Cultural Engagement Laboratory (CEL)

CEL was founded in 2008 as Citizen Engagement Laboratory by left-of-center political activists and organizers Ian Inaba, James Rucker, and Daniel Souweine. It started as a startup incubator, accelerator, and consultant, launching left-of-center advocacy organizations such as Color of Change, Presente.org, and UltraViolet. ³

Its charitable affiliate group is the Center for Cultural Power. ¹

Background

Cultural Engagement Laboratory (CEL), formerly Citizen Engagement Laboratory, is an Oakland, California-based 501(c)(4) action arm of the Center for Cultural Power (formerly Citizen Engagement Laboratory Education Fund). It is a left-of-center artists’ collaborative focused on creating content that supports left-wing politics and issues. ¹

CEL was founded in 2008 as Citizen Engagement Laboratory by Ian Inaba, James Rucker, and Daniel Souweine. It was an incubator, accelerator, and consultant for organizations focused on leveraging digital technologies for left-wing organizing. CEL supported left-wing advocacy startups and developed programs such as Color of Change, an online activist organization focused on “building black power”; ⁴ UltraViolet, a left-wing advocacy organization that fights for feminist culture and expanded abortion access; ⁵ Coworker.org, which helps workers launch campaigns in their workplaces to “shift power” to employees; ⁶ and left-wing Latino advocacy group Presente. ^{7 3}

In 2019, CEL filed a short form tax return which indicated that it “did not undertake any activities related to its mission.” ⁸

In 2020, Citizen Engagement Laboratory changed its name to Cultural Engagement Laboratory and developed a focus on artist activist work to support left-of-center issues. ⁹ CEL connects artists and activists to develop “progressive campaigns” targeting what it calls “Black, Latinx [sic],AAPI, Indigenous, and young people.” ²

Campaigns and Activism

Cultural Engagement Laboratory campaigns focus on left-of-center voting, immigration, climate, gender, and abortion access issues. CEL and sister organization Center for Cultural Power partnered with Google’s Black Googler Network, Constellations Culture Change Fund, and Media 2070 to create the Threads of Change campaign which culminated in a November 2023 media event featuring the work of Black artist activists displaying art associated with left-wing issues such as abortion, immigration, climate, and gender. ¹⁰

Through the “Together, We” campaign CEL worked with filmmakers to create 30 ads that target Black, Indigenous, and people of color audiences covering left-wing issues related to climate, abortion access, immigration, and voting. Partners in this effort included Groundswell Action Fund, Alabama Values Progress, Battle Born Progress, IllumiNative, and MoveOn Political Action. ¹¹

Autonomy is My Joy is a campaign that started in April 2023 that advocates for the passage of the Black Maternal Health Momnibus ¹² which supports abortion as well as investments in maternal health for Black women. ¹³ CEL and sister organization Center for Cultural Power partnered with MomsRising, We Testify, and Inspire Justice on this campaign. ¹²

Through its startup Presente.org CEL has been credited by groups including George Soros’s Open Society Foundations as a key part of the effort to oust nationalist television host Lou Dobbs from CNN. ¹⁴   

Center for Cultural Power

Center for Cultural Power is CEL’s sister charitable organization launched in 2011 by Favianna Rodriguez and Jeff Chang. ¹⁵ It is led by women of color artists focused on left-wing activism and community organizing through art on issues such as immigration, climate, race, and gender. ¹⁶

Funding

CEL’s 2022 tax returns reported $500,000 in revenue and $891,371 in expenses. CEL pays the Center for Cultural Power for personnel, overhead costs, and reimbursement for expenses. ¹⁷

Ford Foundation was a major contributor to Citizen Engagement Laboratory’s startup activities, contributing over $4.7 million in donations to support Presente.org, Color of Change, and UltraViolet. ¹⁸ It also donated over $7.6 million to affiliate Center for Cultural Power. ¹⁹

Major funders of CEL in 2021 and 2022 include Way to Win Action Fund, Tides Advocacy, Groundswell Action Fund, and San Francisco Foundation. ^{20 21} CEL is a grantee of George Soros’s Open Society Foundations, ¹⁴ which has donated over $1.3 million since 2012. ²²

CEL is connected to the Democracy Alliance, a network of liberal donors who fund Democratic campaigns and progressive political infrastructure. CEL is one of DA’s recommended organizations for member donors to underwrite – a list that also includes CEL-linked groups Color of Change, Coworker.org, and Organizing for Action. ²³

Leadership

Cultural Engagement Lab is led by artist and activist Favianna Rodriguez and a team of “artist disruptors.” ²⁴ Its 2022 tax return indicates that in addition to Rodriguez as president, Ian Inaba is board chair, Michael Crawford is vice chair, Tony Francis is treasurer, and Fenny Choo is finance director and secretary. ²⁵

Favianna Rodriguez is the president of CEL and the founder and president of affiliate Center for Cultural Power. She has founded several artist activist organizations, including EastSide Arts Alliance and Cultural Center and Taller Tupac Amaru. She launched Presente.org and co-founded CultureStrike, ²⁶ a left-of-center arts organization focused on migrant rights. ²⁷

Ian Inaba is a co-founder and board chair. He is a filmmaker and media expert, and was involved in several left-wing campaigns and projects, including Presente.org and Color of Change. ²⁸

Michael Crawford is CEL’s vice chair. He is vice president of Spitfire Strategies. Previously, he was a director at MoveOn.org for six years. ²⁹

James Rucker is a co-founder of CEL and a board member of Southern Poverty Law Center. Previously he was a director of grassroots mobilization for MoveOn.org and executive director of Color of Change. ³⁰ He was involved in launching several projects, including the Secretary of State Project, an “effort to elect progressive Secretaries of State,” and Video the Vote. ³¹

Daniel Souweine is a co-founder of CEL and is CEO and founder of GetThru, ³² a for-profit communications company that offers services to left-of-center political campaigns and nonprofit advocacy groups. ³³ An activist in Democratic Party politics, Souweine previously worked as the director of the national texting program for Senator Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) 2016 presidential campaign. ³²