Laura Dawn

Laura Dawn is an American political activist and singer/songwriter. She has been the Cultural Director for MoveOn.org since March 2004 and was named the organization's National Creative Director in 2007.

Musical work

In 2001, Laura Dawn released her first album Believer on Extasy International, an offshoot of Japanese label Extasy Records created by X Japan drummer Yoshiki. The label folded while she was working on her second album, which was never completed. She was the featured vocalist on Moby's platinum selling album Hotel, and she toured the world with him for nine months in 2005. Her current music project, "The Little Death", is a collaboration of original songs co-written and performed with Moby, musician/composer Daron Murphy and drummer/composer Aaron A. Brooks. The music is inspired by vintage blues, film noir and 1960s psychedelic rock.

MoveOn

Laura Dawn produces all of MoveOn's media and serves as Creative Director of MoveOn National Media Strategies. She directs an in-house creative agency and production company for all MoveOn Media.

In 2004, Dawn co-conceived and co-created the Bush in 30 Seconds Ad Contest, co-organized the online contest and national media campaign, and produced Bush in 30 Seconds LIVE. She has created national campaigns and organized artists, musicians, and filmmakers extensively for MoveOn and all MoveOn PAC projects, such as the Bake Sale for Democracy, the Fahrenheit 9/11 Campaign, the Virtual Garage Sale, the "50 Million Women Count" media campaign, the MoveOn CD with Barsuk Records, the Kerry Kit, the Vote for Change Tour, and, most notably, the 10 Weeks: Don't Get Mad, Get Even! Ad Campaign and live event.

Dawn has since spearheaded MoveOn's creative collaborations between the entertainment and political worlds, working with artists such as Oliver Stone, John Cusack, Doug Liman, Shepard Fairey, and, most recently, collaborating with actors Will Ferrell, Jon Hamm, and Heather Graham in support of the Public Health Insurance Option. She also co-produced (along with Shepard Fairey, OBEY Giant, and EMGPR) the Manifest Hope project, a series of galleries that united established visual artists with grassroots artists in support of the Obama presidential campaign.

Awarded the Paul Wellstone Citizen Leadership Award of 2004 for the 2004 Staff of MoveOn.org, Dawn has 3 political ads in the Museum of the Moving Image, and again broke new ground this year by writing and producing the first wholly interactive GOTV video starring Olivia Wilde.

Hurricane Katrina

In 2006, Dawn compiled and edited the book It Takes a Nation: How Strangers Became Family in the Wake of Hurricane Katrina, the story of MoveOn.org Civic Action's Hurricane Housing program, featuring a foreword by Barack Obama. Using the innovative online organizing techniques that MoveOn.org is famous for, MoveOn Civic Action members housed over 30,000 evacuees in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Film

In 2008, Dawn produced the documentary feature film "The End of America", the film version of Naomi Wolf's best-selling book of the same title. In 2009, she was featured in the documentary "MoveOn: The Movie", a film that charted the growth and influence of MoveOn.org from 1998 to 2008. In 2010, Dawn made her acting debut in Oliver Stone's "Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps" as the co-worker of the character "Winnie", played by Carey Mulligan. "Winnie" was based in part on Dawn's work as an activist and Mulligan shadowed her for a few months prior to filming.

External links

• Official Website
• "A simple, poetic indictment" Salon.com
• "MoveOn Works the Hollywood Spotlight to Amplify Its Voice" Common Dreams