Some 100 Philly-based artists have pledged work for Collective Action, described as “a silent art auction for social justice under Trump,” and they did it through social media.
The event, happening on Jan. 14 at 990 Spring Garden, plans to raise some $20,000 to be donated evenly among 10 nonprofit organizations, local and otherwise, including Juntos, Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Join over 100 Philly-area artists for #CollectiveActionPHL, a silent art auction for social justice under Trump: https://t.co/BKhEHXxL8M pic.twitter.com/O7ZwwvKiQP
— Conrad Benner (@StreetsDept) December 29, 2016
A week after the elecction, lead organizer and activist Grace Ahn took to social media to brainstorm the idea of a fundraiser along with coorganizers Jacob Klensin, Brooke Di Leone, Daniel Levine and Streets Dept’s Conrad Benner. But the response from local artists prompted a rework of their original plans for a small event at a local bar.
“This entire event was planned, organized, and grew 10x in size due entirely to social media,” said Benner in an email. “Grace reached out to me on Facebook, we put a call-for-artists on Facebook and got over 150 responses which caused us (gleefully) to increase the size, scale, and fundraising goal of our event.”
RSVPHere are a few of the artists/brands that have donated works so far:
- Aubrie Costello
- Amberella with Philadelphia Woodcraft Company
- Caitilin Tschanz
- Felt+Fat
- Jaiya Bhandari
- Mackenzie Vaughan Pikaart
- Brendan Lowry (aka Peopledelphia)
- Krista Dedrick Lai
- Billy Cress
- Shawn Hileman (aka Masthead Print Studio)
- Emma Fried-Cassorla (aka Philly Love Notes)
- Indy Hall Arts’ Sean Martorana
- Zoe Cohen
Join our growing Slack community
Join 5,000 tech professionals and entrepreneurs in our community Slack today!
Donate to the Journalism Fund
Your support powers our independent journalism. Unlike most business-media outlets, we don’t have a paywall. Instead, we count on your personal and organizational contributions.

National AI safety group and CHIPS for America at risk with latest Trump administration firings

Immigration-focused AI chatbot wins $2,500 from Temple University to go from idea to action

How women can succeed in male-dominated trades like robotics, according to one worker who’s done it
