The Creative Instigator’s Handbook

Flash mobs come and go, but purposeful creativity can change communities. Are you a creative (aspiring or otherwise) who is curious about how you can apply your skills to activist, socially engaged art projects? Whether you paint, sew, sing, build, weld, or rhyme, Make It Meaningful explores how to take that big project you’ve been dreaming about and actually make it a happen. In response to the challenging times that we live in, Make It Meaningful will inspire readers to use their creativity to spur change in the world around them. Guiding readers through the various aspects of a project from ideation to final documentation, the book examines the relationship between creative leadership, community art projects, and social justice, and includes the perspectives of 23 creative instigators who have stretched the boundaries of what “art” should or shouldn’t do. Bold and imaginative, Make It Meaningful will appeal to creatives willing to expand their comfort zone by jumping into the fray and doing some outrageous, inspired rabble-rousing of their very own. Full-color throughout. ” • Leanne Prain is the co-author of Yarn Bombing (2009), considered a seminal book on the “knit graffiti” phenomenon that continues to this day. The original book was a bestseller and featured on the front page of the New York Times’ style section; an updated tenth-anniversary edition was published in 2019. Leanne is also the author of two other Arsenal titles: Strange Material (on activist textiles) in 2014, and Hoopla (on unorthodox crochet) 2011 (now out of print).