We flip artists into activists, and observers into participants.
Amplifier is a nonprofit design lab that builds art and media experiments to amplify the most important movements of our times. Our experiments are built on a foundation of free and open source art, the unlimited possibilities within a human centered design process, and the potentials when analog and digital technology merge.
Together with our social change partners in both the for profit and nonprofit worlds, we build media campaigns that shift culture and change the national narrative. We do that by drawing from our diverse portfolio of artists to commission powerful visual storytelling, then distribute it in unparalleled numbers through a creative use of media, reaching huge audiences and driving real change.
Our distribution channels reach an average of 20 million viewers per campaign, reaching activists, teachers, policy makers, journalists, and everyday citizens eager to build a new world. We do this work with the goal of reclaiming an American identity rooted in equality, dignity, diversity, truth, and beauty. We believe that each piece of art we create and distribute with our partners can be a compass that leads us away from the chaos and negativity of this polarizing time. Since 2015, we’ve commissioned over 400+ artists, distributed tens of millions of pieces of art and sent free artwork to hundreds of thousands of students across the United States.
At Amplifier, we flip artists into activists, observers into participants, and both marchers and students into the voters who will shape elections for years to come. Join us!
Annual Reports
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
The Team
-
For over a decade, Cleo has been a pivotal force in the global art and social justice spheres, collaborating with esteemed artists, city councils, movement leaders, global brands, and foundations to build iconic public art campaigns. Her work focuses on harnessing the power of storytelling, community empowerment, and human rights through building arts and culture movements. Cleo has been instrumental in launching innovative media experiments that resonate worldwide at Amplifier. Among these, the iconic We The People campaign and the transformative education initiative, We The Future, stand out, distributing millions of compelling artworks across the United States in partnership with hundreds of renowned artists and social movements.
Under Cleo's visionary leadership, Amplifier has transformed from its origins in public art initiatives into a globally acclaimed design lab. It is celebrated for its profound impact, achieved through groundbreaking storytelling and the widespread mobilization of communities. Cleo skillfully manages the organization's multifaceted operations, encompassing campaign and program development, community weaving, and strategic planning.
Cleo's academic achievements include an M.A. in Art and Public Policy from New York University and a double B.A. in Political Science and International Business from the University of Auckland, grounding her innovative work in solid theoretical and historical context of systems change.
-
Aaron Huey is National Geographic photographer and Founder and Chief Creative of Amplifier. As a photographer, Huey has created over 30 stories for the National Geographic magazines including several cover stories. As one of the first Global Ambassadors for Stanford's d.School and as a Media Experiments Fellow there, Huey focused on experiments using the human centered design process in both the analog and digital world. His combination of art and storytelling have resulted in the creation of Amplifier’s global art phenomenon "We The People" with collaborator Shepard Fairey, the Sherpa Photo Fund, and a recent series of Pre-Colonial History and Cultural Heritage lessons in virtual reality that will become part of K-12 curriculum across the U.S. His Bear Ears National Monument VR experience won the 2019 Webby for best VR Interactive Design. Huey was also named the 3rd coolest Dad in America by Fatherly.com after Lebron James and Kelly Slater!
At Amplifier, Aaron ideates, builds, and art directs Amplifier’s campaigns. He is currently focused on expanding Amplifier’s storytelling portfolio with a set of new AR experiments.
-
Isabella is a founding team member of Amplifier, where she has played a critical role in scaling the organization’s reach and impact since the historic We The People campaign in 2017. As Director of Operations, she oversees Amplifier’s day-to-day and long-term strategy, managing key areas such as print production, merchandising, human resources, and campaign distribution. Her expertise in logistics and creative operations has enabled the mass distribution of hundreds of thousands of artworks across the U.S. and beyond, amplifying movements for social change.
Rooted in a deep commitment to liberation and community-building, Isabella sees art as a powerful tool for cultural and systemic transformation. She brings a thoughtful, strategic approach to her work, integrating her passion for the arts, land stewardship, and grassroots organizing. Isabella holds a B.S. from Colorado State University.
-
Faye Orlove (she/her) is an artist and activist living in Los Angeles, CA. In 2015, Faye founded the radical arts space Junior High. After directing the space for 8 years, she co-founded the creative agency Young Professionals and became a mother. She currently serves as the Design Director at Amplifier, leading all graphic design for digital and print media.
-
Maribel (Mari) Valdez Gonzalez is Native/Xicana of Wixárika and of Spanish descent. Her grandma’s are from the Mother Mountains of Sierra de Morones in Zacatecas, Mexico. She is a mother of 3 Wixárika & Coahuiltecan children. Mari has been an Arts and Social Justice educator and administrator for 9 years using arts integration and project-based learning as a vehicle for racial justice in school systems. Using her experience as a classroom teacher, Mari developed a framework for Decolonizing Instruction and has used the framework as well as her expertise in project-based learning to support K-12 educators as a curriculum writer, program designer, keynote speaker, PBL coach, and workshop facilitator. Mari is a 2022 Adding Voices Express: Speak Your Truth award winner.
