Art for Activism

Art for Activism:

We live in a time when social oppression and economic injustices are at the forefront of our lives and minds, and our time, energy and focus is being constantly co-opted by the need to survive under capitalism. So how can we engage ourselves and our communities in effecting change and creating more equitable futures? By weaving artistic practices into our activism, we demonstrate how these techniques can be used as tools for taking back control, changing the narrative and speaking truth to power. This is because humanity is innately creative and imaginative, and the forces which oppress and restrict us are not. 

Over six weekly sessions, we will introduce a variety of creative arts techniques that can be applied to our activist practices, as well as broaden our understanding of where art and creativity already show up in our daily lives. This course is delivered by a group of facilitators with a wide range of life, art, and activist experience, allowing us to bring you a multiplicity of perspectives and practices. We will cover topics such as the role of art in activism; the body, self, and individual; creativity in community building; writing for revolution; craftivism, and art as public action. Sessions will include examples of where art, together with activism, has effected change, and the artist activists who have paved the way, as well as creative invitations and opportunities for discussion and community building. This course is for everyone and anyone. No creative or artistic skill or experience is necessary.  

This course is convened by Erika Phoenix and facilitated by members of the Neuroqueer Creative community. Scroll down for facilitator bios, session titles and descriptions.

Saturdays, Nov 15th - Dec 20th, 6-8 pm GMT via Zoom

(10 am-12 pm PST; 1-3 pm EST)

To ensure financial accessibility, we offer three pricing tiers, with 2-month payment plan options. There are limited free places available on a first-come, first-served basis. Please select a free ticket only if you are unable to afford the subsidised ticket tier or payment plan.

Accomplice Tier: £150 or two monthly payments of £75

 *For those with a bit more expendable income. Helps fund subsidised tickets.

General Admission Tier: £120 or two monthly payments of £60

*Represents the true cost of the course.

Subsidised Tier: £90 or two monthly payments of £45

*For those with limited income who cannot afford the GA tier.

This course is designed to pair with Radical Rest. Bundle both tickets together for a 10% discount.

Accomplice Bundle: £270 or two monthly payments of £135

General Admission Bundle: £216 or two monthly payments of £108

Subsidised Bundle: £162 or two monthly payments of £81

See all Payment Plans

Facilitator Bios:

Erika Phoenix (she/they) is a non-binary, neurodivergent artist, writer, performer & activist based in Wales, who has worked for many years as a theatre arts educator. They believe everyone should have access to the arts as a means of self-exploration, and through their advising, facilitating, and project planning, they support creatives in making the things that they want to make.

Ashleigh Gray (they/she) is a writer, performer, workshop facilitator, and yoga teacher, with a particular interest in aftercare for artists. They wrote and performed Tumours, to a sold-out run as part of Maiden Speech Festival 2018, before taking it to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2019. They are currently writing a memoir, and have received an Arts Council Lottery Grant to develop a series of workshops for artists and survivors of sexual assault. 

Jordan DuPont is a student of transformation, experiential and embodied living, and liberatory politics. She teaches high school English and is certifying to be a Focusing professional. She has facilitated a variety of containers ranging from People's Assemblies and Tenant 101 trainings, to literary salons and grief circles. Jordan spends her time writing synthesis and research essays, theorizing about fanfiction and smut, and being with her significant others.

Selina Nwulu is a poet and essayist. Her work has been widely featured in a variety of journals, short films and anthologies, including the critically acclaimed New Daughters of Africa, and more recently Nature Matters, an environmental anthology written by the global majority. Her first chapbook collection, The Secrets I Let Slip was published in 2015 by Burning Eye Books and is a Poetry Book Society recommendation. She has performed internationally and her work has been translated into Spanish, Greek, German and Polish, as well as exhibited at Southbank, Somerset House, the Irish Museum of Modern Art, on Warsaw metro and in New York. Her latest work, Drawn Breath, Exhaled Frequencies was exhibited as part of a sound installation at Locust Projects, a contemporary arts space in Florida, U.S. She was Young Poet Laureate for London 2015-6, an award that showcases literary talent across the capital and shortlisted for the Brunel International African Poetry Prize in 2019. She is also a 2021 Arts Award Finalist for Environmental Writing. Her full-length collection, A Little Resurrection, also a Poetry Book Society recommendation, was published with Bloomsbury in 2022. It was an Irish Times book of the year and highly commended for the 2023 Forward Prizes. Her debut essay collection, Black Climates, is an exploration of Blackness and climate justice and was published by Vintage in August 2025

