Conference Presentation, Panel
Act Now! Making Culture a Force for Change
- Session Overview & Theme: The Milken Global Conference session emphasizes the intersection of "culture and the creative industries" as a potent form of soft power capable of generating exponential business growth while adhering to a "moral conscience."
- Definition of "Factivist": The moderator defines a "factivist" as an individual who marries data and facts with cultural impetus to drive meaningful social difference.
- Laura Dorn (Art Not War):
- Founded "Art Not War" after 14 years at MoveOn.org, where she grew membership from 500,000 to 7 million and pioneered online small-dollar donations, raising $80 million.
- Launched a viral video campaign regarding paid family leave that garnered 6 million views (the highest for the issue) and triggered coverage by 200 news outlets, making it a bipartisan election-year issue.
- Total video reach across 75 campaigns currently stands at 500 million views, with a single three-month campaign reaching 275 million people via Facebook.
- Activism is driven by personal experience with the NICU and the realization that the U.S. is the only developed nation lacking paid family leave.
- Moby (Richard Melville Hall):
- Describes his guiding principle as using logic and music to make humanity "less stupid" regarding collective self-interest and environmental destruction.
- Runs "The Little Pine," a Silver Lake restaurant operated as a nonprofit where all proceeds fund animal rights organizations.
- His video "Are You Lost in the World Like Me?" regarding smartphone addiction "metastasized," reaching hundreds of millions of views globally.
- Highlights that animal agriculture is responsible for 45% of climate change, 75% of antibiotic resistance, 90% of rainforest deforestation, and 50% of major chronic diseases.
- Argues that individuals are now "the media," possessing the capacity to reach larger audiences than traditional outlets without gatekeepers.
- Tina Wells (The Buzz Marketing Group):
- Founded her company at age 16; it now manages a network of 37,000 "buzz spotters" (influencers) worldwide.
- Produced the "SuperSoul 100" campaign for the Oprah Winfrey Network, celebrating "awakened leaders" and marking the single biggest day in the network's history upon launch.
- Created the "Mackenzie Blue" book series (5 books) for tweens, selling hundreds of thousands of copies and addressing STEM, cyberbullying, and anti-bullying themes through a multicultural lens.
- Identifies four youth "tribes" driving culture: techies, preppies, alternatives (often "crunchy" environmentalists), and independents.
- Gina Otto (Change My World Now):
- Left a 12-year Hollywood production career after realizing the industry's use of anorexic models to sell products to teenage girls.
- Developed the narrative "Cassandra's Angel" to help children combat negative self-perception; toured war zones and impoverished schools in Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malawi, and U.S. cities like Camden and Harlem.
- Founded "Change My World Now," a social-emotional gaming platform for children ages 6–14 partnering with NY and LA school districts to teach activism in STEM, literacy, and human rights.
- Reports that 2/3 of her audiences at speaking engagements stay to share personal traumas including eating disorders, cutting, and medication for ADHD/depression.
- Haifa Al-Mansour:
- A Saudi filmmaker who overcame legal and cultural barriers (women cannot drive, public film exhibition was illegal) to make "Wadjda," the first feature film shot in Saudi Arabia.
- Used a German co-production crew and a "van for me" with a walkie-talkie system to navigate strict gender segregation in Riyadh.
- Views her work as "sustainable change" that engages rather than confronts conservative values, using humor to normalize individuality.
- Currently producing a film about Mary Shelley to challenge gender stereotypes and celebrate women who break societal molds.
- Notes the "2030 Vision" announced by Crown Prince Salman as a potential turning point for opening Saudi Arabia to entertainment and the creative industries.
- Forward-Looking Statements & Strategic Insights:
- Laura Dorn advocates for a "World War II level of mobilization" on climate change, utilizing high-end cultural storytelling to engage 400 million people.
- Laura Dorn cites a three-year study suggesting that groups with >30% female leadership perform better, citing higher happiness indices, higher GDP, and better problem-solving in countries with progressive gender policies.
- Gina Otto proposes engaging children at their first interaction with technology to foster a generation of global changemakers.
- Tina Wells notes that "alternatives" (sustainability-focused groups) are now the primary drivers of green culture and marketing innovation.
- Panel Dynamics & Decisions:
- Moby posits that men should "embrace matriarchal values" to solve global crises, describing patriarchal values as having "passed their sell-by date."
- The panelists collectively agreed that "activism" in conservative regions (like Saudi Arabia) must be delivered through cultural acceptance and incremental steps rather than direct confrontation.
- Audience Q&A reinforced the need for "adoption" of social change ideas, suggesting simple conversational questions to ignite individual action.