Speak Now

Recent Episode: Constructing Change with Erin Pellegrino

Now on Spotify

Art is a powerful tool for advocacy and change, connecting to emotions that cut through the noise and bring people together. Like painters, poets, and musicians, architects can be passionate advocates, designing the future they want to see by reshaping structures as well as society.

To learn more about the role architects play in designing for change, join us for “Constructing Change,” the first episode of “The Art of Advocacy,” a new series from Cornell Advocacy Project’s Speak Now webinar and podcast. In this episode, Erin Pellegrino, an award-winning architect and visiting lecturer at Cornell University, will explore what advocacy looks like in her profession, the barriers to doing the work, and how all artists can overcome challenges advocating for themselves and others.

The Speak Now podcast’s “The Art of Advocacy” is a four-part series exploring the roles that art plays in supporting and catalyzing advocacy movements.

The 2020 election and ensuing Capitol riots exposed the real and violent danger of partisan divides. These fractures are not new. Many have only ever experienced an America splintered by ideological polarization, rifts that corrode our ability to listen to, and understand, voices different than our own. Such division threatens not only democracy and political stability, but also our ability to help those in this country who need it most.

Speak Now, our four-part speaker series addresses this divide, exploring the role of empathy in rehabilitating hostile spaces. With the advice of an experienced advocate, each webinar equips attendees with rhetorical techniques and productive strategies for engaging in political discourse, advocacy, and activism in an increasingly polarized age.