Marta Rose is a queer AuDHD writer and artist. Her work offers critical insights and healing metaphors for reframing the ways we understand neurodivergence. She founded and directs Divergent Design Studios, an online community offering body doubling, workshops, and peer support for neurodivergent creatives. She writes a weekly(ish) substack newsletter called The Spiral Lab, and has published several ebooks, including Neuroemergent Time: Making Time Make Sense for ADHD and Autistic People and Getting Started is the Hardest Part. Her work has been cited by Dr. Devon Price in Unmasking Autism, by Rebecca Schiller in A Thousand Ways to Pay Attention, and by Jesse Meadows in the Sluggish newsletter, among others. She holds an MFA in creative writing from Warren Wilson College. She has two grown neurodivergent children and lives in Philadelphia, on the land of the Lenni Lenape people, with her partner.

Leif is the queer Chicago-based AuDHD artist and zine maker behind It’s Weird Now Press. Their creative practice is rooted in survival, self-compassion, and finding humor in the mess of being human. Through zines and mixed media work, Leif explores the beauty and chaos of the in-between. They view art-making as an act of resistance, healing, and re-imagination. Leif believes everyone is inherently creative and through the simple act of making - holds the power to transform not only themselves but also the world.

Session Descriptions:

Session 1: Saturday, Nov 15th

The Role of Art in Activism: Drawing from Creative Practices to Build Activist Practices

Facilitated by Erika Phoenix with intros from other facilitators

This workshop is an introduction to our facilitators and the ideas we will explore throughout this course regarding the relationship between art and activism. This workshop will expand on the concepts of art as well as moving art away from a consumerist lens. We will also introduce a communal creative care invitation for a collective zine that participants can engage with.

Session 2: Saturday, Nov 22nd

Starting from Centre: The Self, the Body, the Mind and Awareness

Facilitated by Erika Phoenix, Jordan DuPont & Ashleigh Gray

Our second session invites participants to ground themselves and meet us where they are that day. We will examine ways artistic practices can inspire us to make space for our own self-awareness practices. As artists and activists, we are always in process, and this workshop provides creative care invitations and tools to remind us how to return to centre. 

Session 3: Saturday, Nov 29th

Writing as Resistance 

Facilitated by Selina Nwulu & Jordan DuPont

During the session, we will read a selection of poems, drawing from the techniques and approaches of others as inspiration to create our own poems. We will explore what makes a political poem and how we can find resistance and revolution in our everyday behaviours.

Session 4: Saturday, Dec 6th

The Role of Art in Community Building: Creative Approaches to Nurturing our Neighbourhoods

Facilitated by Jordan DuPont & Erika Phoenix

During this session, we will discover both the art of community building and the role that artistic practices can play in its creation. We will exercise our radical imagination to create art that depicts and represents the communities and worlds we long for. 

Session 5: Saturday, Dec 13th

Craftivism & Zine-Making

Facilitated by Marta Rose & Leif

This session will include an overview of how craftivism shows up in the world and how you can incorporate it into your own creative practice, with a focus on the history of activism via zines and a creative invitation to create your own zine as well as contribute to a collective zine about the course itself.

Session 6: Saturday, Dec 20th

Art as Action: Engaging with the Public, Imagining Our Shared Futures

Facilitated by Erika Phoenix & Selina Nwulu

This culminating workshop invites participants to weave together the concepts from previous sessions with their desires for radical change on a broader scale. Small communities can move mountains when we unify and focus our energies. We will consider how creative practices can support practical, collective change. Together, we will imagine what art skills can amplify our actions and solidify their impact. There will be time for participants to share their creations, reflections, and ideas for how art will show up in their activist practices and vice versa.