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Draft:Warm Cookies of the Revolution

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Warm Cookies of the Revolution
FounderEvan Weissman
Established2012
MissionGet regular people engaged in crucial civic issues by creating innovative and fun arts and cultural programs
Location
Denver
,
Colorado
,
United States of America
Websitewarmcookiesoftherevolution.org

Warm Cookies of the Revolution is a Colorado-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit that describes itself as "the world's first civic health club"[1] It is dedicated to engaging everyday people in democratic practices through innovative and fun arts and cultural programming.[2] The organization hosts events, produces videos, and self-publishes books.

Warm Cookies of the Revolution began its work in the metropolitan area of Denver, Colorado but has since hosted events in rural municipalities in the state, including Alamosa, Center, Ft. Garland, Greeley, Leadville, Loveland, Walsenburg, and other towns.[3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] Since its founding, Warm Cookies of the Revolution has reached more than one million people through its in-person events and media productions.[11] The organization has collaborated with hundreds of artists working in nearly every medium and paid them living wages for their work that helps bring to life in-person events and media productions.

History

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Evan Weissman founded Warm Cookies of the Revolution in 2012. Weissman previously spent 12 years as a company member of the collaborative Buntport Theater Company, where he received more than 100 awards as actor, designer, director, and playwright.[12] The magazine 5280 named Weissman a top disruptor of civic engagement because of his work with Warm Cookies of the Revolution.[13] The inspiration behind the creation of the organization was that local communities were lacking in civic health—the social capital, civic engagement, and political participation of a municipality, often measured by the extent to which citizens trust their neighbors, are active in their communities, and interact with their government.[14] Thus, Warm Cookies of the Revolution sought to serve as the world’s first civic health club, where residents can come together to flex their civic muscles.

Many of the organization’s in-person events have occurred at the McNichols Civic Center in downtown Denver, while other events have occurred at venues across the city, including churches, community centers, libraries, parks, private residences, and cemeteries.[11]

A graphic logo for La Raza Park Day

The first significant moment in the history of Warm Cookies of the Revolution occurred when the organization collaborated with local activists and residents who had been fighting for decades to promote respect for lowrider culture. This collaborative advocacy resulted in the creation of the annual La Raza Park Day. The annual event celebrates Chicano culture in Denver with low riders, mariachi bands, Indigenous dancers, luchadores, and local vendors. The event has since become a tradition in Denver, and in 2019, Warm Cookies of the Revolution partnered with Chicano/Latino organizations to convince Denver’s City Council to proclaim every August 25 “La Raza and Barnum Park: A Cruise Down Fedz Day.”[15]

A graphic logo for This Machine Has a Soul
The garage of a house painted in many colors as part of This Machine Has a Soul

In 2018, Warm Cookies of the Revolution launched This Machine Has a Soul, which was the first participatory budgeting process in the state of Colorado,[16] and the first arts-based participatory budgeting process in the world.[17] Local residents allocated $60,000 to community improvement projects. Because of the success of that initiative, the City of Denver eventually adopted participatory budgeting as a citywide process, allowing local residents to decide how to spend $1.7 million in city funds each year.[18]

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic prevented Warm Cookies of the Revolution from hosting in-person events, so the organization pivoted to paying artists to create video productions about community, resilience, and healing during the height of the pandemic.[11] These video productions were published online and later broadcast across Colorado by the state’s PBS affiliate. One of their videos was included in the 2025 Alternative Inauguration organized by Breaking the Silence.[19] One critic described “The Gift Basket” video as “audacious and undaunted, low-tech and hyper-personal, improvisational, experimental, and occasionally desperate.”[20] The Denver Post described “The Gift Basket” as “a new kind of creativity in the making” and a “heartfelt present from artists to the people they need and cherish.”[20]

Local residents hold hands in a circle at a FutureTown event organized by Warm Cookies of the Revolution
A woman dances in a dress at a FutureTown event organized by Warm Cookies of the Revolution

In 2023, Warm Cookies of the Revolution launched the FutureTown Tour, which brought its in-person programming to rural communities across Colorado to address civic deserts.[10]

In-person Events

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Warm Cookies of the Revolution has hosted more than 250 in-person, arts-based events around Colorado.[11] The events typically involve visual artists, musicians, dancers, and other performers, who supplement the civic-minded topic of the event. Past topics have included immigration, racial justice, affordable housing, education, prisons, aging, media literacy, gender norms, and many more. At these in-person events, attendees are treated to magic, stand-up comedy, wrestling, sports, music, low-riders, ice-sculpting, food, cookies and/or other fun, creative experiences. The creative, fun aspects are meant to encourage people to talk about the pressing civic issue that is the focus of that event. According to the organization:[21]

Our programs are developed alongside residents and artists who are experts on the issues impacting their community, creating fun ways for folks to get involved. When you work out at a gym, you want to see and feel results! It’s the same way when we exercise our civic health. Our work ensures that civic life is connected to people’s everyday lives, and we make it fun!