She is a founding leader of the Education Amplifier program which began in the fall of 2017 where she provided educators with teaching tools created by Amplifier social change movement partners to guide students toward action. As the educational consultant on the We the People and We the Future campaigns, Mari has collaborated with and offered curricular guidance to organizations such as the Women's March, March for our Lives, Earth Guardians, Families Belong Together, IllumiNative, She Can STEM, Protect the Sacred, Free Migration Project, and many more with hopes to bridge the gap between the social change movements and K-12 teachers who are on the frontlines of shifting culture towards radical inclusivity.
In addition to managing the Education Amplifier network, she is the Executive Director of South End Stories, an organization committed to providing students of color storytelling opportunities through the arts. She is a National Faculty member at PBL Works, a nationally distinguished team of educators specializing in project-based learning. Mari is the author of the book series for children, Social Justice and You (Capstone Publishers, 2023).
-
Julieta Renteria plays a crucial role at Amplifier, coordinating the production of our programs and physical artwork distribution. Their work within the organization ensures the successful creation and execution of our campaigns in collaboration with our artists and movement partners. A California native and first-generation Mexican American, Julieta is committed to reimagining the society we've inherited and recreating a more just world through inclusion, empowerment, and advocacy.
Her extensive background in community building spans over ten years in the retail sector, working with small businesses, startups, and nonprofits to engage consumers actively in the narratives of the brands they support. Julieta earned her BA in Political Science from Point Loma Nazarene University. When she’s not driving change at Amplifier, you can find her immersed in her hobbies, creating ceramics, volunteering, or staying active by running and cycling throughout Los Angeles.
The BOARD
-
McKenzie Funk is a journalist whose stories on social issues and the environment appear in Harper’s, National Geographic, and The New York Times Magazine. His first book, Windfall (2014), won a PEN Literary Award and was named a book of the year by The New Yorker, Mother Jones, Salon, and Amazon.com. Mac is a former Knight-Wallace Fellow and Open Society Fellow and story consultant at the Center for Investigative Reporting, and he is a founding member of the global journalism cooperative Deca. He speaks English, Spanish, German, Italian, and Russian.
-
Anjali Kumar advises on all stages of business, focusing on early-stage tech, consumer products and luxury fashion companies with a social conscience. She recently founded an advisory firm focusing on legal counsel and business strategy for entrepreneurs, executives, talent, and brands. Prior to that, she was the Founding Chief People Officer and General Counsel at Cheddar, the Founding Head of Social Innovation and Founding General Counsel at Warby Parker, Founding General Counsel at Acumen, and Senior Counsel at Google. Anjali’s 2017 TED Talk based on her book Stalking God: My Unorthodox Search For Something To Believe In (Hachette 2018), has over 4 million views, with a television show in development. She earned her BA in Biomedical Ethics from Brown University and a JD from Boston University School of Law, and serves on multiple boards including Happy Money, Women’s World Banking, GloProfessional, Amplifier, Edible Schoolyard NYC, American Documentary (AmDoc), and the Guggenheim Museum’s Global Innovation Council.
-
Justin joined the Institute of Design at Stanford University — aka “the d.school” — in 2012 to launch and direct its fellowship program. He previously worked at The Washington Post, most recently as the director of digital, mobile, and new product design. Justin designed the investigative series “Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency,” winner of the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting, and four other Pulitzer finalists. He teaches graduate courses in design thinking, creativity and organization design, and has spoken on creative culture and organizational change in venues including the SXSW Interactive festival in Austin, the Norwegian Research Council in Oslo, the U.S. Embassy in Dublin, and Education City in Qatar.
-
Independent Curator Nancy Spector is founder of KulturLab, LLC, which advises artists on legacy planning, museum exhibitions, and innovative projects. She is currently Curatorial Liaison at Large, Gladstone Gallery, and an International Advisor to the Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris. She served as Deputy Director and Jennifer and David Stockman Chief Curator of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation, where she organized award-winning exhibitions over a thirty-year period including, Rebecca Horn (with Germano Celant); Felix Gonzalez-Torres; Matthew Barney’s Cremaster Cycle; Richard Prince: Spiritual America; Louise Bourgeois; Marina Abramovic: Seven Easy Pieces; Tino Sehgal; Maurizio Cattelan: All; and Fischli and Weiss: How to Work Better. She also organized the group exhibitions Moving Pictures; Singular Forms (Sometimes Repeated); theanyspacewhatever and Artistic License: Six Takes on the Guggenheim Collection (with Cai Guo-Qiang, Paul Chan, Jenny Holzer, Julie Mehretu, Richard Prince, and Carrie Mae Weems). She served as Commissioner of the American Pavilion for the Venice Biennale in 2007 and co-curated the first Berlin Biennial in 2008. Spector is a recipient of the Peter Norton Family Foundation Curators Award, five International Art Critics Awards for exhibitions, and a Disruptive Innovation Award from Tribeca Film Festival for Youtube Play: A Biennial of Creative Video. In 2019, she was awarded an Honorary Degree from Pratt Institute.