2022: It’s History
Our year in review at Made By Us
Praise to this land for our power to change it,
To confess our misdoing, to mend what we can,
To learn what we mean and to make it the law,
To become what we said we were going to be.Praise to our peoples, who came as strangers,
Who more and more have been shaped into one,
Like a great statue brought over in pieces,
Its hammered copper bolted together,
Anchored by rods in the continent’s rock,
With a core of iron, and a torch atop it.
– Richard Wilbur, “Like A Great Statue,” 1986
Several years ago, Made By Us was a glimmer in the eye of a group of visionary, committed museum directors. It was envisioned as an innovative project that embraced experimentation and collaboration in pursuit of an ever-moving target: supporting Gen Z’s curiosity and civic passions with the credible expertise of history museums and historic sites, in ways that met the bar of their social, digital lives.
MBU would operate as a lab for shared learning; a connector between generations; and a content engine for meaningful points of connection that harness the joy, striving and complexity of the American story.
At the end of 2022, with more than three years of learning, connecting and producing under our belts and still going, it’s nice to look up from the tangled weeds of the work to see — we’ve become what we said we were going to be.
I came across this refrain in Richard Wilbur’s poem written for the 100th birthday of the Statue of Liberty. Today, as we inch toward the 250th birthday of the United States in 2026, his poem has clear resonance for our country and for the potential of that commemoration. But it also speaks to our work here.
Made By Us is only possible because it’s, well, made by us. Like a great statue brought over in pieces, we’ve rallied together a broad range of perspectives and stories representing the American experience — from Hawaii to Massachusetts, the Underground Railroad to Chinese Americans, World War I to country music, and everything in between. We’ve built a foundation of credible history resources — our core of iron — that undergirds all of our content and programs. And we’re guided by the interests, concerns, and frankly the SPARK of Gen Z, the future inheritors of our nation. They’re our torch, lighting the way forward.
I’m proud of the work we’ve done this year, building up an annual Civic Season with 300+ participating organizations; sharing timely history in new formats, working with exciting collaborators like Airbnb, Oxford Pennant, and Teen Vogue; and uplifting the creativity of our team — Nia Mosby, Kate Doak-Keszler, and Cameron Katz — and our fellows.
But I’m even more proud of the way we’ve done this work: collaboratively, iteratively, and youth-centered (and having some fun along the way). I invite you to join us in 2023 as we continue to learn and grow.
— Caroline Klibanoff, Managing Director, Made By Us
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BY THE NUMBERS
👋 We grew! To 4 team members, 14 fellows and interns, 150 coalition member institutions with 350 staff, and rock-star strategists like Kaz Brecher of Curious Catalyst Inc. and Valerie Donati of Brand Building Communications, and collaborators bringing skills in innovation strategy, brand building, evaluation, messaging, video, PR, fundraising and more. If you’ve been involved in any part of this year’s journey, THANK YOU!
🎉 300 cultural and civic organizations in 45 states participated in the 2022 Civic Season by contributing 750+ activities and events to the website — dozens more joined the conversation online. And 27 organizations opted to host Kickoff events all on the same day, joined together by a virtual, nationwide Roll Call.
🧠 7,500 people across the United States took the “Civic Superpowers” Quiz.
🏛 We held 4 quarterly coalition calls for 320 staffers, a 3-part Boot Camp, 10 program consults with our Fellows, 7 info and learning sessions, and dozens of conversations for advice or alignment.
📸 We produced more than 250 content-rich posts for Instagram and over 70 videos, making use of audio and trends. From memes to 60-Second History to exhibition “behind the scenes,” we doubled our online following, increased our engagement rate by 170%, and reached 8 million people with the #CivicSeason tag. On Instagram, our followers were twice as engaged as Kim Kardashian’s 😎💅
💪 We worked with more collaborators than ever before, including wonderful folks like Democrasexy, Globe at MICA, Pizza to the Polls, Civic Alliance, Citizen Best, Citizen University, BridgeUSA, All Vote No Play, Kahlil Greene, Jason Steinhauer, Our Common Purpose, When We All Vote, ActiVote, Listen First, Kera Collective, and more.
