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“Really good creative doesn’t tell you how to think. It creates different weather patterns” that affect how people behave and engage with your topics.
Julie Ann Crommett’s wise words triggered a downpour of vigorous nodding throughout the Power of Pop Fund’s Creativity Does Good dinner table. Not only was Julie Ann spot-on about how excellent narratives can change society, but her choice to frame concepts in weather terms to a uniquely British audience demonstrated her true skill with transnational dialogue.
On a balmy June night in Shoreditch, London, the POP Fund held its second Creativity Does Good dinner event as part of our funder plus programming. The guest of honour was Julie Ann, a veteran of Disney, Google and NBCUniversal and now founder-CEO of Collective Moxie, a storytelling consultancy firm of cultural architects.
In attendance were heads from our funded partners Anu Henriques (Skin Deep), Nathalie McDermott and Sophie Hobson (Heard), Axa Hynes (We Are Bridge) and Iain Dodgeon (OKRE). We were also joined by fund representatives Maxine Thomas-Asante and Alice Sachrajda (POP Fund), Julian McIntosh and Stephen Lee (POP Fund Community Council) and Ayesha Farah (Shifting the Power, a Comic Relief flagship programme).
Having worked across many markets on cultural change narratives, Julie Ann urged our organisations in the UK to acknowledge how much further ahead we are in this journey than we give ourselves credit for. In particular, the UK ecosystem has a unique opportunity to become leading voices at the intersection of storytelling, ethics and technology.
Julie Ann’s illustrious career strongly revolves around animation, which she insists is not a genre but a medium. Despite historically being regarded as a forgotten stepchild, animation is a ‘sleeping giant’ that is growing strong roots across Gen Z and global majority markets of Nigeria, China and India. Julie Ann’s appreciation of the potential of the animation medium to draw new audiences, create regional styles and bolster economies was insightful.
Conversation over dinner sparked the question, how might we harness this medium to galvanise youth in social change narratives? Julie Ann encouraged us to leverage the expertise within our communities. She recalled a powerful moment in making Encanto when the team radically shifted the timing of the pivotal Abuela Dos (opens in new window)Oruguitas(opens in new window) flashback from the start to the middle of the film. This was after deep consultation with her Colombian colleagues about how to best handle collective traumatic memory in the narrative structure — allowing for sufficient world immersion before broaching the topic.
With this and myriad other anecdotes, the POP Fund’s second Creativity Does Good dinner was filled with delicious conversation and delicious food. Reflecting on the event, our POP Fund Community shared:
“Last night [...] was mind-expanding! And a beautiful opportunity to connect and share learning around the table.
'Dinner with Julie Ann Crommett and the Pop Fund community was nothing short of creatively electrifying. A rare, intimate space filled with vision, courage, and powerful conversation. It was deeply inspiring to connect with partners who are leading groundbreaking work in storytelling, cultural strategy, and racial justice. Julie Ann was a force - insightful, hilarious, refreshingly honest, and radiating brilliance. Listening to her journey and the transformative storytelling work she's leading felt like a masterclass in how narratives can shift systems, shape people, and quite literally reimagine the future. I left feeling fired-up, encouraged, and with renewed spirit for the work ahead!'
We host these forums to exchange knowledge between our communities as well as international thought leaders. We thank Julie Ann Crommett for her rich words and generous time, and take this opportunity to reiterate that our stories, when shared authentically, have the potential to change the world. To read more about the work on the Power of Pop Fund, do check out our webpage and sign up to our mailing list(opens in new window).
By Stephen Lee and Maxine Thomas-Asante.