Events typically provide childcare and language interpretation services. In-person events may be one-off occurrences or part of an ongoing series, such as Stupid Questions, Stupid Talents; Civic Stitch n Bitch; Bring Your Government; and the Show and Tell Mixtape.[21]

Pictures from in-person events organized by Warm Cookies of the Revolution
  • Attendees at a Warm Cookies of the Revolution event
    Attendees at a Warm Cookies of the Revolution event
  • A woman and two children at a Warm Cookies of the Revolution event
    A woman and two children at a Warm Cookies of the Revolution event
  • Attendees at a Warm Cookies of the Revolution event
    Attendees at a Warm Cookies of the Revolution event

In 2018, Warm Cookies of the Revolution launched This Machine Has a Soul,[22] which was the first participatory budgeting process in the state of Colorado.[23][11][16] Approximately 1,500 people participated in This Machine Has a Soul across two sites (the Auraria Campus in downtown Denver and Denver’s Cole neighborhood) to allocate $60,000 for community improvement projects.[23] Due to the success of This Machine Has a Soul, the City of Denver implemented a citywide participatory budgeting process that enables residents to decide how to spend $1.7 million of public funds each year.[18]

Pictures from This Machine Has a Soul
  • An art installation for This Machine Has a Soul
    An art installation for This Machine Has a Soul
  • A garage painted in multiple colors for This machine Has a Soul
    A garage painted in multiple colors for This machine Has a Soul
  • Voter guides for Auraria Participatory Budgeting, which was part of This Machine Has a Soul
    Voter guides for Auraria Participatory Budgeting, which was part of This Machine Has a Soul
  • People gather to announce vote results for Cole Has a Soul, part of This Machine Has a Soul
    People gather to announce vote results for Cole Has a Soul, part of This Machine Has a Soul

Suburb Futures is another significant initiative[24] launched in 2022.[25] The initiative is led by women migrants from Somalia and Kenya.[25] Warm Cookies of the Revolution pays residents to host what it calls “civic house parties” to discuss any number of topics, including work-life balance, entrepreneurship, and estate planning. The nonprofit covers the cost of childcare, translation services, and food for each event.[25] Warm Cookies of the Revolution started Suburb Futures in recognition of the fact that more people live in Denver’s suburbs than in the urban center, and that the suburbs are experiencing rapid population growth. Denver’s suburbs are home to significant and growing immigrant and refugee populations, with one out of five people in the suburb of Aurora having been born in another country.[24] Through Suburb Futures, Warm Cookies of the Revolution hopes to help communities create inclusive and equitable neighborhoods as they experience ongoing, diverse population growth.[24]

In 2023, Warm Cookies of the Revolution launched its FutureTown tour.[26] Just as the Suburb Futures program seeks to engage residents living in the suburbs of Denver, the FutureTown Tour aims to engage rural Coloradans. The tour was designed to address civic deserts, which are places where residents have scarce opportunities for civic engagement.[27] According to the organization, the purpose of the tour was “to inspire ongoing cross-cultural community gatherings where residents can share stories, dreams, fears, and their talents.”[10] Programs at the tour stops included a Bilingual Creative Circus, a People’s Forum, and a Creative Day of Service. The events provided cookies, culturally significant food, childcare, and language interpretation services.[10] Stops on the FutureTown Tour included Alamosa, Center, Ft. Garland, Greeley, Leadville, Loveland, Walsenburg, and other rural Colorado towns.[3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]

Media Productions

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A logo for the video series "Living Eulogies" produced by Warm Cookies of the Revolution

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of in-person events, which had been the primary operation of Warm Cookies of the Revolution up to that point. In response, the organization began producing video content and posting it online. For example, Warm Cookies of the Revolution produced the four-episode Community Almanac series.[28] Each episode included artists’ ruminations, performances, and media about a specific theme (housing, climate, food, or health). The videos were eventually broadcast to hundreds of thousands of viewers on Rocky Mountain PBS.[11] Breaking the Silence included a video titled “Living Eulogies” that Warm Cookies of the Revolution produced in the 2025 Alternative Inauguration.[19]

Four copies of the book Vote Every Day published in four languages.

