what we offer

Social change organizations often struggle to

enlist their communities as partners,
challenging the ability to build the support
needed for sustainable impact. Our trainees
become more innovative, effective leaders
when they are equipped to navigate
constraints and foster an environment where
initiatives can flourish.

education & training

Weve compiled best practices gained
from a decade in the field into a dynamic,
hands-on curriculum for educators,
advocates and organizations to better
realize their missions.

coaching & consulting

Technical Assistance ensures the successful
integration of arts based strategies into
programs and initiatives. We provide
guidance to evaluate and facilitate the
development of creative capacity while
building upon innovative approaches to gain
community buy-in.

skills we develop
CREATIVITY
LEADERSHIP
COLLABORATION
FACILITATION

ArtCorps
communities
in action
Social initiatives make greater impact
when
they
engage
community
participation. ArtCorps fosters that
engagement by matching artists with
partner organizations to lead focused,
high impact arts-based actions in the
field.

97% of trainees feel prepared to apply creative

methods in their work.
On average, our courses score 9.6 out of 10 points.
Page 5

2015 impact
A fr
ic a

Sexual &
Reproductive
Health 4%

8%
United States
18%

Youth
Leadership &
Development
28%

G ende
1 2 % r E q u ity

S
10 oci
% al

Ju

st

ic

Environment
46%

Central
America
74%

Eradicating the
Kerosene
Lamp
regions

focus areas
1,318 individuals
representing 98
organizations
participated in CAI
programs
1 million + lives
were positively
impacted through
training and
outreach

Page 6

2015 was the first year of fully implementing our cascading training model,
focusing on replication to reach a wider scope of impact. In 2015, Creative
Action Institute expanded the creative capacity of 1,318 individuals
representing 98 organizations. Through our courses, workshops, clinics,
consulting sessions, and community actions, we reached over 1.1 million
individuals. We continue our engagement focus on women, girls and
indigenous communities.

global expansion
This year has been an exciting time to
spread our wings and take flight to new
places. Since 2000, our work has
primarily taken shape in Central
America. For the first time, CAI has
initiated
active
projects
and
partnerships in both East and West
Africa. While Central America is where
the majority of our projects happen, we
plan to continue expanding the reach
and diversity of our work throughout
the U.S. and Africa in 2016 and beyond.

program focus

Advancing environmental action and

collaboration remains at the core of
our work, reflecting our founding
mission to engage the intersection of
arts and the environment. Building on
this foundation, we've expanded and
becoming CAI
deepened our focus across five themes:
environment, youth leadership and
In 2010, we took a fresh look at our development, social justice, sexual and
scope of impact and asked the question: reproductive health, and gender equity.
How can we effect greater change?

The answer was to extend beyond the cadre individual artists working on art
based projects and widening the outreach effort into directly training change
makers with our tried and true approaches. This cascading training model has
been growing and evolving ever since.
As Creative Action Institute, our name will better reflect the systematic
transfer of knowledge and skills to our partners on the ground to enable
them to independently imagine and enact creative strategies for
environmental and social change.
ArtCorps will return to its roots as the community engagement program of
CAI- artists directly supporting our partners creative initiatives in the field.
Our end goal into 2016 and beyond remains vibrant communities working
together for social equality and protected ecosystems for future generations.

CLICK TO WATCH
2015 Highlights

Page 7

Janeth Mjuya, SEGA Girls' School Tanzania

ARCHER ESTATE

9.26.15

ANNUAL RAISING SPIRITS FIESTA

SALSA, LIVE ART & FUN
$30,000 RAISED FOR CREATIVE ACTION
SPECIAL THANKS TO

JOHN ARCHER

Page 8

focus: environment
Creative Conservation
Gulf of Honduras
CAI embarked on a three year initiative to
accelerate critical conservation efforts in the
Gulf of Honduras. These marine and coastal
ecosystems of Belize, Guatemala and Honduras
support some of the greatest biodiversity on
Earth and provide livelihoods for thousands.
Vast areas of coral reefs and mangroves have
been lost and face continued threats from oil
drilling, commercial fishing, tourism and
climate change.
Our Creative Conservation program supports the management and protection
of sixteen ecosystems across Gulf of Honduras by expanding the leadership
and engagement capacity of a cohort of six leading conservation
organizations.
After a period of deep training in 2013 & 2014, CAI focused on increasing the
capacity of our partners to apply their knowledge, by providing support
through coaching, co-facilitation, skill building clinics, and field artist
reinforcement for community projects.

raising awareness

projects & partnerships 2015

TIDE works in the heart of the Maya Mountain

Marine Corridor with the primary goal of
establishing sustainable resource management
of the Port Honduras Marine Reserve and local
forests.
CAI helped to successfully launch multiple
community conservation initiatives, including
Hicatee and Yellow-Headed Parrot awareness,
fire management, no-take zone education, the
Greening TIDE Challenge, a national fisher
forum and training teachers in a creative
environmental education curriculum.

