Daily Inspiration: Meet Tropical Meme Society

Today we’d like to introduce you to Tropical Meme Society.

tropical meme society, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
After the 2024 election, a chance meeting at a Silverlake stop of the #4 Metro bus to downtown LA led to the creation of a new political protest and art collective. Key members met en route to a protest at Alex Padilla’s office, and kept reconnecting in the LA streets over multiple marches and actions. Given the ominous political winds, all stars aligned to form a new collective, the Tropical Meme Society (@tropical.meme.society) designed to bring light and hope to this moment.

Tropical Meme Society (TMS) is a freewheeling cast of characters that love democracy and a free and fair society, and create demonstrations and art activations that support those ideals. Early on, they decided to join the national Visibility Brigade (https://www.visibilitybrigade.com), and today they can frequently be found over LA’s freeways with messages bring awareness to issues and encouraging hope, democratic ideals and voter participation.

TMS is a collective and a community, including art, dance, music and laughter as an antidote to the cruelty being inflicted by the current administration. their Frog Anthem video (https://www.youtube.com/@tms-r4b/shorts) is the first large project to come to fruition. TMS is gearing up for a very active October, hitting the streets with bridge drops (protests with messages over the freeway) focusing on turning out voters for the November 3rd election.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Life in the 2020s is never smooth. TMS is always rolling with the punches and their rapid response instincts keep the collective busy. TMS messages have been featured separately on Jimmy Kimmel and Rachel Maddow, and went international with a featured article in the French daily, SudOuest.

the TMS mantra “let’s DO something” is a good antidote to the despair that is all too easy to fall into given the overwhelming nature of today’s news. working in community means that someone always renews the call to action and our sense of urgency when other members are feeling down.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Within the group are wide range of professionals, mainly creatives, including actors, musicians, artists, artisans, educators and more. TMS also includes multigenerational members, so some members are starting out their careers while others are experts at their craft.

almost uniquely for Los Angeles, TMS formed around a set of ideals, so the members’ professions were incidental for the first six months of the collective’s existence. as the community grew, the collective realized the skill sets of its members leant itself to larger form projects, such as the Frog Anthem video. it felt very Los Angeles that we realized after the fact, that we had musicians, actors, directors, drone operators, producers, editors, art directors, etc., all within our ranks and able to bring the idea to fruition.

Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
The activist community in LA is inspiring on a daily basis. Since the election of 2024, multiple groups have formed around issues important to all Angelenos. they are all welcoming to anyone interested in action, in working toward their goals. we have heroes that walk among us!

local heroes:

Eagle Rock Hope Squad
Silver Lake Couch Collective
Civic Sundays
CHIRLA
NDL)N

national/regional:

Field Team 6 (based locally, active nationally)
Indivisible (national & regional)
No Kings (national & regional)
No Camps CA (closing detention centers)
50501 (national regional)

and so many more!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://tropicalmemesociety.com
• Instagram: @tropical.meme.society
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61589054195956
• LinkedIn: TikTok: @tropicalmemesocie
• Youtube: @tms-r4b
• Soundcloud: youtube: @tms-r4b
• Other: @tropicalmemes.bsky.social