Learning

The Pop Culture Collaborative offers an array of learning tools to support field members, funders, and donors to immerse in visionary narrative change strategies, groundbreaking field building approaches, in-depth case studies, and fresh insights into communities, audiences and fandoms.

WHY Pop Culture?

Every day, millions of people immerse in television shows, films, music, books, games, social media, fandoms, and digital communities that bring us joy, feed our curiosity, and spark our imagination. But pop culture isn’t just fun—it is also the most influential arena in which people make meaning, form identities, find belonging, and discover the courage to take action. If we hope to realize a just and pluralist society, we need to invest in pop culture narrative change strategies.

Culture change ensures lasting change.

We define pop culture as the conversations, big ideas, major narratives, and immersive stories—films, TV shows, music, books, games, political speeches, journalism, digital content and conversations, and more—experienced by mass audiences of millions of people every day.

Read more definitions here.

PUBLICATIONS

Explore resources that unpack field strategies and methodologies.

The Teflon Effect: The Enduring Power of Narrative Identity
From Stories to Systems:
Using a Narrative Systems Approach to Inform Narrative Change Strategy
Narrative Infrastructure for Narrative Immersion: A Strategic Grantmaking Framework 
 
INCITE: Narrative Evaluation Framework 
 
From The Help to Roma: 
How The National Domestic Workers Alliance Is Transforming Narratives In Pop Culture
From Seven Seconds to When They See Us: 
How Color Of Change Is Transforming Narratives In Pop Culture
Yearning for Wakanda:
 
Black Panther’s Role in Building the Cultural Influence and Political Power of Black People
#MakingJusticePop: 
 
The Story of the Pop Culture Collaborative’s Impact at 5 Years
Grantmaking Strategy Spotlight: Artist-led Pipeline Solutions + Leadership Development
Grantmaking Strategy Spotlight: 
Cross-Sector Collaboration
 
Grantmaking Strategy Spotlight: Culture Change Research
 
Connections & Accomplishments: A 2021 Pop Culture for Social Change Analysis

ARTICLES, VIDEOS & PODCASTS

Break The Story

Dive into the Pop Culture Collaborative’s Online Magazine

VOL 1: Imagining a Future Beyond White Supremacy
VOL 2: Recentering Power
VOL 3: Remaking Television
VOL 4: Disability Visibility

IMAGINATION REQUESTED

Take our four-part video masterclass for grantmakers and donors who want to understand how best to support field partners to transform the toxic narrative waters in the US and inspire millions of people to co-create a just and pluralist society where everyone belongs. Imagination Requested features the foundational frameworks and strategies developed and used by the Pop Culture Collaborative to design, test and evaluate our resourcing of the pop culture narrative change field.

WONDERLAND

WONDERLAND Season 1: Master Class (Podcast)
WONDERLAND Season 2: WONDERLAND @ frank (Podcast)

POPCOLLAB @ FRANK

The Talks (Videos)

Resources FROM OUR FELLOWS

Haqq and Hollywood: Illuminating 100 years of Muslim Tropes And How to Transform Them
Funny Is Funny: Development Models for Diverse Voices in Stand-Up Comedy

We the Fans: How Our Powers Can Change the World