We have been shown our collective vulnerability. It is time for a collective response.
We are living through an affordability crisis amidst global democratic upheaval and climate chaos.
People’s values haven’t changed, but their priorities have.
When rent, food, and job security are on the line, movements need to speak to people’s real lives and offer practical paths forward.
Activate 2026 will explore what community organizing and people power look like during a polycrisis. Together, we will organize around what matters to working people in service of dignity for all humans and the planet.
Join us to ground yourself, find clarity, and fight through the fog of fear.
This year’s gathering will focus on:
- Honest conversations about where we are.
- Examples of radical and effective organizing including tactics to win.
- Personal and collective strategies for how we move from chaos to transformative solidarity.
Activate Sessions
Progressive Wins: Stories of Victory in Hard Times
Across the country and beyond, organizers are still winning: union drives, elections, narrative battles, and fundraising campaigns. In this plenary, campaign leaders break down how they won, what strategy worked, and how to tailor their winning tactics for your personal context.
Unionizing Victoria’s Uber Drivers
How app-based workers organized in a fragmented, high-turnover workplace, and what this campaign teaches us about organizing in precarious work and the gig economy.
The Air Canada Strike
An inside look at a major national labour action and what it takes to win in a high-stakes bargaining fight.
Mayor Mamdani’s Historic Victory
A behind-the-scenes look at the strategy and digital organizing that powered a winning mayoral campaign.
Beating ICE through Public Pressure
Campaigns don’t just happen in elections; they happen in boardrooms and in the media. Discover how narrative, public pressure, and strategic communications forced a major corporate decision reversal.
Save the CBC
How a national advocacy campaign mobilized public support, influenced decision-makers, and built a broad coalition to defend public media.
“Hope is a discipline. It’s a discipline that you practice: get the facts, understand what is fundamentally wrong, understand what strategies are effective, and strategize with others.”
Angela Glover Blackwell
Meet the Experts
Gain insights from leading strategists, campaigners, and organizers, including:
Connect with leading organizers and forge a network built for resilience.
Juhi Sohani, Action Co-Lab
Who Should Join?
- Advocacy leaders & nonprofit campaigners building strong digital programs and mobilization strategies.
- Grassroots organizers & labor union activists looking to strengthen community engagement and digital advocacy.
- Political strategists & movement builders working to secure progressive wins beyond the ballot.
- Tech & digital experts shaping the future of progressive organizing.
We need a diversity of voices in the room. To address economic barriers and ensure frontline community leaders can participate, Hollyhock offers a limited number of scholarships.
Apply for a Scholarship: Learn more about scholarships and apply here.
Explore your own resilience, power, and what it means to lead movements when the ground is shifting beneath us.
What You’ll Learn
Leadership for the Times We Are In
Leading Through Backlash, Burnout, and Political Change
We are living through DEI backlash, rising authoritarianism, and growing economic pressure. This plenary centers the experience of leaders navigating this moment while building movements, organizations, and power for the long term.
Workshops
11 Questions Every Donor Asks
Harvey McKinnon
Fundraising isn’t just about asking for money — it’s about answering the questions donors are already thinking. Learn the core questions every donor asks and how to build fundraising messages and campaigns that actually work.
AI for Campaigns and Organizing
Mack Hardy
AI is already changing campaigning, communications, and organizing workflows. This session explores practical ways your organization can use AI tools for content, research, targeting, and automation- and where human strategy still matters most.
Paid Media Beyond Meta
Let’s stop giving Zuckerberg our campaign dollars! This session explores how campaigns can reach audiences across emerging platforms and diversify beyond traditional social media channels in a rapidly shifting social media landscape.
Entertain Us: Winning Attention on YouTube in the Age of Algorithms
Oliver Pare
The algorithm is non-partisan; it just wants eyeballs. Discover the latest research about how fake content gets traction on Youtube, and how progressive movements can compete.
Messaging, Persuasion & Difficult Conversations
Winning doesn’t just require good messaging, it requires good conversations. This session explores persuasion, deep canvassing, and how to talk to people who don’t already agree with you, including neighbours, coworkers, and community members.
Deep Canvassing & Persuasion Conversations
Deep canvassing is one of the most effective tools for persuasion and movement building. Learn how structured, empathetic conversations can reduce polarization and move people on difficult issues in a time of epic divides.
Coalition Building: How Organizations Work Together to Win
Coalitions are essential to winning campaigns — but they are also complicated. This workshop explores how to build coalitions, navigate competing priorities, manage conflict, and create partnerships that actually win campaigns.
Take a look at last year’s ACTIVATE Agenda.
Join the Hollyhock Leadership Institute Newsletter for up-to-date announcements.
Build Your Movement. Find Your People
Activate doesn’t end when you leave Cortes Island. As part of the Activate network, you will gain access to Peer Coaching Circles with top strategists, providing an ongoing space to refine strategies, exchange insights, and sustain momentum long after the gathering.
Meet Your Team
The producers and advisory team behind Activate are movement leaders and strategists, curating the conversations and speakers that matter most.
Pricing & Accommodations
Package Pricing:
You can view availability of accommodations and rates on our Registration Page.
Learn more about our accommodation types.
Your all-inclusive campus rates include:
- Program tuition
- Accommodation
- 3 gourmet meals a day
- Unlimited coffee & tea
- Daily movement and wellness activities
- Access to hot tubs, sauna, and campus facilities
Getting Here
Let us handle the logistics. Travel to Hollyhock hassle-free with the Activate Participant Charter. With pickups in Vancouver and Nanaimo, you’ll ride in comfort, connect with fellow participants, and take in the beauty of the journey. Your trip wraps up with a 30-minute boat ride across the Salish Sea—keep an eye out for whales, seals, and eagles.
Short on time? You can also register your interest in a direct seaplane flight to Cortes from Vancouver.
If you’d prefer to organize your own travel to and from Hollyhock, check out our Travel Directions page for suggested options and costs.
Accessibility
We want everyone to feel fully present and supported at Activate. Learn more about accessibility at Hollyhock or reach out to [email protected] for any specific needs.
Scholarships
Hollyhock recognizes that economic opportunity is not currently equal. Our scholarship program is one of our key strategies to expand program access to underrepresented and marginalized communities. A limited number of scholarships are available with awards ranging from partial to full tuition
We encourage applicants from those whose identities intersect with, but are not limited to: Black, Indigenous, People of Colour, 2SLGBTQIA+, people with disabilities, newcomers, youth, and elders
Scholarships are now open! You can apply here.
Partners
“I recommend Activate to anyone looking to recharge, find community, and reconnect with their values or their sense of purpose and agency. You will leave transformed.” – Kate Catherall, Founder and Principal, Slow Clap & Co-founder and Board Chair, Arena
“Activate Hollyhock was like a week of masterclasses in life. The knowledge and skills I gained were invaluable. I’m taking home a refreshed mindset, a deeper understanding of the world, and a notebook full of ideas. This is education re-imagined.”