Belize Fisher Forum

Getting fishers to work together has always been one of the toughest
challenges...After seeing how useful data could be, and how it depended upon
accurate catch reporting, most agreed to increase their commitment to record
catches accurately and honestly. The participatory techniques we learned kept
fishers engaged in the experience. - James Foley, TIDE Science Director

Page 9

building collaboration
After completing the CAI Certificate Course, Yaaxche Conservation Trust
sought to build trust and engagement with the local community.
7 Yaaxche staff and 16 Mayan women convened to break down misconceptions
and reflect upon ways to improve gender inequality through Social Identity
Mandalas, Real to Ideal Image Theater, and the Collective Tree of Strength.
It was the first training I have ever attended
and I learned a lot about lifting up my village
and being more patient and respectful. Gladis Coc, Mayan Community Leader

the living system

Yaaxche went on to involve 100 local

indigenous community members in arts-based
public projects - such as 30 Mayan women of
the Belize village of Indian Creek molding their
self-portraits in clay as an exploration of
traditional roles. These masks became a public
art installation about gender and Mayan culture
at the University of Belize.

Eighteen conservation leaders emerged equipped with concrete tools to leverage

lasting systemic change after taking part in our creative systems course.
Participants engaged in dialogue around fishing practices, developed compelling
message campaigns about fire management, littering, and manatee protection
and strengthened their regional networks. The goal: looking to the natural world
as a model for more just and sustainable human systems in their communities
and organizations.
"I am now better equipped with tools to bring about behavior change and positive
impacts on the management of natural resources in Belize. - Marion
Muschamp, TIDE Protected Areas Manager

building messaging capacity

The medium is the message, and
never is this more true than in
social action. 10 Oceana staff and
district representatives learned
how to craft messages to target
specific populations, hone media
interview skills and develop a
shared vision for more effective
conservation
awareness
and
education messaging campaigns.

Oceana employs the human banner technique

in Belize for World Ocean Day 2015.

Page 10

impact
98% of participants
reported they are better
able to meet objectives
in their work as a direct
result of their training
100% of participants
reported they are better
able to address challenges
in their work as a direct
result of their training

"[The training] provides us with a

unique way of communicating with
communities and other stakeholders,
which has not been an easy thing. Now
...we have creative avenues for doing
that.- Christina Garcia, Ya'axche
Executive Director

Guatemala
16%

Belize
84%

CLICK TO WATCH
GOH Creative Conservation

countries represented

Participating
Organizations
TIDE
SEA
SACD
FUNDAECO
Ya'axche Conservation Trust
Oceana

Page 11

creative conservation highlights

"Take Care of the Earth and the Earth Will Take
Care of You." This is the powerful collective
message of the mural created by 40 members of
the primarily Mayan community of Medina Bank
in Belize. This project was part of building the
creative collaboration capacity of our partner
Ya'axche to build local awareness about climate
change.

Sixty residents of all ages of Livingston, Guatemala also

took paintbrushes in hand to express their commitment
to protect nearby Cocoli Bay, home to manatees, shrimp,
robalo fishes and mangroves. The three-wall long mural
project is part of FUNDAECO's Campaign for Cocoli Bay
Pride. Students, neighbors, fishermen, women and
families alike expressed their shared vision of a thriving
bay for generations to come.
Together with Sarteneja Alliance for Conservation
and Development of Belize, CAI engaged several
schools in creating songs, poems, theater and folk
tales to express their hope for alternatives to the
climate change they face right now in low-lying
coastal Sarteneja. Their awareness of environmental
stewardship as crucial for the survival of Corozal Bay
inspires them to take action.
Students of the Immaculada School adapted a
centuries-old folktale starring La Llorona - the
Weeping Woman - whose ghost is said to live along
the riverbanks, always crying for her drowned
Sarteneja
Nazarene
Primary children. The students reimagined La Llorona as the
School students adapted Bob future protector of Corozal Bay.
Marley's One Love," to teach the
role of mangroves in providing for
both marine life and people.
TIDE wanted to raise community awareness
of the threatened Hicatee turtle following
their Hicatee Release program. Students of
the Forest Home Methodist Primary School
had fun writing a story, crafting characters,
and bringing them to life through the art of
puppetry - performed for parents, students,
teachers, and the wider community at the
Fresh Water Cup Tournament - a popular
yearly conservation awareness event. The
Hicatee mascot even made an appearance.
The resulting video is in use by local
teachers as a conservation lesson tool.

