Our Work

Fellowships

Each year, The Action Lab’s fellowship programs celebrate and support movement practitioners who embody a deep commitment to arts and social justice. For example, meet our Belafonte Fellows and Take A Breath Fellows.

Cohort-based Learning and Coaching

Central to The Action Lab’s vision is an organizing ecosystem where what might otherwise be one-off, learning moments or inspiring movement-building experiences are, instead, integrated into a long-term, inclusive and participatory learning process. The Action Lab builds this scaffolding through learning cohorts and coaching relationships to catalyze ongoing innovation and growth. We provide follow-up work in support of, and in partnership with, a diverse group of high impact organizers, organizations and organizational and movement leaders. For example, read more about our Art of Purpose cohort.

Organizing and Movement Workshops

We organize and facilitate opportunities for groupings of organizers, leaders, academics and cultural workers to think, learn, connect and experiment together to enable new and effective tactics, narrative frames, and strategic practices to emerge. The Action Lab helps to bring together people and organizations, and curates a set of offerings, including organizing practice groups, theory seminars, arts and music classes, and somatic practices.

Learning Delegations

Gaining global perspective on our work allows us to make critical connections to the challenges and advances of popular movements around the world. Our learning delegations not only deepen the relationships of the diverse group of participants in a unique way, but also provide lessons that organizers and The Action Lab work to apply in new strategies, practices and campaigns at the municipal, state and federal level. Read more about our recent learning delegation to Brazil.

Cultural Production

The Action Lab creates opportunities to integrate organizing, politics, arts and culture. In addition to exhibits, performances, concerts, and other events, we bring cultural workers together with organizers as co-equal partners in envisioning new narrative and political pathways to building a base and power for change. Watch our Liberation Summer in action!

Deep Partnership

The Action Lab actively and intentionally seeks out partners in movement work, in both the arts and base-building organizing, because the most impactful results for social change are grounded in authentic and dynamic relationships built over time.

Convenings

Our Thinking Big Gatherings, such as our Dismantling Racial Capitalism convening create openings into The Action Lab’s work, and provide a broad range of organizers, academics, and practitioners space to form new, shared vocabularies, and link their work in ways that The Action Lab helps to nurture in follow-up sessions and projects.