Check out a recap of our activities during the first half of 2017 and stay tuned as we turn up the heat this summer.

On April 9th, 2017 – Beautiful Trouble partnered with the Hammer Museum to host a one-of-a-kind training on Creative Direct Action for nearly 500 people at the historic Wiltern Theater in Downtown Los Angeles. The event was called “Stand Up and Fight Back: Tactics and Strategies for Effective Creative Activism.”

Beautiful Trouble conducted a training as part of an ongoing partnership with Bend the Arc.

On March 9th, Beautiful Trouble gathered together 33 people for a Training for Trainers of nonviolent direct action (NVDA) workshop. The training gathered experienced activists and trainers, some of whom were lapsed trainers of NVDA looking for a refresher course, as well as experienced facilitators who were looking for NVDA content-specific training.

Calls have been circulating fast and furious on social media for a nationwide general strike on February 17. But what does that really mean?

A classic general strike happens when a substantial percentage of the workforce refuses to work, thus crippling a nation’s economy, and forcing major concessions, or even a change of government. In our era, with a weak labor movement, but a nationwide political crisis, workers (and non-workers alike) need to creatively reinvent the tactic.

Check out these Insights from Beautiful Trouble and Beautiful Rising for the era of Trump.

As our movements gear up to face down the looming Trumpocalypse, here are 10 modules from the Beautiful Trouble and Beautiful Rising toolboxes that may prove useful.

After two years and seven jam sessions and 120 contributions from all over the world… Beautiful Rising is finally LIVE! (And Arabic and Spanish sites coming very soon.)

Bursting with stories and hard won insights from activists across the Global South, the toolbox is an interactive platform for building better movements and designing more effective actions.

On Wednesday, July 13th, the BTTN Hangout Live! series continued in part 3 with artivistas and creative action organizers for the Republican National Convention and Democratic National Convention.

This project was the culmination of LMU’s 2015-2016 Alternative Breaks Program, where students have an opportunity to participate in immersive, educational social justice oriented trips to different places around the globe. During a re-orientation meeting upon students’ return, BT Trainer Chelsea Byers led a 2-hour workshop on “Art as a Tool for Social Change,” where she spoke to the role of art in social movements and facilitated the development of a plan to build a collective art piece on campus.

The following positions have been filled. Thank you for your interest!

Assistant Project Manager and Assistant Editor

The love of changemakers around the globe who are developing innovative strategies for making our world more just, sustainable and democratic—for us and for generations to come. The love that is spread through telling our stories, and giving people tools to write their own. The love that powers the other world that is not just possible, but coming into being all around us.

Will you contribute to People Powered Love today?

For the last four years, Beautiful Trouble has shared powerful stories of people coming together to resist injustice across the world. Our books, online tools and global training program equip communities with strategic frameworks and tools to take action creatively and effectively.

The Beautiful Trouble Training Network is almost three years old and has already conducted over 40 trainings for a variety of groups in the United States, Canada, and Europe. Led by people on the frontlines of injustice in these movements, the Network has been hugely supportive to a wide range of grassroots movements for social justice.

What can you learn about strategic creative nonviolent action in 90 minutes? If you said not much, you would be far off the mark! In this short amount of time, students at Loyola Marymount University went on a gallery walk through a museum of nonviolent direct action, shared best and worst action stories and their strategic implications, and dived into a whirlwind presentation of tactics, principles and action history.

Imagine taking the greatest movement victories of the last 100+ years and teasing out the core strategies and tactics that made them successful — then adding in the most contagious solutions people are working on today to make the transition to a just and sustainable society. That’d be a pretty great toolbox or two right there. Now imagine a deck of cards and an online gaming platform that allowed you to play with these ideas in different ways depending on the challenges you’re facing.

In a continued effort to get this information into the hands of troublemakers around the globe, Beautiful Trouble is available in seven languages (and counting!) Most of the foreign editions are initiated by local artist-activists and showcase the most creative social change efforts in each country.

On Wednesday, November 18th, the BTTN Hangout Live! series continued with Paris COP 21 artivistas and organizers.

Our allies have been keeping busy after the release of Beautiful Trouble’s Russian edition. Yuliya and Helen of 350.org recently organized an “Energizer Camp” for 20 environmental activists from Ukraine and surrounding countries.

The first BT TN HangOut, Live!, feat. the (sur)real Black Body Survival Guide took place Wed Aug 5th at 5 pm PT// 8pm EST.

This launched a BTTN LIVE! series showcasing the latest and greatest in creative action news from around the globe; & offer a platform for BT Trainers and allies to share current work and relay network info.

Are you a detail-oriented up-and-coming activist with a passion for social change, social media, and getting stuff done? Want to expand your skill-set and increase your organizing mojo? Here is an opportunity to work with a dynamic network of artist-activist changemakers as we continue to grow Beautiful Trouble.