CARING FOR OUR COMMUNITY
As the news of 2022 rolled onward, we grew our online community through relevant, timely content that responded to concerns and questions in people’s everyday lives. Each Friday, we checked in with a pop quiz featuring that week’s content and invited input as to what topics we’d research and discuss.
In the wake of the Uvalde, Texas, shooting, and some other moments of tragedy or unrest during the year, we held a mental health check-in. At other times, we invited responses to prompts or calls to action, or offered suggestions for self-care like journaling, affirmations, and historical inspo. We didn’t shy away from the tough stuff, whether discussing anti-Asian legislation, Native American boarding schools, climate change and displacement, segregation and redlining, and racial violence.
We also showed how challenging times have been addressed in the past. From power struggles between the branches of government to turning tragedy into meaningful remembrance, we shared context so we can learn from past experiences.
Since credible information is sometimes hard to identify, we created a badge for vetted sources to help you prepare to vote in the Midterm Elections — and a crash course in voting rights history, while you check your voter registration and ballot issues with Activote.
SHARING TIMELY HISTORY
Core to our mission is sharing history that is relevant, useful and timely — and we found dozens of new ways to do this in 2022. We began the year with a content sprint on TikTok, learning as much as we could about how to share history there and producing a report for our partners.
From memes to explainers about the news, museum tours to guides about specific topics, we tested new formats for storytelling. Justice Brown shared her experience using Birmingham Civil Rights Museum’s new app. The National Archives did a deep dive on “Don’t Worry Darling.” HistoryMiami shared LGBTQ love stories. BridgeUSA looked at Unlikely Views of historical figures. We covered PSLs, hurricanes, movie trivia, CORN!, labor rights, SCOTUS, and intern Sam McGirt shined a light on the artifacts of democracy. All Vote No Play and the University of Tennessee Center for Sport, Peace and Society talked Title IX history.
One of our most popular formats was “60-Second History,” leveraging social video and collaboration with our partners at the Museum of the American Revolution, the National Museum of American History, the Missouri Historical Society, the North Carolina Museum of History, the St. John’s Church Foundation, the National Archives Foundation, the Westport History Museum, the York County History Museum, and the Heinz History Center. Together we told short, but important, stories that help people understand our past.
And our piece de resistance? Community Engagement Editor Cameron Katz’s breakdown of every Taylor Swift song on Midnights — yes, even the 3 AM edition — compared to moments in history.
TAKING THE SHOW ON THE ROAD
We took the stage — twice! — at SXSW to talk about Gen Z and the “history wars.”
We shared about our work with the Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Alliance of Museums, American Association of State and Local History, the National Humanities Conference, National Council on Public History, the International Council of Museums, and the Heritage Chocolate Society — and in programs for the National Archives and Monticello.
We shared the stage with collaborators from Hawaii Humanities, Stratford Hall, Mississippi Humanities Council, Connecticut Humanities, Rhode Island Humanities Council, Florida Humanities, History Club, Civics Unplugged, History Co-Lab and Spread the Vote.
We convened our network of partners several times, for quarterly, virtual coalition calls and for a Steering Committee retreat at First Americans Museum in Oklahoma City. We also visited partners at Atlanta History Center, Oklahoma Historical Society, Japanese American National Museum, Colonial Williamsburg, DC History Center, HistoryMiami, Historic Alexandria and Smithsonian.
By expanding our team and network, we are able to bring in more perspectives and voices. This year saw the first cohort of Civic Season Design Fellows, including Trizha Loren Aquino, Macy Mateer, Malithi Perera, Henry Jacob, Dyani Wallace, Michael Wymer, Jasmine Lewis, Bronte Cardenas, Candace Bey, Hope Marie Delgado and Trey Delida.
CONVERSATION-STARTERS
What do you stand for? For Civic Season, we partnered with the historic Globe Press at MICA, printers of rock-and-roll letterpress posters in the 20th century, to create a signature design for posters, postcards and an online meme-generator. We shipped 12,000 posters and postcards across the United States and drove a discussion about how actions relate to passions. This was amplified by stickers, tote bags, and a vibrant chalk mural.
