This page originally just shared general movement-related resources for artists. But right now (Spring 2026), I’m using it as a “home base” for anything I want to share relevant to the ongoing occupation of my city.
Contents
- Calls-to-Action for Everyone, Not Just Artists – These are the links + info I’d share with anyone looking to get involved and contribute.
- Resources for Artists Who Want to Show Up – This section zooms in a bit on what artists are uniquely-positioned to offer. The main point here is the meeting notes from our “What Can Artists Do” event.
- A Few MN Voices – A list of poems and essays from friends and peers here in MN, sharing their on-the-ground perspectives.
Because sometimes, the most powerful thing we can do is take our artist hats off and find ways to show up as neighbors first. A few links related to that:
- Attend an “upstander” or legal observer training. Potential resources: MONARCA, MIRAC, the Immigrant Defense Network, or the Immigrant Law Center of MN. You can also follow these groups on social media and/or via email list.
- Connect to a local rapid response network. Every neighborhood, and many suburbs, have them. Talk to neighbors who might already be connected, and/or check out Defend612.com if you’re in MPLS.
- Support each other. Plug into local mutual aid networks (these are often neighborhood-specific or based out of schools, churches, etc.) to share resources with impacted families, support immigrant-owned businesses, raise money for legal defense, buy groceries for your neighbors, offer rides, etc. This work is often more informal and relationship-based, but a great resource for people looking to give is standwithminnesota.com.
- Find your role(s). Frontline rapid response isn’t the only job that needs doing. Some of us are relatively safe, and can plan to always carry a whistle and be ready to show up. Some of us are relatively vulnerable, and can safety-plan with our families and research resources related to our rights, legal aid, etc. And some of us are in the middle, and might help out with data entry, patrol admin, childcare, grocery dropoffs, fundraising, media/narrative work, or a range of other actions.
- There are also political demands (like an eviction moratorium) to be made. Our local/state leaders are talking the talk, but we need to keep pressuring them to actually act. Another resource here: current calls to action from a coalition of MN immigrant rights groups: ICE OUT OF MN.
- Stay informed and spread the word: There’s a much longer conversation we could have here, but right now, I’m just going to shout out Racket, Sahan Journal, Georgia Fort, and MPR for people wanting to learn more about what’s happening here and amplify our work.
Additionally:
- The summary above is also available as a half-page handout that you can print/share. As people (understandably) spiral and despair, offer something specific, invite them into the work.
- Local writer Naomi Kritzer’s blogs on How to Help: (1) for Twin Cities Residents and (2) for people outside MN
A few specific offerings to my fellow artists; not because artists are special, but because they are often who I find myself in community with—and I believe that we need to both go to the work and take the work to where we already are. Just a few points below; there’s a more in-depth page with these resources here.
WHAT CAN ARTISTS DO? Virtual Event Notes and Report-Back
The full meeting notes, slides, and resource document from the virtual workshop exploring specific, practical ways artists can support organizing beyond our art + many inspiring, real-world examples. I also summarized the workshop in this piece for Racket.
MEETING THE MOMENT: Political Poetry and the Anthemic Impulse
A virtual, asynchronous class for poets, writers, and creative communicators of all kinds interested in language as a tool for creative resistance, truth-telling, and narrative-shaping. The listed price for access is $20, but it is free for literally anyone who wants in (just share your email address in the scholarship form).
- I made one of the seven videos from that series (a deep dive into “the anthemic impulse”) available for free.
- Also related: a two-hour, ICE OUT “asynchronous panel discussion” featuring me, Ollie Schminkey, Isha Camara, and SEE MORE PERSPECTIVE sharing specific tools and tactics for poets and other creative communicators looking to speak out.
WRITING PROMPTS FOR THIS MOMENT
A few writing prompts and visioning exercises for poets, songwriters, storytellers, and other creative communicators looking to meet this moment. Because art won’t be enough to win, but we won’t win without it.
- Salt, Warmth, and Force: Poetry Against ICE is a workshop I recently facilitated. Check out point #3 at that link for the full slides/notes, including SEVEN anti-ICE writing prompts.
- Let Every Word Be a Wrench in Their Machine is from 2025, and is a broader exploration of how creative writing can engage with political and social issues.
- Narrative Interventions Writing Prompts is a handout from a workshop I regularly facilitate; page two is full of counter-narrative writing prompts.
- Spark Your Writing: Ideas for Getting Inspired and Starting Your Own Writing Practice: Because it isn’t just about the art we create; it’s about the community we build around that process. This resource is full of ideas and writing prompts for those looking to start a writing circle, creative accountability circle, or other collective effort.
I’ve also set up a landing page for just these artist-specific resources here.
There is so much MORE good work out there; my hope is that this can be a start.
POEMS (and a few songs):
- SEE MORE PERSPECTIVE – Spring is Coming
- Ollie Schminkey – Land of 10,000 Lakes
- Muna Abdulahi – The poem is Good
- Carl Atiya Swanson – They Tear-Gassed a Baby
- Tish Jones – The Children Are Watching
- Kyle Tran Myhre – Let Your Heart Be a Whistle
- Trung Le Nguyen – Just before Christmas, I got a puppy
- Junauda Petrus – untitled
- Ed Bok Lee – Civilization
- Isavela “Isa” López – We Are Not Your Immigrants
- Kevin Reese – RED AND BLUE GETS YOU PURPLE (THAT’S WHY THEY STARTED HERE)
- Isha Camara – Notes on Renee, on Minneapolis
- KTM + SMP as Secret Rivers – Spring Is Coming (fundraiser EP)
- Tufawon – No One Is Illegal
- TCUP’s IG story highlights featuring TONS of local musicians speaking out
- It’s not strictly “local voices,” but I’ll also share this poetry playlist of poems about immigration, movement, and a future without borders because there’s some great work in it.
Essays + other writing by local artists:
- Bao Phi in Time Magazine
- Danez Smith in Harper’s (and also at Jewish Currents)
- Shannon Gibney in the Star Tribune
- Ifrah Mansour at Hyperallergic
- Kao Kalia Yang at Lithub
- Ricardo Levins Morales (blog)
- Kyle Tran Myhre at Racket (reprinted at Convergence Magazine)
- Naomi Kritzer’s blogs on How to Help: (1) for Twin Cities Residents and (2) for people outside MN
- Lithub’s ongoing “Letters from Minnesota” series
- This one isn’t specifically artist/writer-related, but one of my favorite pieces of media to come out of this past month is Racket’s oral history Voices of the MN Occupation.
Visual art and beyond:
My focus is mostly on poetry and music, but a few good resources related to how visual artists are showing up in this moment:
- The Art of the Minnesota Resistance (Racket)
- In Minneapolis, Artists Mobilize to Crush ICE (Hyperallergic)
- The Art of an Anti-ICE Protest (MSP Mag)
- ‘Winning hearts and minds’: How protest signs shaped the anti-ICE movement in Minnesota (MPR)
- Not local, but check out Monica Trinidad’s fantastic video series: How to make art for social change and Art is not enough – and you still need to make it
I’ve also been quoting Ricardo Levins Morales’ “Hope is the oxygen of rebellion” at various programs lately. That quote is from his book.
The zine version of this page is really meant for me – just a quick and easy thing I can edit as needed and share with people at events and appearances. But if anyone can put it to use, here is a link to a PDF to print/fold your own. It’s sized for 11×17 paper.
Thanks also to Forecast Public Art and their Artist as Witness program for the printing support!