Solidarity Brigades Action Calendar

Solidarity Brigades

Use creative communication tools for social and environmental justice

Lift up your local community’s work

Connect with a network of fellow Action-Oriented Organizers

Join the Backbone Solidarity Brigade network of autonomous multi-affiliated affinity groups deploying artful activist tactics in solidarity with local and national causes.

SUBMIT an ACTION REPORT HERE

The tools and capacity we share with communities include:

• Artful Activism props like Trump Bobble Heads; a 16’ Racism-is-the-Elephant-in-the-Room inflatable elephant; a 28’ 28th Amendment & 210’ Constitution Preamble celebrating “We the People” (juxtaposed to “We the Corporations”) to end Corporate Personhood; fleet of inflatables, including globes, salmon, orca, pipeline. Sign up to borrow imagery here.

• Banner kits with changeable messages and lettering, so groups can get their message out during day time traffic commutes, at marches, and other spots - loudly, in a highly visible way. Order yours by clicking here.

• Night time visibility tools - light projections on buildings using GOBOs and LED light panels to spell out a message on a freeway overpass, the side of a building, or other visible location.

Engage with Backbone Campaign in the praxis of artful activism and reflection of collective purpose, goals, strategy and vision.

Join a Solidarity Brigade near you or s tart your own by visiting their calendar page and fill out the contact form for Seattle • Spokane • Bellingham • Olympia • Bay Area • Los Angeles • San Diego • Las Vegas • Denver/Boulder • Dallas • Milwaukee/Madison, WI • Chicago • Michigan • New York City • DC/Baltimore • Portland • Atlanta, Minneapolis, Wenatchee, LA - Long Beach, Houston, San Antonio, Brownsville, San Francisco, Eugene, Miami, Tallahassee, Boston, Charleston, Nashville, Newark.

Learn how to get started here.

Access resources by signing the MOU and joining our next monthly call (third Thursday of the month, 5pm (Pacific)/8pm (Eastern).

First Name

Last Name

Mobile phone

Phone

Address (Street, City, State, Postal code)

Country

Questions, other ideas, etc. (optional)

Tell us how YOU want to ENGAGE with Backbone:

Pitch-in to support Backbone's creative movement-building work.

Hire Backbone to enhance your campaign with imagery, training, strategy, design, or action planning.

Consult with Team Backbone on how to use our creative tactical tools.

Host or attend a Backbone workshop or training.

Connect with other creative change agents to take action.

Continue below to RSVP for these actions or HOST your own!

Free the Snake Banner Build
- Friday, September 22, 2023 at 01:00 PM – September 23, 2023
- Sheffield Building, Vashon
Can you lend a few hours to help us build a giant banner for deployment at the upcoming Free the Snake Flotilla?

We'll be working Friday, starting at noon and then again on Saturday, attaching 8 foot letters to deer fencing and attaching floats on the back.

If it's not raining, we'll spread out on the grass near the parking lot. If raining, we'll be inside, in our spacious warehouse.

Friday & Saturday, Sept 22-23

Friday times: 1pm - 6pm

Saturday times: 11am - 3pm

(Staying just an hour or two is helpful; you don't need to commit to the whole time.)

Location of Art Build: Sheffield Building Warehouse, 18850 103rd Ave SW - between the Bone Factory and the O Space.

Pizza, refreshments, and snacks provided!

RSVP Below

Thank you! We are grateful for your help.
Free the Snake Flotilla
- Friday, September 29, 2023 at 05:00 PM – September 30, 2023
- Hell's Gate State Park, Snake River in Lewiston, ID
NW Tribes are resolute in their call to restore a free-flowing Snake River, to stop the extinction of salmon and steelhead. Let's support their work at an upcoming flotilla on the Snake River.

Friday, Sept 29 - Evening gathering

Saturday, Sept 30 - Flotilla on the Snake, 8:30am - 2pm, with speakers

Hell's Gate State Park, Snake River (near Lewiston)

RSVP Below

We'll deploy a massive Free the Snake banner on the water. Backbone is supporting this flotilla with a water safety team, as well as on-land and water banners and inflatables. Lots of bodies are needed to pull off this successful event, and we'll have a lot of fun doing it!
- If you have a QR Reader on your phone, please scan the code on the poster below for more information.
- This event is part of the Indigenous-led All Our Relations Tour. To learn more about the different stops on the Tour, click HERE.
- To sign up to be part of Backbone's water safety/artful activism contingent, click HERE.
Let's stand together to support treaty rights and the health of the Salish Sea bio-region.
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Covenant of the Salmon People
- Tuesday, October 03, 2023 at 06:00 PM
- Vashon Theatre
Documentary Film Screening

Backbone Campaign is honored to show the documentary, Covenant of the Salmon People, produced with the Nez Perce Tribe by Swiftwater Films.

Tuesday, October 3

6pm

Vashon Theatre

Speakers: TBA

Free - Donations accepted at the door for continued work to Un-Dam the Snake River!

The Nez Perce is the oldest documented civilization in North America, with archaeological sites along Idaho's Salmon River dating back 16,500 years. The cornerstone of their creation story is an agreement with salmon to protect its continued existence.

Produced in collaboration with the tribe, COVENANT OF THE SALMON PEOPLE is a feature-length documentary portrait of the Nez Perce exploring how their relationship to salmon has shaped the tribe's culture, history and spirituality. As dams and climate impacts threaten to bring salmon to extinction, Covenant of the Salmon People traces the tribe's efforts to honor their ancient agreement.

Watch the Trailer:

“I have to say, when is enough, enough? We have turned as many dials for salmon recovery as we are capable of doing,” said Nez Perce Tribal Chairman, Shannon Wheeler. “Our back is against the wall. We need to turn some of the larger dials, and some of the larger dials include dam breaching. Now, more than ever our voice needs to be amplified for salmon and for the rest of the environment. We will never forget our covenant with the salmon.”

Speakers will follow the film screening, to update folks what they can do to take action to see the four Lower Snake River dams breached.

Co-sponsored by the Meaningful Movies Project, Vashon Theatre, Island GreenTech, and the Vashon Heritage Museum.

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Giant Salmon Art Build
- Wednesday, October 04, 2023 at 10:00 AM – November 01, 2023
- Olympia (address shared after sign up) in Olympia, WA
With all the work to do to see that the 4 Lower Snake Dams are breached, we decided to make a 2nd inflatable salmon - only this one will be even bigger, and will be a chinook, the king of the PNW salmon species!

Can you volunteer for a day and help bring to life this giant fish?

We'll be cutting fabric, marking patterns, sewing, constructing inner tubes for shape, and more.

When: Various days throughout the month of October

General times are 10-4, but other times work too. Let us know when you can help, and we will work around your schedule!

*These work parties will take place at a studio in Olympia, Wa.

We are grateful to our resident/volunteer genius Rod the Engineer, who is leading this process, based on the pattern that another volunteer engineer genius, Rob, created!

Requirements:
- Able to follow direction
Helpful, but not required:
- Experience working with cloth, patterns, and sewing
- Ability to visualize a 3-d result from a 2-d pattern
Thank you for your help with bringing this important prop to life!
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