What if joy is the most radical tool for change we have?
Yana Buhrer Tavanier grew up in communist Bulgaria, where speaking the wrong truth could get you declared mentally ill. After nearly a decade as an award-winning investigative journalist — and after managing to close exactly one of the fifty-plus institutions she exposed — she arrived at a hard truth: Facts alone don’t make people care. Art does. Play does. Joy does.
She’s now the co-founder and Executive Director of Fine Acts, a global nonprofit creative studio working at the intersection of art, technology, science, and human rights — and the creator of “Playtivism,” a science-backed methodology that uses creative play as a tool for social change. She is also a TED Fellow.
"The collaborations with artists were the things that people remembered, that drove people in, that in some cases grabbed people by the throat and really made them do something about the issue."
In this conversation, Yana talks with Dr. Michelle Weise and Rev. Dana Allen Walsh about:
Growing up in a family that was punished for its convictions — including an aunt whose art and spirit were crushed by the communist psychiatric system
What Dr. Stuart Brown’s research on play revealed about burnout and change
How Fine Acts’ LABS format pairs strangers across disciplines for 48-hour creative sprints
“Controlled failure” — her concept for the deliberate leap into something you’re not ready for
Why the word she uses for her career is “recalibration,” not reinvention
“Play can prevent very high levels of burnout and depression amongst activists — and it can give us the much-needed feeling that we’ve got this. So we embrace joy as the process. It’s not necessarily that the final result is going to be funny or light. It’s about feeling free, feeling unburdened, while in the process of creation.”
Her concept of Playtivism isn't just a theory. It's a methodology built on neuroscience, tested through years of failure, and proven through campaigns that have actually shifted hearts. In a moment when activists are burning out and information is being weaponized, Yana's insistence on joy — not as an afterthought but as a strategy — is both countercultural and essential.
Learn more about Fine Acts: fineacts.co
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About Our Guest
Yana Buhrer Tavanier (YAH-nah BOO-rer tah-vahn-YAY) is a TED Senior Fellow and the co-founder and Executive Director of Fine Acts, a global nonprofit creative studio for social impact. Born in communist Bulgaria, she has spent her career at the intersection of journalism, activism, art, technology, and science — developing what she calls “Playtivism”: the radical idea that joy, creativity, and imagination can be more powerful agents of change than facts or fury alone. Fine Acts works across human rights and environmental issues worldwide, producing campaigns and supporting civil society organizations in making people stop, feel, and act.
About the Podcast: A Life Worth Working
A Life Worth Working is hosted by Michelle Weise, a writer on the future of learning and work, and Dana Allen Walsh, an executive coach and pastor. Each week, they talk with guests who open up about the messiness, transformation, and wonder of their work lives — what they call the soul of work.
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