“[Madrigal] makes the stunt look like a lark. But it is really an elaborate act of protest: a combination of entertainment and trolling that Madrigal calls ‘cause-play.’”
Headshot by Renée Lopez.
As a freelance artist and consultant since 2018, Ian designs media and organizing campaigns, leads custom workshops, and produces original written and video content for clients including:
Leaders in racial and economic justice: UnidosUS, Economic Security Project, and The Greenlining Institute
National labor organizations: United Farm Workers, SEIU, Athena, and Airport Workers United
Corporate watchdogs: Demand Justice, Fight for the Future, Demand Progress, and American Association for Justice
Ian is also a Senior Trainer with the Center for Story-Based Strategy, Communications Strategist with full-service marketing and design firm Rootid, and co-founder and former core team member of the Get Free Movement advocating for truth, reconciliation, and reparations in the United States.
Ian Madrigal (they/he) is the Baltimore-based creative strategist best known for photobombing CEOs in Congressional hearings dressed as the Monopoly Man and shaming Trump's DHS Secretary out of a restaurant over the child separation policy. In addition to inspiring a "cause"-play movement, Ian is a filmmaker, attorney, organizer, musician, and writer focused on racial and economic justice, trans and queer rights, and radical democratic reform. Ian’s activism has been profiled in the New York Times, Washington Post, HBO, the Today Show, Fox News, NPR, and many more.
Ian was radicalized by political punk rock and staged their first creative protest at 14, slipping notes into the pockets of Disney clothing to expose sweatshop labor. A California native, they got their start in Washington DC as a Fellow with U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren and went on to direct campaigns focused on corporate accountability, human rights, and progressive candidates and causes — most recently as Strategy Director at Revolution Messaging. They were honored with a Rubys Artist Award from the Robert W. Deutsch Foundation in 2024, the prestigious Torchbearer Award from the Greenlining Institute in 2023, and a Recent Alumni Award from UCLA Law’s Public Interest program in 2019. Ian is currently directing and producing their first feature documentary film with support from the Saul Zaentz Innovation Fund incubator program at Johns Hopkins University.