What makes change possible?
Ideas, stories, and conversations about culture, collective action, and the work of making change.
I took this photo of a nonviolent protest in 1993, moments before police came in and beat the monks. I still find myself studying their faces, struck by the many different expressions of commitment and desire for change.
Thinking Out Loud
How do we make things better? What roles do art, music, and storytelling play? And what can each of us contribute? Essays, reflections, and occasional experiments in making sense of culture, collective action, and the messy work of making change. Find them all here.
Selected Pieces
Why Do We Sing? Sometimes music helps us change things. Sometimes it just helps us live.
Gen X Questioned Power. Now We Hold It. What We Do With It Matters. A reflection on a generation that grew up questioning authority and now finds itself holding power. What can we learn from our past, and how will we use our influence today?
A Conversation About Cultural Strategy Co-written with Jeff Chang and Liz Manne, this 2018 essay explores what cultural strategy is, how it relates to organizing and social change, and why the language we use to describe our work matters. An invitation to keep questioning and developing the practice together.
Napkins & Envelopes: Small thoughts, big questions, and things I'm still figuring out. Explore them on Instagram →
Working Together
Much of my work involves bringing people together to ask better questions, explore complex challenges, and figure out what comes next. I do this in classrooms, public conversations, retreats, workshops, and strategic collaborations.
Conversations
Keynotes, interactive talks, interviews, panels, and moderated conversations about culture, artists, movements, and what makes change possible.
Teaching
Fellowships, university classes, seminars, and other learning experiences exploring art, culture, collective action, leadership, and social change.
Facilitation
Retreats, workshops, and gatherings that create space for people to think together, navigate complex questions, and move toward shared understanding and action.
Strategic Advising
Drawing on decades of experience in cultural strategy, I help artists, organizations, and movements understand the cultural landscape, identify opportunities, and develop strategies for acting on them.
Have an idea for a conversation, gathering, or collaboration? Let’s talk!
Selected Work
Over the years, my work has taken many forms, from creating and producing cultural projects to research, organizing, and building collaborations. Here are a few examples.
Freedom Needs a Soundtrack
Thirty years after co-founding the Tibetan Freedom Concerts with Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys, I created and executive produced this six-part, award-winning documentary podcast. Through the voices of artists, Tibetan activists, and organizers, we revisit how the concerts came together, what they changed, and what their story can teach us about collective action today.
Spotlight on Impact Storytelling
What makes storytelling effective in creating social change? And how can we get better at it? Co-authored with Dom Lowell and Liz Manne, this 2022 report draws on nearly 50 reports and conversations with 24 leaders working at the intersection of storytelling and social change. We examined what's working, what's missing, and what could help strengthen this growing area of practice, offering five recommendations for moving the work forward.
Revolutions Per Minute (RPM)
Artists have so much more to contribute to social change than celebrity endorsements and benefit concerts. I co-founded RPM (formerly ATC) with people from the R.E.M. and Pearl Jam teams to help make that possible.
Together, we supported more than 1,300 artists through campaigns, partnerships, and retreats. Our post-Katrina work in New Orleans eventually led me to call the city home for a decade. It continues to shape how I think about culture and change.
See some of what we did in this mini-documentary on our work. →
How I Got Here
For more than thirty-five years, I've worked at the intersection of art, culture, and social change. I've helped bring artists and movements together, built organizations and collaborations, and spent a lot of time trying to understand how change actually happens.
In my early twenties, I co-founded the Tibetan Freedom Concerts with Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys. I later co-founded Revolutions Per Minute, which supported more than 1,300 musicians and comedians in their social justice work. Since then, my work has spanned music, film, visual art, media, and social movements, with storytelling at the heart of it all.
In 2026, I created and executive produced Freedom Needs a Soundtrack, an award-winning, six-part documentary podcast that follows my journey from music fan to activist to co-founder of the Tibetan Freedom Concerts, while exploring what the concerts changed, what they didn't, and what we can learn from them today.
Along the way, I've helped shape the fields of cultural strategy, narrative change, and impact storytelling, contributing ideas and practices that have also found their way into academic research and teaching. But what matters most to me is seeing those ideas help artists, activists, and communities make change in the world.
These days, I'm writing, teaching, facilitating conversations, and sharing what I've learned with people beyond the professional fields I've spent my career in.
With Chuck D of Public Enemy and Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys at a New York press conference for the Tibetan Freedom Concerts, 1997. Photo: Danny Clinch
Let's talk.
Have an idea, a question, or an invitation? I'm always interested in thoughtful conversations, new collaborations, and opportunities to learn and work together.