Please contact to invite ECN Director Ori Alon as a guest artist, performer, speaker or workshop facilitator. Ori has led workshops for in schools, workplaces, summer camps, colleges, spiritual communities and conferences.
“Ori’s work is inspired and inspirational”
Ed Woodham, Director, Art in Odd Places Festival
“Ori was an excellent guest speaker in the Art and Social Practice Program at Portland State University. He helped us re-evaluate our notions of compassion and gave us new tools to interact with communities that have different values then us”
Adam Carlin, Director, Greensboro Project Space
“This was my favorite session! So inspired to do some street activism with these magical tools! Didn't want to miss any of this great presentation!”
Participant, Expressive Therapies Summit
"I am still helped every day by my Forgiver's License which I carry in my wallet"
Norman Fischer, Zen master, poet and author, one of the leading Buddhist teachers in the US
“What was terrific about the forms that Ori prepared is that they were funny and accessible and allowed people to get to the essence or purpose of the Jewish High Holidays – Teshuva – without being tripped up by the unwieldy tool of the liturgy”
Rabbi Brent Spodek, Beacon Hebrew Alliance
"I gave a friend of mine, who is a hardworking single mom, an OK Parent Award. After she read it carefully she gave me a big hug of appreciation and said it really meant a lot to her and she thought all parents could benefit from it. Supportive bureaucracy is helping people by reminding them that they are human and deserve to be acknowledged every day"
Daniel Weise, Creative Director, Thundercut
"Ori Alon is one of the most ethically responsible and deeply convincing skeptics since Jon Stewart. His ECN is as if the The Daily Show opened a branch of government."
Jean Marc Superville Sovak, social entrepreneur artist
"I've enjoyed having a tangible item to pull out and give to my clients after a very serious therapy session about their present and past challenges. I love having a resource for people to validate themselves when they feel written off by the world. A certificate, refurbished report card, or even a sticker can also be a nice transitional object and subtle reminder to the individual that it's going to be ok."
K.N., clinical social worker
“I love having a Forgiver’s License in my wallet. Whenever I look at it, it reminds me not to take things personally and to overlook potential insults. It’s my job to forgive others and to forgive myself when I forget to forgive others. That’s what having a Forgiver's License means to me.”
Herb Levine, teacher of Mussar, Jewish ethical mindfulness.
"Alon's White Men Registry helped me develop more compassion and empathy towards white men, which doesn't come naturally to me"
52 years old Latino male, NY
"My high school diploma, driver’s license, passport actually say nothing real about me. Imagine Vincent Van Gogh’s passport or the Rosa Parks driver’s license. You have an opportunity by engaging ECN documents to arrive at a document that comes mighty close to who you really are and in your own eyes to boot.”
Andrew Courtney, activist, Middle East dreamer
Empowering Clerks Network (ECN) Director Ori Alon will present his various participatory art projects in which he uses social practice and satire tools to initiate therapeutic experiences. Alon had helped over 200 people write personal letters using vintage typewriters, issued and distributed over 120,000 official documents such as Joy Permits, Forgiver's Licenses, Adults Special Achievement Stickers, Racism Release Forms, DIY Certificates of Recognition, Apology Declarations, OK Parent Awards, Open Carry Permits for Musical Instruments, Compassion Cards and others. Alon uses clowning techniques in his work, for example recently he led high school seniors in writing rejection letters to colleges. He also co-created the Hidden Fortune Wheel, which allows participants in the street to spin the wheel and practice empathy by imagining themselves in the shows of a refugee, other gender, LGBT, black, police, elder, child etc and leads workshops in which participants make their own versions of the wheel. In the workshop participants will be able to issue and receive Playful Paperwork documents and be trained as Empowering Clerks (as part of the Center for Supportive Bureaucracy) to use with their own clients and students. Please Contact for more details.
Alon during office hours at the Atlanta Beltline Festival
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Ori Alon is a participatory performance and street artist. He performs and interact with diverse populations on a regular basis, in schools, conferences, workshops and at national events like the Republican and Democrat National Conventions, the Women's March and other events. He is offering various services he developed such as Joy Permit, Forgiver's Licence, Apology Declaration, Letter Writing Station, Racism Release Form, Adults Special Achievement stickers, Refurbished Report Cards, Uncle/Aunt Adoption documents, Kids Free-Play Admission Tickets, Pain Deeds, Loving&Liable Entity (LLE) certifications, Happiness Insurance cards, Open Carry permits for musical instruments, True Friend Diploma, OK Parent Award and other official documents. He also presents his work as a public speaker and leads workshop where participants can make their own Hidden Fortune Wheel, an empathy tool he developed with artist Ana Azzue Gallira.
Ori has presented his work at the RNC & DNC, Clearwater Festival, Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College, Dr. Patch Adams’ Clowntown Healing Fest in Phoenix, AZ, Poughkeepsie Day School, the Harvey School, Eden Village Summer Camp, Art in Odd Places Festival, Mishkan Shalom Synagouge in Philadelphia and many other occasions. So far Ori and dozens of registered and undocumented Empowering Clerks have issued and distributed more than 100,000 official documents.
Ori has presented his work at the RNC & DNC, Clearwater Festival, Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College, Dr. Patch Adams’ Clowntown Healing Fest in Phoenix, AZ, Poughkeepsie Day School, the Harvey School, Eden Village Summer Camp, Art in Odd Places Festival, Mishkan Shalom Synagouge in Philadelphia and many other occasions. So far Ori and dozens of registered and undocumented Empowering Clerks have issued and distributed more than 100,000 official documents.
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Like Supportive Bureaucracy and Playful Paperwork? Invite the ECN to offer Compassionate Office Hours at your community!!
Listen to Zoketsu Norman Fischer, one of the leading Buddhist teachers in the US talks about the Empowering Clerks Network. It's very funny!!