The Alchemy of Movement Building
Author Saul Austerlitz, NYC Council Member Alexa Avilés, and activists explore how ordinary people catalyze grassroots movements and sustain collective change.
Why we picked this
This panel goes beyond slogans to the actual mechanics of movement building: how people connect locally, sustain energy through setbacks, and turn community frustration into durable change.
Movements rarely start with a march. They start with a conversation in a living room, a flyer on a bulletin board, a neighbor deciding to show up. This panel examines that quieter alchemy: the connective tissue of grassroots organizing that exists long before headlines arrive.
Author Saul Austerlitz, NYC Council Member Alexa Avilés, political zine-maker Megan Piontkowski, and Indivisible organizer Molly Sandley discuss the creative interventions and sustained collaboration that allow movements to ignite and endure. The conversation centers on Brooklyn’s own organizing traditions, drawing from the Center for Brooklyn History’s “People Making Power: Politics in Brooklyn” exhibition.
Free and open to the public at 128 Pierrepont Street, Brooklyn Heights.