creative strategies, principles to cultural organizing, media strategy and a variety of channels to successfully disseminate messaging using non-traditional methods.

The COI continues to be an ongoing collaboration that offers organizers the opportunity to build large scale public art projects that begin with campaign based messaging concepts.

Power not Prison jumpsuit take back project!

New Jersey: Youth for Justice NJ

Youth organizers from Newark & Camden New Jersey worked together to build a project around the concept of “Power not Prison.” Looking to the Black Panther Party & Afro-futurist approaches to illustrating power, they designed jumpsuits and graduation caps to show their vision of youth centered power. Jumpsuits are used in prison to make people feel powerless and rob them of individuality. The NJ team chose to use this project as an opportunity to take back this garment and use it as a canvas to shine with messaging and chains breaking into butterflies symbolizing positive transformation, liberation and success. A nod to the revolutionary beret of Che Guevara, The Young Lords & Black Panthers, the graduation caps carry their legacy while looking to a future where all young people are free, a future their leadership is working to actualize.

How was this project possible?

In October we installed two banners stretching fifty five feet high calling New Jersey to “Put Youth in Power Not Prison.” The banners are a culmination of two years of collaboration with Youth 4 Justice New Jersey and Project for Empty Space. 

Creative partnerships that made this project a success:

Poster & jumpsuit design: Design Interdesign Collective @interdesign.collective

Laser cutting: Keary Rosen, The Form Design Studio @kearyrosen

Screenprinting: Angela Pilgrim @aplgrm

Vinyl transfer: Marylin Rini @marylini & Kebin Jonson @kebin_robin_jonson

Local Newark project management: Rebecca Jampol

Banner Printing: Color Reflections @color_reflections_ in Philadelphia

Poster Printing: Fireball Printing @fireballprints

Banner Design & assets: Performing Statistics, Kah Yagni @kahyagni, Amir Khadar amir.khadar, Jay @outlawloose @interdesign.collective & Kate DeCiccio @k8deciccio

Banner install: Randy Haze @randyhaze & Luis Lopez @limitless_992

Portrait photography: Mark Strandquist @markstrandquist

Banner photos: Rachel Fawn Alban @fawn_photos

We’re not done in NJ. There’s more public art cooking in Newark and Camden, stay tuned.