CLICK TO WATCH
Hicatee Puppet Show

Page 12

Creative Collaboration
& Systems
Central America
27 environmental advocates spent five days
focused on building the ability to collaborate,
understand living systems and apply them to
their conservation work; develop effective
communications strategies, make long-term
strategic decisions for sustainable resource
management, and design creative action
plans.

impact

Participating
Organizations

El S
a lv a

ur

as

14

7%

nd

dor

Ho

Nicaragua 26%

El Porvenir
Paso Pacifico
Asociacion Mangle
CONIC
CEIBA
Cultural Survival
AJAASSPIB
APROSARSTUN
FUNDAECO
FUNDENOR
Entre Volcanes Flora Y Fauna
Amojo
Aires
OXLAJUJ AJPOP
BICA

Guatemala 53%

This training cultivates our

imagination without limits."
- Annahy Morales, FUNDENOR

countries represented
Page 13

Creative Leadership: Cameroon

CAI hosted a three-day Creative Leadership
Certificate course for 29 staff from 16 New
England
Biolabs
Foundation
grantee
organizations based in Cameroon and Ghana
primarily focusing on conservation as well as
gender equality and youth development.
The level of enthusiasm was high, with
unanimous requests for follow-up training.
Soon after the course, aspects of the program
were replicated by Dr. Ndonwie Peter,
Director of the Pan African Organization for
Research, to train 20 head educators in Ghana.

FOLLOW THE LINK

to learn more

Program Goals
Gain strategies & arts-based tools to apply in education & outreach efforts
Identify root causes, maximize scarce resources & overcome challenges
Build inter-organizational collaboration
Strengthen the network of peer organizations across Cameroon and Ghana
"The training is practical and highly innovative. It taught me how to work
with multiple stakeholders and use arts as a vivid way of providing timely
solutions to the development needs of target communities." - Dr. Ndonwie
Peter, Pan African Org, Ghana
"The training has completely shaped and
enriched me with a world of knowledge and
creative skills that will not only be useful to my
organization, but for the communities where
we work. In just three days, [the CAI staff] has
transformed me from a leader to a creative
leader." - Dr. Felix Lawir, Director, Nature Care
Cameroon

Honing Leadership Skills

Four Keys of Creativity
Fluency
Flexibility
Elaboration
Originality

Recycled Innovation Challenge

Collective Vision Mind Map
Leadership Diamonds
Problem/Solution Tree
Rivers of Purpose
World Cafe
Art Codes
Generative Questions
Obstacles & Opportunities
Page 14

impact

The cohort collectively

identified new approaches
in response to challenges,
among them wildlife
poaching and increased
flooding.

Gender
Equity 19%

Environment
69%

Youth 12%

"I realized the importance of

collaboration and how I must
consider
the
views
and
opinions of my team members
in any given activity. Creativity
will forever remain one of my
strategies to create impacts in
my community." - Ernestine
Leikeki Sevidzem, Cameroon
Gender
and
Environment
Watch

organization
focus
Conservation Organizations
Nature Care Cameroon
Wildlife Conservation Society
Environment & Rural Development Foundation
Environmental Governance Institute
Forests, Resources & People
Pandrillus Foundation/Limbe Wildlife Centre
Resource Centre for Environment & Sustainable Development
The Greens
Centre for Nursery Development and Eru Propagation
Cameroon Gender & Environment Watch
Community Action for Development
Page 15

focus: youth leadership

& development
Strengthening Outreach
Guatemala
Guatemala is facing an education crisis: only 3 out of every 10 children
graduate from sixth grade.
Two partner organizations - PENNAT and Familias de Esparanza - are
working hard to help at risk youth succeed. However, both are
challenged by limited resources and training opportunities.
With such high stakes, it's essential that those offering outreach to at-risk
youth and their families have access to a powerful arsenal of innovative
tools to achieve their goals.
CAI spent three days with 16 community educators and youth advocates
to strengthen their presentation and facilitation skills and build their
repertoire of experiential and creative pedagogy.
Participants emerged with clearly defined road maps to replicate the
workshop activities with at-risk youth and to pass on the knowledge to
regional educators.

