The 100K Project is a national movement to inspire and equip 100,000 people from the arts, social work, nursing, library, science, and education sectors to run for local office as champions of the public sector, science, the rule of law, equity, peace, and creativity. Are YOU a leader? Hell, yes.

Have you heard of the Culture Wars from the early 1990's? No? We're not surprised. This was a fierce, protracted, and extremely attack on the arts and freedom of expression in America. On the surface, the battle was about funding or cancelling the National Endowment for the Arts. It was waged on us by extremely right wing politicians and fundamentalist ministers and their organizations. One of the leading attackers was the Christian Coalition, founded by Reverend Pat Robertson.

America's creative community was taken by surprise and we organized to save the funding agency but sacrificed the support for individual artists. In the end we won the battle to save the NEA but LOST the Culture Wars.

This image displays the results of the Culture Wars. Two front page articles from the New Yoir Times thiry years apart. What happened was this - The Far Right used its direct mail and messaging campaigns attacking the arts to build their base. The Christian Colaition and their allies then galvanized them, trained them, and ran their supporters for public office all over America.

Have you heard of The Leadership Institute? No? We're not surprised. It was founded in 1979 and has an annual budget of $38 million. It is all about building power for the conservative movement in America. They offer over 225 civic trainings annually and have graduated over 300,000 people into civic leadership roles and elective office.

This is just part of the background that explains the present state of American civics. If you make your living from your brain, if you value creativity and freedom of expression, if you have a generous and expansive civic heart - then you need to know this history and be PISSED OFF.

The 100K Project is a fairly simple notion. We want 100,000 people JUST LIKE YOU - people from the arts, community service, social work, nursing, science, and education sectors to run for local office or to help someone run. We want you to run on or to champion those who champion the public sector, science, the rule of law, equity, peace, and creativity. We believe that you and your creative peers have a wonderful set of values, skills, and experiences desperately needed in American civic life right now.

We believe that people in the arts and scienes (social and physical) have been the creators of amazing solutions and strategies to deal with pressing issues - planet-wide issuse. BUT these plans never come to pass because we, collectively, lack the power to implement them. We need to plot a path to power in order to govern for the common good according to our shared values and experiences. That's exactly what the Other Side has done for over five decades. How is that working out for you? For your community? For the country?

We are excited to announce that our first online leadership/candidate training program for creative workers will be launching on October 9 for eight Zoom sessions. Please check out the details here. This program is being delivered in collaboration with the National Guild for Community Arts Education and the Cleveland Arts Education Consortium.

We seek to take this training program across the country.

Will you help spread the word? Will you make an investment in this work so we expand it and offer scholarships to those who can't afford the modest program fee? The Othe Side has been grinding away in the politcal arena for decades. We have some catching up to do. 

It's just the future of democracy in America at stake. No biggie. Are you in?