BIO/ABOUT
In short, the quick story here is one of a Black man born in the South who was a student leader that liked doing creative things and neither of those instincts ever left him. From high school to college to professional life, he’s always had one foot in politics and one foot in creativity. Both, you see, were ways in which you could impact people and yes, to use that cliche, make the world a better place. But he thinks it’s even better when you can fuse these two forces.
It’s kinda that simple. But the journey has had some interesting stops. He’s been to the Writers Guild Awards as a cultural writer but he’s also been a delegate to the Democratic National Committee’s Platform Committee. He writes about cultural and entertainment matters for outlets like LA Weekly and Ebony magazine, but has also had his own parties with a purpose covered by the Washington Post as well. To say the least, he wears many hats.
Wyatt Closs is restless and curious and likes to positively provoke. He likes style and he likes progressive politics and writing about odd topics. He loves creating or seeing a grand spectacle.
He thinks cool is not only how you present yourself but can also be a complete philosophy.
For a more officious/professional bio (you know, the kind you see for conference programs and such), keep reading and cut and paste below.
Wyatt Closs
He/him/his
Wyatt Closs, based in Los Angeles, has spent the last 20 years on explorations of art and design for social change, progressive politics, creative advocacy, writing and organizing for social justice. He is considered an early practitioner in a field now known as cultural organizing or culture change work.
In the last year, he produced Creative Resilience, a large scale pop-up art show, performance and discussion space about economic justice in downtown Los Angeles, drove Digital Shine, a portal for BIPOC-led community organizations with a fleet of digital memes and gifs related to voter engagement and co-authored Stitch This!, a landscape review about TikTok and YouTube creators and the potential for channeling that energy for social change.
In 2020, some of Wyatt’s impactful contributions include serving as the creative force behind DearFrontline.com, an interactive property where art honors essential workers and mounting the Strike for Black Lives Murals series in eight cities in ten days in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd; and It’s All Up to Us, a large-scale art show about voting rights in North Carolina.
In 2013, he founded and served as creative director of his company, Big Bowl of Ideas, focused exclusively on the intersection of creative, arts, politics, digital strategies and social justice.
Prior to his culture for social impact work, Wyatt was a political consultant and strategist for 25 campaigns across the country, including those of the DCCC, NARAL’s first independent expenditure campaign and an independent expenditure campaign for Kamala Harris for California attorney general. He worked for SEIU (Service Employees International Union) and its locals, wearing a number of hats – civil and human rights director, community partnerships director, government affairs director and public affairs director.
He has generated the creative look and feel for over 30 conference, exhibit and attendee experiences in the progressive nonprofit sector from the 3,000-plus attended PolicyLink Equity Summit to the global Wellbeing Summit in Santa Monica, California.
He is also a writer and critic on pop culture and the arts. His work has appeared in HuffPost, Upworthy (as a Visual Fellow), Ebony, LA Weekly and the NC Independent, among others.
Wyatt was born and raised in North Carolina, but his career has taken him to Washington, New York City and Los Angeles, where he currently lives with his wife, Roshin Mathew.
Often you’ll find him spending whatever other time he has left writing screenplays, tricking out his bike, working on his DJ skills, blogging and watching every movie under the sun with his wife.