Program Goals
Gain basic popular education skills.
Build creative leadership capacity.
Learn to implement tools in daily work.

Outcomes
Increased collaboration between partner organizations, establishing
a foundation for greater impact in future projects.
Clear plans for replication in their outreach efforts.
PENNAT plans to initiate creative leadership training for
teachers.
"...I've had leadership training before, and there is no comparison - [CAI
training] is engaging and practical instead of just theoretical...I feel well
equipped and energized."- Yolanda Micaela Salvado, Community Education
PENNAT
Page 16

focus: sexual
& reproductive health
Guatemala Cohort
Despite the fact that 69% of the population in Guatemala is less than 30 years
old, sexual education still hasnt reached most public schools.
There are several organizations focusing on sexual and reproductive health
issues - but often with limited resources. 1 in 3 indigenous women in
Guatemala have no access to health and family planning services. In
addition, 22% of women give birth before the age of 18 and only 14% of
indigenous girls in rural areas complete primary school.
Our response is to strengthen those organizations working for access to
sexual and reproductive health, particularly in rural areas, by providing
cutting edge strategies to reach their target population and effectively shift
behaviors.
Throughout 2015, we focused on developing a cohort of organizations
engaged in seeking innovative ways to support access to sexual and
reproductive health education and services, particularly in rural Guatemala.
The first Creative Leadership course for 22 educators and health workers
from five Guatemalan organizations convened in February 2016, with three
more Certificate in Creative Leadership courses in the pipeline for 20162017.

Page 17

focus: gender equity

East African Girls' Leadership Summit
In partnership with Komera, Akili Dada, and funding support from the How
Fund and the Paperseed Foundation, CAI designed and facilitated a powerful
summit focused on empowering young women as creative leaders equiping
them with new tools to address gender-based violence, barriers to education,
and early marriage.
31 girls ages 15-19 converged in Nairobi, Kenya for the East African Girls'
Leadership Summit (EAGLS) where, over the course of four days, they
discovered and unleashed their potential as young women, as emerging leaders,
and as Urumuri Dada - sisters who light up the world. These future leaders
representing eight organizations and schools in Kenya, Rwanda and Tanzania
came together to learn from one another and develop their skills as community
leaders.

Our goal to eradicate the kerosene

lamp from Africa by 2020 is the rst,
curriculum design
facilitator
and very& achievable,
steptraining
on this
journey.
2015, we are
a
The EAGLS creative leadership curriculum
was Indesigned
to launching
be flexible,
global
campaign
seeking
$20million
replicable, and scalable - holistically addressing emotional, behavioral, cultural,
and systemic elements of girls' development. needed to make this a reality.

As part of the model, we trained ten women mentors from six organizations ind
in our participatory facilitation approach using arts modalities and forum theater
to identify creative solutions to entrenched issues. The goal: to gain the skills
and confidence to lead the girls in creative actions in their communities and
future Summits. Participants identified the training as a breakthrough in
understanding ways to empower girls on their journey as future leaders.

Facilitators: Skills Gained

Fostering inclusive dialogue
Prompting critical thinking
Building trust
Encouraging creative risk-taking
Allowing exploration of taboo topics
Leading creative social actions
I learned that as a leader I
can influence other people
to rise and fight what they
do not want with what they
really love.
- Maithya
Norah Nzula, Akili Dada

I realized there is a wealth of knowledge

in the girls that we dont often tap into. I
have learned how we can draw that out
using art techniques and the circle
facilitation model.- Prisca Muwia, Kenya
Education Fund
Page 18

Summit Goals
Build a diverse network of leaders and girls' rights advocates
Explore difficult issues in a supportive environment
Affirm the confidence and solidarity of young women
Strengthen leadership capacity of young women
Develop skills and capacity of summit facilitators
Equip facilitators with arts-based tools that resonate
Building friendships with girls from other
countries empowered participants with
the realization that they are not alone in
the issues they face. Together, they
identified and practiced ways to take
action against abusive and negative
behaviors from their families and
communities.

Post Summit Engagement

Monthly coaching
Mini Summits
Creative Action Toolkit
Creative social actions

Girls in the Summit learned "Break the Chain" - the official 1 Billion Rising dance
to express the power and unity of thousands of girls and women across 200
countries on February 14. All participating schools and organizations took part
in V Day with creative actions such as teaching and performing "Break the
Chain," staging community marches, discussions and speakers - raising
awareness with the inspiring message that girls and women have the right to
safety, freedom and self expression.
Thirty-one young women came
together to claim their power,
unleash their creativity, and form
a network of solidarity to return to
their communities with their
inner torch aflame - igniting a
movement in which their voices
indeed matter.

