Even with the limitations of the virtual format, the class showed how Beautiful Trouble could be brought into the classroom to animate the curriculum, energize the students, and help make a better world.

This is Nadine Bloch, reporting live from the streets of DC… where we are reclaiming public space and pushing forward creative messaging for impeachment, removal and expulsion (aka what we have been doing everyday for the last year!). Here are some highlights.

Turnout, especially in polarized times like these, wins elections. The stakes in this election — whether we have a livable planet, whether kids are incarcerated in detention centers and, perhaps, whether we continue to have a functional democracy — are high. And when the stakes are this high, it’s time to get creative. 

We are ready for YOU! The Resistance Hotline is a new take on a 1-800 support line offering training and nonviolent action planning to defend the integrity of our elections and build a strong progressive movement.

In October, 30 young leaders from IfNotNow, a movement working to end the American Jewish Community’s support for the occupation in Israel/Palestine, and Sunrise, youth-led movement to end the climate crisis, came together at the Watershed Center for a Nonviolent Action Training for Trainers with nonviolent action trainer extraordinaire Nadine Bloch.

The team of troublemakers behind the best selling DIY-Revolution manual, Beautiful Trouble, are hosting a special weekend of trainings catered to serve organizations, networks, and activists organizing for a more just, healthy, and equitable world.

Want to join us?

We will be conducting a 2.5 day training for trainers, delving deep into Beautiful Trouble’s creative toolbox.

On October 25th, 2017, Beautiful Trouble delivered the third program in The Activist Lab series, which was held at the Cross-Cultural Center at California State University San Marcos. This series aims to teach students and faculty how to become better activists and advocates for social justice.

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.”

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.

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.

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.

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.

Over Memorial Day weekend, 23 intrepid movement builders traveled by plane, train, automobile and bicycle (yes — bicycle! David Sievers from Avaaz rode his bike 14 miles from the train station) to the gorgeous Watershed Retreat Center in Millerton, New York for the first ever Beautiful Trouble Training for Trainers.

Beautiful Trouble just completed our most ambitious training yet — and it was a smashing success!

In a first time collaborative effort, Beautiful Trouble, The Yes Lab, and the Center for Artistic Activism came together to deliver a two-day Creative Action Training for 50+ activists and artists at NYU’s Hemispheric Institute.

With the “Fight for Fifteen” campaign for a living wage for fast food workers just starting to get traction in Los Angeles, SEIU Local 721 hosted a Beautiful Trouble training for their entire organizing staff.

Beautiful Trouble’s new Director of Training, Gan Golan, will co-host a training session entitled “Art is a Hammer: Reshaping the Narrative Through Cultural Intervention” at the 2013 gathering of Netroots Nation, June 20 – 23 in San Jose, California.

Hello Troublemakers!

Since we launched Beautiful Trouble, we’ve been telling people that the book is a training program just waiting to happen. Well, the wait is over: it’s happening!

Beautiful Trouble is off to the printer! Copies are being bound as you read these very words, and we couldn’t be happier with how it turned out.