NIL 2024: Championing a Multiracial Democracy
by Elizabeth Johnsen, Interim Vice President of Program Strategy and Impact, The Opportunity Agenda
This week, we are just three months away from a historic presidential election. This election is significant for many reasons, including the groundbreaking candidacy of the first Black and South Asian American woman. At this moment, the prevailing social debates on racial justice, LGBTQ and gender rights, immigration, economic opportunity, democratic civic engagement, and America’s journey toward truth and reconciliation are at stake.
These are issues that many of us have devoted our careers and personal livelihoods to. They are the reason many of us have come together as social justice practitioners. These issues serve as the daily motivations that drive us to do the work we do, and they unite us through their intersectional purpose. They also uplift the urgent need – now, more than ever – to protect and champion a multiracial and inclusive democracy, which is the driving theme of this year’s Narrative Innovators Lab (NIL).
In the 11 years that I’ve helped to plan, co-design, and implement TOA’s programmatic events, I have met more than 1,000 advocates, activists, artists and cultural strategists who have shared unwavering commitment to building a better future. They have come through our Communications Institute, our Creative Change Retreat, and narrative and messaging trainings across the country. Together, we are building toward a national culture of opportunity, community and equality – a multiracial democracy where everyone’s voices and experiences are considered in decision-making.
This month, we will welcome 17 more of these incredible social justice leaders to our second annual Narrative Innovators Lab, held in Brooklyn, NY.
The NIL creates the conditions for leaders from across the political justice spectrum to be able to build tangible interventions that move us toward a multiracial democracy. The program functions as an implementation hub for TOA’s vision and mission, bringing together expert artists and advocates to conceive, develop, and refine new ideas, projects, and campaigns.
Shifting narratives takes time and collective buy-in, but we know that focused research and communications tools can empower artists and advocates alike to identify and be more strategic and purposeful about the opportunities that may emerge between their creative practice and the issues they care about.
Building on the Narrative Innovators Lab model that we piloted in 2023, we are welcoming 10 diverse social justice leaders and seven boundary-breaking artists from across the country to build community and strategize together in New York City. After five days of dialogue, experimentation, and learning together, these narrative practitioners will begin their six-month Fellowship with TOA, which culminates early next year with their individual projects.
We are bringing this cohort together to build a long-term narrative strategy that works to normalize our values of justice, equity, safety and opportunity beyond political moments such as the one we find ourselves in now, in an effort to create sustained and lasting change and to shift culture. The 2024 NIL is a unique opportunity to build lasting power before, during and after this key decision moment, and our Fellows are some of the most exceptional practitioners in the field to lead the way.
We know that a powerful, lasting narrative shift requires a chorus of diverse voices calling for the same future. By co-creating a shared narrative vision together, the NIL Fellows can amplify their individual impact, enabling the sharing of resources, ideas, and networks. This collaborative endeavor is especially crucial during times that our country finds itself in such as now, when engaging our audiences becomes increasingly vital.
At TOA, we believe the people most directly affected by the issues are the ones closest to the solutions, innovations, and breakthroughs that our country needs. We also believe that when activists engage with artists as strategic partners, they can improve the quality, scale, and vision of narrative strategy, and when artists engage with activists, they can uncover new and even shared ways to create lasting impact and culture shift.
I can’t wait to see what comes out of this year’s NIL Fellowship, and I can’t wait to meet the new cohort of 17 narrative practitioners, activists, and artists, who will join TOA’s national network of hundreds.