We are together.
We have unity,
self-confidence
and creativity.
Urumuri Dada.
We are sisters
who light up
the world.

v day social
media reach

I wasnt self-confident before. Now I know I am

powerful, special, loved, creative, and smart. I am
a leader who can make changes in my
community because I am a Urumuri Dada a
sister who lights up the world!
- Janeth Mjuya, student
SEGA Girls' School
Tanzania

CLICK TO WATCH
SEGA students perform
Break the Chain
V Day 2015

Page 19

impact
1.

Participants
demonstrated an overall
9% increase in
leadership, creativity,
and social change skills.

2.

age range

%
16
ld
so

17

5%

ar

ld
s

r s o ld

0%
ld 1

so
ar

11

Rwanda 19%

ye

rs o

ar
e
9y

d 16%

o ld

1 6 yea

yea

ye

ars ol

5%

15

22

21 ye

Tanzania
16%

Kenya 65%
%
18 years old 37%

country of origin
Participating Organizations
Kenya Education Fund
Asante Africa
Heshima Kenya
Carolina for Kibera
Akili Dada
Fortress of Hope
Komera
Nurturing Minds/SEGA Girls' School
Page 20

focus: social justice

Dusquene University
Educational Leadership Symposium
2015 was the year that the civil rights movement Black Lives Matter burst onto
the campaign trail and college campuses to unify, inspire and protest against
the continuing legacy of racism in the U.S. Taking part in this momentum, we
brought together 60 academics, community leaders, professors, church
pastors, organizers, mentors and high-school students for "Rivers of Justice:
Bridges of Love," two days of theater, storytelling, collective poetry, intergenerational dialogue, and visual art to explore two fundamental questions:
How do we reclaim voices of innocence and imagine rivers of renewal? How do
past reflections and present perceptions foster hope to generate action?

Mediums of Expression
Collective Poems
Theater
Social Media
Visual Art

Youth share struggles and

dreams in a "double circle."

In a world where Black Lives

Matter, I imagine.

"CAI created a learning space that was

gracious and generous in its capacity to
hold all of who we were individually
and the possibilities of who we can be
collectively." - Dr. Gretchen Generatte,
Associate Dean for Graduate Studies &
Research, Dusquene University

"...A world where a black

father doesnt have to teach
their child to how to
interact with police before
he teaches them about the
birds and bees.
"...A world where black children
know they are wanted.
"...A world where I can truly
live and not just survive.
Page 21

Communities Uniting Against Violence (CUAV)

CUAV provides support and organizes campaigns for the rights of the
LGBTQ community in San Francisco. We engaged staff in theater techniques
to support effective education, healing and outreach for those impacted by
abuse and the wider community.

Creative Leadership
& Systems Thinking
36 diverse Bay Area social justice and
education leaders took part in two
workshops to expand their capacity to
propel change. Leadership & Creativity
focused on the development of creative
strategies and tactics to apply in their fight
for LBGT rights, racial equity and access to
education. Participants engaged in peer
coaching to reframe issues and craft
generative questions. Systems Thinking &
Design brought together those working in
education, anti-violence, racial justice,
forest campaigns, immigrant rights and
organizational development to apply living
systems principles in their work, such as
how to identify values, patterns, and
structures supporting a system, and how to
find the points of strategic intervention.
"Personally, it made me feel energized, inspired and hopeful that there
are more and more people and organizations committed to system
thinking. Professionally, it gave me tools that I can use to implement
system thinking into my daily work and overall career path."
- Anna Gnosh, Communication Consultant

Key Outcomes
Creative intervention design for environmental justice, gender
violence, deportations, community mental health and gentrification
Use of theater to explore open feedback models, cultivate new
possibilities and collective wisdom and develop structures which
foster cooperation

Page 22

fy15 financials
Creative Action Institute experienced an overall 20% financial growth in
2015, reflecting the expanded program reach made possible with our
scaled up approach.

st
ra
t io

Fu
1 0 n dra
%
is

i
in
m
Ad 9%
1

in g

allocation of
expenses

TOTAL INCOME

$492,693

TOTAL EXPENSES

$481,300

NET INCOME

$ 11,393

sources of
income
Program
Services
17%

Individuals
20%

n
Corporate
26%

Program 71%

Foundations
37%

Page 23