Culture Surge, a consortium of women-of-color-led organizations, was formed in 2020 as “an accelerator for building narrative power” on the left. Among its first initiatives was the creation of a sweeping new core story to guide artists and storytellers in rallying mass audiences to action for inclusion and justice. I was honored and pleased to be asked to co-author this historic story guide, working with co-author Erin Potts, a friend, frequent collaborator, and well-known trailblazer in the field of cultural organizing. What we produced was immeasurably strengthened by a large, diverse group of storytellers and activists who were recruited by Culture Surge to offer suggestions and editing.

“Culture Surge is a women-of-color-led coalition of storytellers, artists,organizers and researchers bringing together all that we know about stories that change the world in order to support critical storytelling for this moment. We know that to persuade people of their power, to activate people for social change, stories are essential.”

—From The Storytellers’ Guide to Changing Our World

The Culture Surge guide was, among other things, a summary and synthesis of several years of intensive work undertaken to spread understanding of storytelling throughout the progressive movement. The object was to equip progressive organizations to use storytelling to effectively build and motivate support for turning America into a country of inclusion and equal justice where everyone can thrive.

The Storytellers’ Guide briefly chronicles these story-building efforts, highlighting the most influential narrative projects. Such efforts have a long history, which greatly intensified immediately after the election of Donald Trump in 2016.