Artists Get Climate Woke!

A growing number of professional artists and Hollywood industry insiders express concern over climate change but see few opportunities to exchange and build strategy with peers. Artists of color, women, immigrant, disabled and trans artists and culture workers are hungry for frameworks that connect climate to their core issues of concern, including migration, racial and gender justice. Our #ClimateWoke convening in Hollywood in 2019 brought actors, musicians, and entertainers of color into a deep understanding of the racial underpinnings of climate chaos and the work needed to help us heal our communities and our planet. Kendrick Sampson (Insecure, BLD PWR) and Favianna Rodriguez co-hosted the event, and participants like Francia Raisa (Grown-ish), Tonatiuh Elizarraraz (Vida), Lauren Jauregei (singer/songwriter), and Karla Souza (How to Get Away With Murder) soaked up the concepts and posted climate themes before, during, and after. The collective social media reach attendees was more than 18 million followers and connected a vastly different audience than usually reached by environmental messages. The video starts in LA and moves to Berkeley, where we gathered climate movement groups to share artist performances and cultural strategy approaches that harness the power of artists. When more movement organizations have the tools to engage artists, more artists will be able to contribute their storytelling superpowers to shift hearts and minds around climate.