Who is a canary? Why call yourselves "The Canary Collective?" Read more here.

For the latest "Canary Choir and Orca-stra" project - read more here.

Stay up to date with ways that we mix art with activism to make sure canaries' voices sing society into action for justice around the world!

For upcoming events, follow @kphcanarycollective on Instagram and Facebook. Listen to and watch The Canary Collective Podcast featuring canary activists here.

Canary Calls for Community Compassion

We host "Canary Calls for Community Compassion" in which we join on Zoom and share songs to make hand-written art, poetry, and letters to send virtually and by snail mail to decision makers reminding them to take action for racial, climate, and healthcare justice. Serenade a senator! They need to hear from the canaries of the world about what's happening in those toxic mines, rising seas, expensive hospital beds, and streets, and they especially need to hear stories from the heart.

When canaries rise and sing their warning calls together, that signals to the rest of the world the need for a deep pivot out of the mine. Part of The Canary Collective's work is supporting people to creatively tell their own stories of how climate crises and social injustices are affecting their communities - and to make sure those stories are heard, seen, and felt by the decision makers and allocators of resources, from senators to mayors to CEOs. Are you a writer? A painter? A photographer? A videographer? A songwriter? A poet? A graphic designer? A mother? A nurse? A coder? A human? We need your skills and your stories to reach the right eyes, ears, and hearts so that justice may prevail!

Before Kaeley became disabled by illness, her job was giving workshops helping train young people across the country in how to "lobby" members of Congress by bringing stories of how their home districts were affected by the many symptoms of the disease of ecosystem imbalance - from increased flooding to droughts to fishing industry impacts. Sometimes non-profits she worked with would fly people from across the United States thousands of miles to go dress in business suits and meet with senators in DC trying to convince them not to drill in the Arctic, for example. Once Kaeley became mostly bedridden and her growing number of sick canary friends were unable to leave bed to go get a glass of water let alone travel to Washington D.C. to convince decision makers to pass legislation for affordable healthcare for all, it was apparent there was a need for more accessible ways to get canaries' voices heard.

Canary Calls for Community Compassion was born, and The Canary Collective began hosting regular virtual gatherings in which people shared songs serenading people while participants made artistic hand-written letters or creative videos to tweet at and send to city council members, senators, corporate directors, and other leaders. Trying to figure out how to change complicated systems can be overwhelming. Many people are stuck taking no action because they're afraid they'll do something wrong, they don't know who exactly to contact and how, and they don't know what to say or if it will even make a difference. The Canary Calls are meant to support people to take strategic action from the heart in a way that's sustainable and grounded in self and community care, fitting within our busy schedules of trying to survive and get by in this world ourselves between jobs and pandemics and kids and doctor's appointments, even if we're not sure it will make a difference.

While working on Capitol Hill, Kaeley continually heard from senators and legislative policy aides that they get thousands of generic emails and petitions per day asking them to stop deporting and separating immigrant families, for example. But they might get just one hand-written letter that day, constructed by a 7-year-old, asking that they stop deporting her friends, complete with hand-drawn pictures. Amidst the many influences possibly swaying a decision maker - from the scores of military contracting company lobbyists they will hear from that week to their friends on the golf course encouraging them to stay within their bubble of privileged misunderstanding - maybe someday, somewhere, that one hand-written letter they received that they hung up on their office wall will open a crack in their hearts and they will sign legislation years later de-funding ICE raids. Maybe not. But it's worth trying. And in the meantime, let's continue to set up mutual aid and community support systems while the current systems let so many fall through the cracks.

The Canary Collective Podcast
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To hear/watch The Canary Collective Podcast amplify voices of canary activists around the world - from organic soil non-profit directors to water rights activists to other chronically ill canaries on healing journeys - go to the Podcast page!

Sick Womxn & Queers Shows
With several badass fellow sick canary artist friends, starting in 2017, Kaeley co-founded and helped organize a series called "Sick Womxn and Queers Shows" in the Pacific Northwest in which music, poetry, and interactive educational skits were used to demonstrate the importance of humans doing something to make healthcare, housing, and clean air and water more affordable and accessible to all. We are excited to continue organizing virtual amalgamations of these types of events in the future.

We support organizations like Sunrise Movement and Earth Pearl Collective and donate portions of event ticket sales to these racial and environmental justice organizations.

For upcoming events, follow @kphcanarycollective on Instagram and Facebook.

Above: October 2020's "Canary Calls for Community Compassion" musical letter-writing virtual party participants with their letters to send to people around the U.S. reminding them to vote

Above (from L to R): Jordan Lee of Mutual Benefit, Kaeley Pruitt-Hamm of KPH & The Canary Collective, and Sadiqua Iman at The Canary Collective album release show Feb 2020 in which they raised money for Earth Pearl Collective and Sunrise Movement and raised awareness through musical performance and story-telling about the importance of healing ecosystems in our bodies and on Earth.

In 2017, Kaeley helped dream up "BedFest" with healthcare advocacy organization MEAction. Hundreds of artists bedridden from illness whose treatment has not been adequately researched or covered by health insurance - including and especially those with chronic illness like Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) - connected in a virtual music and arts festival. 
See the powerful gallery of stories from BedFest 2017 here and the music video featuring many of the bedridden canaries with ME sharing their cries for help in a collage set to Kaeley's song, "Believe Her," above.