NARRATIVE & CULTURAL STRATEGY THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

A Field Initiative Built on Trust (Erin Lynn Williams and Cinthia Carvajal, 2024)

(Learn how the Constellations Culture Change Fund & Initiative reimagined grantmaking through flexible, community-led approaches inspired by mycelial networks.)

(How a start-up collaborative fund leveraged their narrative system to demonstrate trust and build BIPOC narrative power)

Constellations: An Interview on Radical Investment for Transformative Narrative Power (Erin Lynn Williams, Tara Dorabji, and Janelle Treibitz, Constellations Culture Change Initiative for Grantmakers in the Arts, 2023)

(An Interview on Radical Investment for Transformative Narrative Power)

Weaving Forward Report (ArtChangeUS, 2022)

(In Weaving Forward, we describe Culture Bearers as artists and carriers of ancestral knowledge who weave past, present, and future stewardship of land, culture, community, and spirit.)

(Recommendations on funding narrative change at the intersection of art and social justice.)

DEFINITION OF TERMS

ARTIST DISRUPTORS

are artists who are rooted in community, who inspire action, and who are working at the intersection of art and social justice. Artist Disruptors are able to powerfully manifest narratives into stories and visuals that speak directly to their audiences and communities. They help us question our assumptions, envision alternative futures, and inspire us to work toward the future we need.

CULTURE BEARERS

are embodiments of narrative, connecting our past to our future. “They represent an embedded presence in place, community trust and mutual support.” They are cultural stewards and help us understand traditional ways of knowing and creating as paths to community health and healing.

Traditional Culture Bearers come from and inform cultural communities of practice, representing generations of stewardship, and knowledge transmission.

Tradition-Based Culture Bearers are based in the same cultural communities of practice, but engage as subject matter through a mix of heritage and new methodologies.

NARRATIVE

An array of related & connected stories and messages on a particular subject, issue, or problem. They suggest causes, problems and solutions. We interpret stories and messages through them. Narratives evoke emotion, offer analysis, and suggest action; they tell us how we should feel, think, and act. Narrative is the level at which society moves.

CULTURAL STRATEGY

An underlying belief that transmits a value. Deep Narratives provide the logic for a worldview, and manifest as a “core belief” or “gut instinct” that guide people to determine whether something is right or wrong. Some people refer to them as mindsets, meta-narratives, or mental models.

DEEP NARRATIVE

A set of deep narratives that, taken together, create a worldview.

NARRATIVE SYSTEM

The praxis of using stories, messages, and narratives in a purposeful way to move people toward the narratives, deep narratives, and worldviews we want to advance

NARRATIVE STRATEGY

A Cultural Strategy is a practice that leverages the catalytic and emotional power of culture and the arts to shift attitudes, behaviors, resources, narratives and power.