Former Mayor Svante Myrick’s New ‘Action Kit’ Helps Creatives Become Activists

    Former Ithaca Mayor Svante Myrick returned from Washington DC to speak at Buffalo Street Books in September, after nine months away from town. He came to introduce People for the American Way’s new “action kit” and book, called The Art of Saving Democracy.

    The talk, with Assemblymember Anna Kelles, was hosted as part of the Ithaca is Books festival, a partnership between Ithaca’s independent bookstores—Buffalo Street Books, Autumn Leaves, and Odyssey Bookstore.

    Myrick was Ithaca’s longest-serving mayor, serving ten years, and helping to spur ambitious, and sometimes controversial, projects, such as the Reimagining Public Safety effort and the lagging Ithaca Green New Deal (IGND). In 2022, Myrick resigned mid-term to head the progressive advocacy and voting rights organization People for the American Way at the request of the group’s founder, Norman Lear, who wanted to make sure the group was in good hands before he died. Lear died at 101 just a year later.

    “After I won the primary to the mayoral back in 2011. Remember 2011? It was such a sweet, innocent time. LeBron James was in the NBA, prices were low, politicians were honest. I got a check for my campaign: one hundred dollars from Norman Lear. And I was like, surely, this is a different Norman Lear. This can’t be him. And he invited me for lunch, and then he invited me for lunch again, and again,” Myrick said.

     It was Norman Lear. As he got to know Myrick, Lear said he wanted Myrick to take over his role as leader of People for the American Way.

     The intention for the new book, Myrick said, was to channel the passions of various niches of people in gaining traction for the democratic party—specifically, young creatives who are able to spread messaging within their respective communities, both on social media and in person.

    Inside the box is an eighty-page guide, featuring ideas on how to peacefully protest, fifty postcards to send to encourage community members to vote, sticker sheets and posters featuring famous artwork and messages of voting and free speech, and conversation cards. Assemblymember Kelles said she hopes that people will engage in dialogue with each other for the sake of democracy.

    “This is not just about how to save democracy, it’s actually how to talk to each other,” Kelles said. “It’s about the art of communication and the art of empathy.”

    Myrick said that historically, the political left has been understandably portrayed as finger-pointing and too restrictive with its policies, an issue he addresses with the kit’s aim to attract attention from young artists, and engaging, positive, action ideas.

    As Myrick and Kelles talked, their conversation went ten minutes overtime. Myrick joked: “and [that’s not] the first time in my life that I’ve used the generosity of Buffalo Street Books.”