Warm Cookies of the Revolution also has self-published two board books. Although board books typically are associated with children’s literature, these books are meant for all ages and explore themes of democracy, poetry, art, and community health. The first book We Trust Our Wings is available in English and Spanish and includes a poem by Colorado’s poet laureate Bobby LeFebre printed over black-and-white photographs taken by local photographer Juan Fuentes. The second book Vote Every Day is available in eight languages and explores what it means to be “civic” and how everyday people can leverage their power to create the communities they want. In August 2024, then-Democratic vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz was photographed purchasing Vote Every Day.[29]

Community impact and scholarship

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Warm Cookies of the Revolution’s programs have resulted in two public policy changes in Denver, Colorado. First, their annual La Raza Park Day events provided the catalyst for the City of Denver, in 2019, to declare every August 25 “La Raza and Barnum Park: A Cruise Down Fedz Day.”[15] Second, following the success of This Machine Has a Soul, the City of Denver implemented the first citywide participatory budgeting process. The pilot participatory budgeting processes that comprised This Machine Has a Soul were credited with making the citywide participatory budgeting process possible, allowing local residents to decide how to spend $1.7 million in city funds each year.[18]

Scholars also have begun to take interest in the work of Warm Cookies of the Revolution. One study explored the cultural discourses of “fun talk” during Warm Cookies of the Revolution’s events and found that fun talk served as a discursive hub of emotion with radiants of meaning connected to being, acting, and relating.[2] The article concluded that the events introduced participants to civic affairs and provided them opportunities to form relationships with neighbors and to take action to improve their communities. Another study found that Warm Cookies of the Revolution has helped promote civic health in urban and rural communities in Colorado.[11] A study of the Suburb Futures initiative identified community resources for promoting civic engagement in suburban areas and transitioning such areas toward more just and sustainable futures.[30]

Researchers have focused attention especially on This Machine Has a Soul. One study explored how the participatory budgeting process functioned as a venue for free speech by empowering people to express their desires about how to benefit their communities, with implications for government workers who design public participation processes.[31] Another study examined the social justice discourse of This Machine Has a Soul participants and identified three themes from their deliberations that focused attention on benefitting oppressed populations: listening to marginalized voices, promoting “engagement” in the process, and valuing “coming together.”[16] A book about This Machine Has a Soul detailed the participatory budgeting process and argued that the mix of art and fun civic engagement promoted prefiguration among participants as they strove to realize more just communities through their deliberations.[23]

