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When the people lead, the leaders follow
The Backbone Campaign specializes in the creation of spectacle imagery, innovative messaging and political theater. Most of our work involves what we call Artful Activism, in which we engage progressive activists and organizers in the strategic use of creative tactics such as festival arts, flash mobs, music and other theatrical forms of nonviolent direct action.
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Executive Director: Bill Moyer Bill Moyer co-founded the Backbone Campaign in 2003 with friends from an artist affinity group. He has dual and intersecting paths as both an activist and artist. His involvement with social change work stretches back to the 80's, when as a student he was deeply involved in the anti-nuclear movement and the anti-interventionist movement. After a a few years of studying political science and American philosophy at Seattle University, Bill went to Big Mountain to assist Dineh elders refusing to relocate off their traditional land, attended the Institute for Social Ecology, and briefly lived on an organic vegetable farm in Vermont. On returning to the Pacific NW to live on Vashon Island, activism was replaced with performance and study of music as a percussionist and sound designer. The G.W. Bush administration inspired him to apply lessons of the arts to social change. Backbone Campaign has been a vehicle for much growth and Bill has emerged as a leader in the theory and practice of "artful activism." He designs and produces creative political actions and provides trainings in grand strategy and creative tactics around the country. |
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| Managing Director: Yve Susskind  Yve works in partnership with Bill Moyer to manage and run the day-to-day activities of the Backbone Campaign. Yve is responsible for long-term planning and project management; and board, volunteer, fund and organizational development. She also is responsible for tracking all expenditures, and works closely with the organization's part time bookkeeper Rob Peterson, to provide reports to the Board of Directors on cash flow and budgeting. Yve is also Principal with Praxis Associates, LLC, consulting with nonprofits and schools in the areas of youth-adult partnership, youth involvement and student-centered education. She was the founding director and currently serves on the board of Vashon Island Youth Council (VYC), an inter-generational community organization near Seattle. She is also on the board of Development of Island Teens. She holds a doctorate from the University of Michigan's interdisciplinary Planning Program. |
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Project Organizer: Jared Middle Calf Being told by recruiters that I wasn't going to see war and then finding out the truth about the conflict helped me decide not to continue. He currently leads a different lifestyle by organizing street actions, freeway bannering and builds, street theatre, cross country tours, Procession for the Future Trainings and all the materials needed for these activities. Jared also has 10 years of experience in retail management and working in a hardware store where he learned about tools, many of which are needed for artful activism |
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| Affiliated Artists |
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| Affiliated Artist/Puppetista : Christopher Lutter  Christopher Lutter-Gardella has been making masks, puppets, costumes, sets, floats and various theatrical accoutrements out of waste materials for fifteen years. Having worked extensively in schools, libraries, community centers and other civic organizations as an artist-in-residence, Chris has guided communities in the development of art-making workshops and parades and theater productions. He has extensive experience in facilitating broad and diverse groups of people in the process of collaborative art-making, from conceptualization through to final presentation. Chris has served on the staff of the Heart of the Beast's "May Day Festival" in Minneapolis, serves as artistic director of Puppet Farm Arts, a small non-profit arts education and resource organization.Chris has produced three large puppets for the Backbone Campaign's Procession for the Future including Snowflake, our lovable polar bear puppet. He leads trainings and workshops in Arts for Social Change with the Backbone Campaign. |
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Affiliated NVDA Trainer: Logan Price |
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Affiliated Artist - 2-D Imagery Design, Construction and Animation Trainer: Steffon Moody Steffon Moody is a founding member of the acclaimed UMO Ensemble and performer for New York's Big Apple Circus, Steffon Moody has performed and created in almost every situation imaginable. 30 years of professional experience as a writer, director, teacher, musician and scenic artist give him the depth of vision to take on almost any task. Steffon uses the theater arts as a tool for transformation with groups of all ages, ethnicity and socioeconomic status. He is the co-Founder of Vashon Island's Islewilde Arts Festival, now in its 18th year. Islewilde is a Bread & Puppet style community building celebration. He also directs an entertainment production company, Chameleon Performance. Steffon is the creator of Backbone's We the People, We the Corporations, and a number of other images and leads image design and creation workshops for the Backbone Campaign. |
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The Backbone Board:
President: Stan Sorscher Stan Sorscher, a PhD physicist and high level labor representative with the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace has spent a great deal of time on the battlefield of economic globalization. Whether around the negotiating table or crafting policy Stan employs his insights into the failure of markets to protect the public interest. |
Treasurer: Doug Skove Doug Skove has been on many of the Backbone actions including the Inauguration Day protest of 2005 in Washington, D.C. (logistics manager), Democracy Fest in San Diego (puppet lead), in support of Cindy Sheehan at Crawford, Texas (event coordinator), MLK and anti-war marches in Seattle, and most recently lead the BB team at the anti-war march on Jan 27 in D.C. Doug also leads the coordination of the Chain Gang sets at events; the Backbone Campaign has four Chain Gang sets to ship to events and causes we support around the country. He is also the "go-to guy" for shipping our visibility tools around the country on Alaska Airlines. If he can't get someone else to do it, Doug will also be a puppetista. |
Jim Diers Jim Diers has a passion for participatory democracy. Since moving to Seattle in 1967 he put that passion to work for an Alinsky- style community organization, a community development corporation,a community foundation, and Group Health Cooperative. He was appointed the first director of Seattle's department of Neighborhoods in 1988 where he served under three mayors over the next 14 years. Currently, Jim works for the University of Washington where he teaches courses in community organizing and development and connects university resources with the community initiatives. As a member of the faculty for the Asset-based Community Development Institute, Jim delivers speeches and conducts workshops throughout North America and Beyond. |
John Sellers John Sellers is the President  of The Ruckus Society. John worked Greenpeace during the nineties, directing their Washington DC office, sailing with their Marine Division and coordinating dozens of nonviolent actions throughout th US. In the last 10 years he has coordinated creative actions for Rainforest Action Network, the ILWU, ACORN, Students for a Free Tibet, Code Pink, International Rivers Network, Jobs with Justice, Global Exchange, permanently banned from entering Canada (his favorite country is North America). He achieves great satisfaction from kicking "The Man" in his funny bone when he ain't looking. |
| Secretary: Anne Gavzer | |
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