Let’s Get Free in 2023!
As we eased into 2023, we reflected on what we accomplished in the face of rising fascism and deepening climate emergency in the previous year.
And we celebrated the dedication, creativity, and resilience of our many movements—and recognized the small but vital role that Beautiful Trouble (and our upcoming Beautiful Solutions) plays in supporting changemakers to be more innovative and effective in their vital work.
Here are some of the 2022 highlights of Beautiful Trouble in numbers:
Our newly released BATMo! [Beautiful Action Trainer Modules] Toolkit for nonviolent direct action trainers kicked off with a launch party of 300+ activists around the world. It has since been downloaded 450+ times and is available for free download in 4 languages.
Our Beautiful Trouble Online Toolbox continues to receive thousands of views and was used worldwide by educators and organizers. By request from activists organizing to stop the war on Ukraine, we translated the toolbox into Russian. And we added new pieces including “Abolition” by Miriame Kaba and “Joy Is a Revolutionary Force” by Darya Alikhani.
We added a full Organizing 101 set in the Beautiful Trouble Toolbox.
Screenshot of The Organizing 101 Set in the Beautiful Trouble Toolbox.
Our Get Up, Rise Up (GURU) direct action fund granted a total of $11K to 14 projects. Many are featured here on our blog, from the #HoldTheDoor action by the National Student Union in Zimbabwe, to UK demonstrations demanding lower insulin costs.
We conducted 60+ training sessions with more than 1200+ people from Myanmar and Slovakia, to Denmark and the USA. We collaborated with many organizations, including: Amnesty International, Greenpeace, Action Aid, Pericles Foundation, 350.org, Planned Parenthood, Abortion Access Front, and Extinction Rebellion.
We facilitated the Smithsonian Cooper Hewitt Museum’s first post-COVID in-person workshop for their ongoing Designing Peace exhibit, as well contributed to the accompanying publication, Designing Peace: Building A Better Future Now.
A Beautiful Trouble group presentation at the Smithsonian Cooper Hewitt Museum workshop, October 2022.
Over 60 inspiring stories and solutions came together to propel our final editing stages of the forthcoming book, Beautiful Solutions (and pre-orders are still welcome!).
We teamed up with TESA Collective to distribute thousands of card decks far and wide around the globe.
And as always–we helped activists take over the streets around the globe!
And…one major Outside-Inside victory – we are proud to celebrate that our Speaker of the House & Universe Director of Operations Chelsea Byers was elected to her city council!
Of course the numbers only say so much. The stories pouring in from all corners are what get us stoked about the new year: an elected official is using our strategy card deck to game out urban planning and peacebuilding; the training in Slovakia moved the needle on local climate goals, and BT workshops reinvigorated activists and educators from the Syrian diaspora to students in Tennessee.
Beautiful Trouble Training in Slovakia, May 2022.
We crave your testimonies! None of this is possible without YOU! We've got a big 2023 coming your way with a slew of new methodologies, the launch of a podcast, and so much more.
Drop us a line to share how you intend to employ (and enjoy!) our tools in your changemaking work for 2023.
Your donations of funds and your real-life stories are far better than caffeine in keeping us going to non-violently fight the good fight!
Let’s get free in 2023!
