Why this title for a blog about a systems course? I’ll get to that shortly. There are moments, as a facilitator, when you realize you are not leading a course, but witnessing a living system come to life . The Creative Systems Course in Pisac, Peru (November 20–23, 2025)  was one of those moments. Bringing together 18 participants from 16 environmental and community-based organizations*  from Peru, Panama, and Bolivia, the workshop became a meeting point for diverse territori

20 years ago today, Martine Kellett founded ArtCorps , an artist volunteer initiative grounded in the belief that arts and culture have the power to communicate across difference, shift mindsets and change behavior. Today, as Creative Action Institute, we have built on that concept, growing into a global movement for gender equity and climate justice. While our name changed, the mission has remained steadfast – to catalyze community driven solutions that advance gender equity

Deep in Peru’s northern Amazon, the Maijuna are one of the country’s smallest Indigenous groups, numbering only about 500–600 people. In 2015, after years of advocacy, they secured the creation of the Maijuna-Kichwa Regional Conservation Area, a 391,000-hectare reserve that legally recognizes their ancestral lands. This was a historic victory, giving the Maijuna the power to protect their forests, rivers, and wildlife from outside exploitation. Yet recognition on paper has no

Creative Action Institute is proud to share that we have been selected for the second time to receive support from the Girls Opportunity Alliance (GOA), an initiative of the Obama Foundation that supports adolescent girls’ education and empowerment around the world. On International Day of the Girl, the GOA pledged $2.5million for grassroots groups who advance adolescent girls’ education around the globe. Creative Action Institute’s Sauti ya Dada (“The Girls’ Voice” in Kiswah