A3C Action is a partner partnership with Atlanta’s Center for Civic Innovation (CCI) that aims to find, support, and invest in new, innovative ideas that use art, music & hip-hop culture as a vehicle to advance social justice and civic engagement. For the second year of the initiative A3C Action invites organizations from around the country to submit their ideas, and from those ideas 5 organizations will have the opportunity to participate in a pitch competition at the 12th annual A3C Festival & Conference in Atlanta from October 5-9.
On May 17th, A3C Action began accepting submission applications at www.a3caction.org.
A3C Action seeks creative projects that address systemic social justice challenges and opportunities for civic engagement. This includes, but is not limited to, ideas that work to empower citizens, increase access to essential rights like a great education or fair treatment in the criminal justice system, and address issues of economic opportunity, income inequality and ownership. All projects must include use of art, music, and/or hip hop culture as a driver. A3C Action aims to increase new, diverse audiences of creatives and artists at the public problem solving table.
In 2015, A3C & CCI kicked off the first year of A3C Action. During the event, a number of individuals stood up to commit support for the ventures beyond the $10,000 financial investment from A3C and CCI. This includes Theia Washington, director of the City of Atlanta’s Women’s Entrepreneurship Initiative, who made a surprise contribution of $5,000, on behalf of the City of Atlanta, to be evenly distributed among the five ventures. Additionally, Nzinga Shaw, Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer of the Atlanta Hawks Basketball Club, awarded the winning teams with tickets to an Atlanta Hawks game. Jay Tribby, Chief of Staff to Councilmember Kwanza Hall, committed sponsorship support for ventures that worked with youth in Atlanta’s District 2. As icing on the cake, Grammy Award-winning producer Henny tha Bizness committed his support for ventures that want to expose young people into the music industry.
In 2015 A3C Festival & Conference in partnership with the Center for Civic Innovation identified and invested in the following initiatives:
303 COMMUNITY COALITION, INC.
Team Lead: Robert Walsh
Location: Atlanta, Georgia
Project: Create short film about gentrification vs. resident upgrading, using narratives from residents containing all five elements of hip-hop.
CHOP ART
Team Lead: Malika Whitley
Location: Atlanta, Georgia
Project: Empower homeless youth through art by providing a two week arts summer camp focused on the holistic immersion of music, theater and dance.
MEDIA IN NEIGHBORHOODS GROUP
Team Lead: El Sawyer
Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Project: Prisoners, police, prosecutors, judges, at-risk youth create short documentaries about each other to increase humanity and understanding.
OURTIME.ORG
Team Lead: Andrew Lee
Location: Washington, DC
Project: OurTime.org is one of the nation’s largest non-profit organizations committed to increasing the voter participation of young Americans.
P.O.P. (POEM OVER PISTOL) PROGRAM
Team Lead: Fernando Johnson
Location: Atlanta, GA
Project: The P.O.P Program is a Life Skills Program that teaches Youth how to redirect their negative emotions into a rap, poem, song or short story.
A3C Action is committed to getting these ideas the attention and funds they deserve.
