At Curious Shapes we believe the most powerful solutions emerge from connection and collaboration.
We're a strategy, research, and communications collective working at the intersection of technology, democracy, and creative organizing.
We build infrastructure for movements to learn across borders, support organizations working in at-risk contexts, and help make democracy work feel less like homework and more like something people want to be part of.
What we do:
We work with civil society organizations, movements, technologists, and funders across the world on the challenges that matter: building democratic power in repressive contexts, protecting rights online, responding to surveillance and censorship, and creating campaigns that actually move people.
Our services include:
Collaborative research that's actionable and grounded in community needs
Strategic planning for organizations, movements, and cross-border networks
Impact evaluation that works in restrictive contexts
Creative campaigns connecting organizers with cultural producers
Training and mentorship programs with long-term support
Convenings that produce concrete outcomes, not just conversations
How We’re Different:
We center the people doing the work. Communities in at-risk contexts are the experts on what they need. We facilitate, support, and amplify rather than imposing solutions.
We connect across disciplines and borders. Technologists building tools often don't know the organizers and activists who need and use them. We build the infrastructure for those connections.
We make it compelling. Democracy work shouldn't feel like homework. When we connect movements with musicians, artists, and storytellers, we make complex issues accessible and campaigns more effective.
We understand risk. After a decade working in internet freedom and digital rights, we know how to conduct research, facilitate strategy, and measure impact in contexts where people face real threats.
Our Team:
We're researchers, strategic communicators, community builders, storytellers, and multimedia producers. Our diverse, multinational women-led team brings expertise in program management, network development, creative campaigning, and working in complex political contexts.
Our mission extends beyond short-term programs and projects. We aim to create welcoming spaces for diverse experts to collaborate on creative advocacy and impactful programs. We work to develop innovative research approaches and evaluation methods to understand localized and contextualized challenges and refine goals for meaningful impact. By assisting organizations in developing long-term strategies, we bridge the gap between grassroots efforts and broader policy changes. We also seek to use these approaches and research to communicate complex and contextualized challenges to funders and other powerful stakeholders.
Driven by a commitment to evidence-based practices, our approach to research and evaluation integrates:
Human-centric research methodologies
Meticulous data collection and analysis
Qualitative and quantitative assessment