We kept the conversation going with dozens of public chats and programs with folks like Becky Bullard of Democrasexy who appeared on our channels to offer a “Tarot Reading for America.”
EVENTS ACROSS THE UNITED STATES
We held program design workshops with staff at three Smithsonian units: the National Museum of Natural History, the National Portrait Gallery, and the American Women’s History Initiative. Early in the year, we hosted 10 consults for several museums to get youth input on their public programs. The result? Events and activities designed with Gen Z in mind, that rated higher in terms of usefulness and curb appeal.
And, we heard from our partners that working collaboratively, especially on a nationwide campaign like Civic Season, allowed them to shine a spotlight on their best stuff. One organization said, “Participating in Civic Season and getting the materials and support made it feel like we were not out on a limb, but on a branch that was part of a tree.”
Our biggest event of the year was the Civic Season kickoff, held in 27 cities simultaneously. On the livestream, we heard impassioned calls to action from Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch, Utah Governor Spencer Cox, Civic Season Design Fellows, and a Roll Call from folks celebrating around the country. Luminaries like Tayari Jones and Ken Burns offered their top picks of activities to do, alongside Gen Z-ers.
In Atlanta, at the Atlanta History Center Midtown, we brought together renowned chefs, food writers and organizers for a Feast of Reason conversation inspired by Monticello’s conversation card deck. We hosted the Civvys Awards, highlighting best-in-class efforts of civic collaboration. And we had a great day featuring food trucks, music, AMERICAN HERITAGE® chocolate sampling and education, presence from inspiring organizations like Storycorps, New Georgia Project, Civil Bikes, Pizza to the Polls, and the energy of amazing emcees, Torri Yates-Orr and Krystal Lake, and social correspondent Kahlil Greene.
Airbnb joined the fun by creating a guide to unique, local Experiences hosted by organizations including the Chicago History Museum, New-York Historical Society, Museum of the American Revolution and Fort Ticonderoga.
And Storycorps is hosting an ongoing collection to gather Civic Season stories and experiences, so we can document what we’re building and why.
A few months later, we celebrated Jimmy Carter’s birthday at the Atlanta History Center with a costume party (70’s!) and civics trivia.
SPEAKING OUT
Civic Season made the evening news on NBC4 in DC, WRAL in North Carolina, Deseret News in Salt Lake City, Time Out New York, 6ABC Philadelphia, Sun Community News in upstate NY, and more outlets as word spread across the country. We were invited to speak on the Reframing History and Yinz are Good podcasts.
Andy Masich, member of Made By Us Steering Committee and President of the Senator Heinz History Museum, penned for Smithsonian Magazine an ode to our roots. Sheffield Hale, president of the Atlanta History Center, wrote of the importance of serving Gen Z in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
We worked with The Fulcrum on a series of posts related to Civic Season: the purpose of traditions, how we designed an iconic, historic poster, a creative prompt to DIY your own poster, and a dance-party playlist curated by our Fellows.
And as holiday cheer started to spread, we were again invited to share a story with Teen Vogue — with research from the National WWI Museum and Memorial, the Japanese American National Museum, the Museum of History and Industry, and the American Air Museum.
JOIN US IN 2023
Our work would not be possible without the generous and visionary support of the Mellon Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Coca-Cola Company, AMERICAN HERITAGE Chocolate, Jacqueline B. Mars, Marcia Carlucci, Jacomien and Forrest Mars Jr., Brand Building Communications, Curious Catalyst, Inc., and the ongoing commitment and support of our partners and collaborators.
We have big plans for 2023 and beyond — our eyes are on the horizon of 2026, the 250th birthday of the United States. By that time, we will be hundreds of organizations strong, working together to empower and inform Gen Z as they shape our nation’s future and write the story of the next 250 years. From Civic Season to the dozens of content and programming efforts from our network of partners, we are already making a significant impact in bridging the gap between institutions and younger generations — and are positioned for growth.
We invite you to join us on this journey. There’s a role for everyone here — get in touch, and let’s work together!
