WORMHOLES TO DISTANT STRANGERS: Shared_Studios is a design collective that is creating what it calls “wormholes” so strangers on opposite sides of the world can talk, dance, laugh, make music together. I haven’t yet used one of the portals, but hope to before too long. Check out the video introduction above.

NEW FELLOWS OF “A BLADE OF GRASS” ANNOUNCED: The arts-for-change funder “A Blade of Grass” has announced the new class of 2015 fellows who will carry out art projects in various media — including performance, video games, phone apps and more — to spur social change. Looks like a superb group of 8 fellows. A couple that caught our eye for their exciting storytelling content are Nigel Poor’s radio work with prisoners at San Quentin, and Dread Scott’s project to organize a reenactment of the largest slave rebellion in U.S. history.

“HATCH” ON YOUTUBE STARS: Have you visited “Hatch” yet? It’s the Rockefeller Foundation’s outstanding online resource on nonprofit storytelling. Bookmark it and visit often! Among other features, the site has posts from social-impact communications experts. One post, from last December but trending now, is Doug Hattaway’s case-study on how the British Red Cross is using YouTube stars to help teach teens how to administer first aid. That’s just another example of how nonprofits can successfully leverage pop culture to educate and activate people.