We need new ways of thinking about our narrative change work.

When people think beyond the immediate problem they are trying to solve, when they envision a world in which they’ve already won, those visions of a just world end up being remarkably similar, no matter what issue they started from.

December Newsletter from the International Resource for Impact and Storytelling

What does it mean to tell our own stories? What does it mean to speak out and to be listened to, or to write and to have our words read? When stories are told, whose voices ring the loudest? Who determines which of our stories are amplified … or even valid? These questions are not new, the answers far from simple.

A large and growing partisan media divide presents challenges to those using popular culture to promote democratic values across society.

Impact will require more attention to audiences than ever.

November Newsletter from the International Resource for Impact and Storytelling

Connecting ethical storytelling and narrative change

If storytelling is to be a truly powerful tool for social justice activism, it is important to pay as much attention to the process of storytelling as to its outcome. Unless it is approached thoughtfully and with great care, impact-driven storytelling can easily become transactional and extractive, inflicting some of the very harms it seeks to address.

July Newsletter from the International Resource for Impact and Storytelling

As part of their celebration of the 20th Anniversary, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors had the chance to catch up with IRIS leaders: Cara Mertes, the Founding Director of IRIS, Graciela Selaimen, Regional Lead for IRIS work in Latin America, and Laila Hourani, Regional Lead, MENA.

In October 2021, International Resource for Impact and Storytelling (IRIS) gathered together more than 70 storytellers and activists to share inspiration and evoke curiosity about new forms of storytelling and impactful narratives that respond to our present moment.

What Makes Narrative Change So Hard?

Nonprofits and funders can go too far in pointing fingers at their own shortcomings. The reality is that they are playing on an uneven psychological field.

May Newsletter from the International Resource for Impact and Storytelling

Over the past few weeks, I’ve come across three different reports observing that the course of the Covid-19 pandemic does not follow our expectations for how a story should play out. All three suggest that this narrative failure partly explains the difficulty in mounting a unified public response to the virus.

Watching tragedy unfold in Ukraine, I have been thinking about the powerful, rapid, and often unexpected impact that major, shocking events can have on narratives that underpin our understanding of the world. While narrative and culture change work tends to take years, events have the power to bring about rapid change, often in unexpected ways.

March 2022 Newsletter from the International Resource for Impact and Storytelling

How do we tell more effective stories? This is a central question for us at IRIS, a new collaborative hub that brings together funders, storytellers and activists.

December Newsletter from the International Resource for Impact and Storytelling