A Message to the Creative Activist
Introducing a new home for the leaders taking the narrative back.
We’re officially launching Create for Change, a newsletter and podcast for the creative storytellers building what comes next.
In an era of the dehumanization of our neighbors, coordinated disinformation, and algorithmic echo chambers, the real question is who gets to tell the story and whose version of reality gets accepted as truth.
This fight plays out every day across every screen, platform, and conversation. It’s shaping everything from election outcomes to public health responses to our collective understanding of DEI or justice.
We have two choices: tell our own stories, or be misrepresented in someone else’s story. This is where the creative activist goes to work.
A Shared Definition
Creative activism is what happens when you use your storytelling skills to crack open someone else’s sense of what’s possible.
M.K. Asante calls the people behind this work “artivists,” those who use their artistic talents to fight injustice and oppression by any medium necessary. The artivist merges a commitment to freedom and justice with the pen, the lens, the brush, the voice, the body, and the imagination. The artivist knows that making an observation comes with an obligation.
That framing has stayed with me, because the question facing creatives right now is how we engage in this moment.
What We’re Building
Create for Change is a space for the artists, organizers, dreamers, and doers taking the narrative back, making sure our future gets written with us, in our voices, in our language, on our terms. This is for the folks the establishment tried to bury, and for the work of making them impossible to ignore. I’ve watched joy become a tactic, grief become fuel, and creativity become the most renewable resource any movement has.
Every week, I meet another creative person who is being ignited into action. They’re asking the right questions: What’s my role? Where do I start? Who can I do this with? That appetite deserves a serious answer.
Create for Change is ours, whether you do creative activism as your full-time gig, don’t, or just care deeply about the stories we tell each other about ourselves.
What We’ll Talk About
1. Culture as power.
Culture is the lever. Stories move hearts and minds, and hearts and minds change systems. It’s critical we act as students of the long, documented lineage of storytelling driving change: projects such as Frederick Douglass’s autobiographies, the Civil Rights movement’s use of television, the AIDS quilt, Black Lives Matter, and the #MeToo movements. We’ll study the patterns, translate them for this moment, and put them in your hands.
2. Tactics that change narratives and culture.
We’ll talk about what actually shifts culture through stories. We’ll break down what’s working, and be frank about what isn’t. Expect sharper tools, better frameworks, real examples. We’ll spotlight creatives in the social impact space doing the work, including the folks we personally follow (you included).
3. The long game.
The vision is big: spark a cultural renaissance that puts creativity, storytelling, and civic power at the center of how we shape the future.
What to Expect
Everything we publish should apply to your work the minute you read it. With that in mind, here’s what you’ll find at Create for Change:
Newsletter: Every week, you’ll hear from me and trusted allies in this space. We’ll share articles we’re reading, frameworks we’re testing, paid opportunities, and the occasional hot take.
Podcast: Our video and audio podcast will include conversations with leaders, organizers, and operators rewriting the playbook for what a creative renaissance looks like in 2026 and beyond.
Community: This is a place to find other creatives who care and who get it, so the work stops feeling like it’s on your shoulders alone. We’ll have some community-building opportunities, both online and IRL, with some upcoming events planned in NY, LA, DC, and beyond.
Final Thoughts
There’s a real fork in the road right now. As creatives, you can look at everything happening and let it exhaust you, or you can let it ignite you. I’d rather we choose ignition.
The revolution needs your creativity. Let’s figure out how to use it, together.
More soon,
Dillon St. Bernard
Founder, Team DSB