References

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  1. ^ "Home - Warm Cookies of the Revolution". warmcookiesoftherevolution.org. Retrieved 2025-10-20.
  2. ^ a b Russell, Vincent (2020-07-02). "Keeping warm cookies: Cultural discourses of fun talk in public participation". Journal of Civil Society. 16 (3): 216–233. doi:10.1080/17448689.2020.1788247. ISSN 1744-8689.
  3. ^ a b "LCBAG partners to bring Future Town Tour to Leadville this weekend". The Herald Democrat. 2023-04-21. Retrieved 2025-10-20.
  4. ^ a b Mccolm, Marie (2023-09-21). "Future Town Event in Center draws over 200 people". The Center Post-Dispatch. Retrieved 2025-10-20.
  5. ^ a b Revolution, Warm Cookies of the (2023-08-21). Spring 2023 FutureTown Leadville. Retrieved 2025-10-20 – via Vimeo.
  6. ^ a b Revolution, Warm Cookies of the (2023-10-20). 2023 FutureTown Center. Retrieved 2025-10-20 – via Vimeo.
  7. ^ a b Revolution, Warm Cookies of the (2023-10-20). 2023 FutureTown Fort Garland. Retrieved 2025-10-20 – via Vimeo.
  8. ^ a b Revolution, Warm Cookies of the (2023-10-20). 2023 Future Town Mixtape Walsenburg. Retrieved 2025-10-20 – via Vimeo.
  9. ^ a b Revolution, Warm Cookies of the (2023-10-30). 2023 FutureTown Alamosa. Retrieved 2025-10-20 – via Vimeo.
  10. ^ a b c d e "Future Town reimagines small towns in the American West, positioning them towards the future. - Warm Cookies of the Revolution". warmcookiesoftherevolution.org. Retrieved 2025-10-20.
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h i Russell, Vincent (2024-06-13), "Warm Cookies of the Revolution", Democracy as Creative Practice (1 ed.), New York: Routledge, pp. 199–209, doi:10.4324/9781003475996-23, ISBN 978-1-003-47599-6, retrieved 2025-10-20
  12. ^ "Evan Weissman – Roddenberry Fellowship". Retrieved 2025-10-20.
  13. ^ Garnder, Natasha (2019-01-02). "Disrupters: 15 People Who Are Changing Denver". 5280. Retrieved 2025-10-20.
  14. ^ Fernandez, Kandyce; Robichau, Robbie; Alexander, Jennifer (2019-10-01). "Fostering Civic Health: An Analysis of the Generative and Mediating Activities of Community-Based Organizations". The American Review of Public Administration. 49 (7): 762–776. doi:10.1177/0275074019854177. ISSN 0275-0740.
  15. ^ a b Sylte, Allison; Cole, Tom (2019-08-05). "Denver City Council Issues Proclamation to Make August 25 'A Cruise Down Fedz' Day".
  16. ^ a b c Russell, Vincent (2023-09-03). "Communicating about social justice in participatory budgeting in the United States: 'Coming together' to benefit communities". Journal of Applied Communication Research. 51 (5): 519–538. doi:10.1080/00909882.2023.2178856. ISSN 0090-9882.
  17. ^ "This Machine Has a Soul was the world's first arts-based participatory budgeting process. - Warm Cookies of the Revolution". warmcookiesoftherevolution.org. Retrieved 2025-10-20.
  18. ^ a b c Fendt, Lindsay (2019-10-09). "Thanks in Part to Some Weird Art, Denverites Will Get to Decide How to Spend Taxpayer Money". Denverite.
  19. ^ a b King BreakingSilence (2025-01-31). Living Eulogies, Warm Cookies of the Revolution. Retrieved 2025-10-20 – via YouTube.
  20. ^ a b Rinaldi, Ray Mark (2020-04-27). "The "Gift Basket" is a heartfelt, and urgent, present from Denver artists to all of us". The Denver Post. Retrieved 2025-10-20.
  21. ^ a b "What We Do - Warm Cookies of the Revolution". warmcookiesoftherevolution.org. Retrieved 2025-10-22.
  22. ^ "This Machine Has A Soul". www.thismachinehasasoul.org. Retrieved 2025-10-22.
  23. ^ a b c Russell, Vincent (2025). Reimagining Democracy: Communication Activism, Social Justice, and Prefiguration in Participatory Budgeting (1st ed.). Blue Ridge Summit: Lexington Books/Fortress Academic. ISBN 978-1-6669-4253-8.
  24. ^ a b c "Suburbs aren't what they used to be - and they are the future. - Warm Cookies of the Revolution". warmcookiesoftherevolution.org. Retrieved 2025-10-27.
  25. ^ a b c Hunt, Nicholas; Campbell, Spencer (2024-11-03). "How To Get Involved in Local Politics During This Election—and All Year Round". 5280. Retrieved 2025-10-27.
  26. ^ Revolution, Warm Cookies of the (2023-11-01). Future Town Tour Launch 2023. Retrieved 2025-10-27 – via Vimeo.
  27. ^ Shao, Chun; Kwon, K. Hazel; Nah, Seungahn (2022-03-15). "Civic Life in Rural America Revisited: The Role of Social and Mobile News on Civic Participation". Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media. 66 (2): 278–299. doi:10.1080/08838151.2022.2086255. ISSN 0883-8151.
  28. ^ Revolution, Warm Cookies of the (2021-11-12). "The Community Almanac". vimeo.com. Retrieved 2025-10-27.
  29. ^ "Instagram". www.instagram.com. Retrieved 2025-10-27.
  30. ^ Dorn, Erica (2024-05-29). Relational Design for Transitions Within US Suburbs (thesis thesis). Carnegie Mellon University. doi:10.1184/r1/25850455.v1.
  31. ^ Russell, Vincent; Gardner, Therese (2021). "Money, Speech, and Power: Participatory Budgeting as Free Expression". In Jovanovic, Spoma (ed.). Expression in Contested Spaces: Free Speech and Civic Engagement. Lexington Books. pp. 109–124.
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