named programs · 3 · from sources
What they call their work
Center Fellowship
Annual program providing $10,000 in unrestricted funds and $10,000 in project development funds to formerly incarcerated artists, including an annual retreat and networking opportunities with peers and industry leaders.
Keeping Community
Pop-up exhibition and programming series featuring a Reading Room curated by Sojourners for Justice Press, a Listening Room by Freer Records, and a Youth Art Space with works from Crossroads Juvenile Center youth.
Youth Art Space
Exhibition and workshop program featuring artworks by youth at Crossroads Juvenile Center in Brooklyn, created through collaborations with teaching artists and creatives.
activities · 5 groups
What they do
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Artist Residencies and Studio Programs 2 activities
- Developing capacity-building initiatives for reentering artistsDeveloped and implemented the Designing Creative Futures initiative, which created paid opportunities for artists reentering society after incarceration. The organization also supports broader capacity-building through its Academy and Arts Incubator programs.
- Producing and presenting original artistic works addressing criminal justice themesSupports the creation and public presentation of original artistic works that critique the criminal justice system, including sculptures, sound-based artworks, video diaries featured in the Oscar-nominated film TIME, the Netflix Original documentary visual album "Songs From The Hole," and the development of a multidisciplinary performance titled "When Steel Talks" exploring incarceration and dementia.
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Community-Engaged Public Art Projects 1 activity
- Delivering arts education and creative opportunities in correctional and youth justice settingsProvides arts education in California state prisons through Project PAINT and hosts collaborative workshops with teaching artists and community organizations to produce exhibitions of artworks created by youth at Crossroads Juvenile Center. Also created K.I.T.E. (Keep in Touch Exhibitions), a series of miniature exhibitions curated by incarcerated individuals that connect art made inside prisons with art from the outside.
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Artist Support Grants 1 activity
- Funding and community support for justice-impacted artists through multi-year fellowship programsProvides $10,000 in unrestricted funds and $10,000 in project development funds annually to formerly incarcerated artists through the Center Fellowship program, including participation in an annual retreat for networking, peer feedback, and engagement with cultural events in New York City. The program builds on the Right of Return Fellowship founded in 2017 and supports sustainability and equity for artists impacted by the criminal legal system.
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Food Distribution and Hunger Relief 1 activity
- Operating a community fridge and participatory public programsPartners with One Love Community Fridge to operate a daily-stocked community fridge providing fresh produce to residents of an affordable housing building, a social services center, and the surrounding Brooklyn community. Also organizes "Keeping Community," a series of pop-up programs, collaborations, and partnerships that transform its gallery into a multifaceted space for participatory experiences centered on collective liberation.
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Curated Art Exhibitions and Public Displays 1 activity
- Operating a gallery and curating exhibitions for justice-impacted artistsOperates a flagship gallery at 22 Bancroft Place in Brooklyn, NY, launching with the inaugural exhibition "Collective Gestures: Building Community through Practice" featuring work by over 35 artists from its Fellowship Program. Hosts solo and group exhibitions including "Jailbirds" by Gilberto Rivera, "A Language We Share" by Beverly Price and Gordon Parks, and pop-up exhibitions at venues such as Simon Miccio Gallery in Aspen, CO, to shift public narratives around mass incarceration.
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financials · form 990 · fy2024
revenue
Total revenue$616K
Contributions & grants$566K92%
Program service revenue$00%
Investment income$50K8%
Other revenue$0
expenses
Total expenses$1.41M
Program expenses58%
Admin / overhead29%
Fundraising13%
Salaries & benefits$397K
Grants paid out$113K
Largest expense lineProfessional Fees
balance sheet
Total assets$7.29M
Cash$1.06M
Investments$5.08M
Liabilities$430K
Net assets$6.86M
Liquid reserves52.4 mo
3 years on record · 2022–2024 · YoY revenue -90.8%
leadership · form 990 part vii · fy2024
Who runs it
paid leadership · 1
| Name | Title | Hours/wk | Compensation |
|---|---|---|---|
| JESSE KRIMES | EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR | 40 | $175K |
board members · 10
- ASIA JOHNSON — BOARD MEMBER
- BARBARA COLE LEE — BOARD MEMBER
- DAVEEN TRENTMAN — SECRETARY
- DWAYNE BETTS — BOARD MEMBER
- KATE CAPSHAW — BOARD MEMBER
- KATE FOWLE — PRESIDENT
- RACHEL SHECHTMAN — BOARD MEMBER
- RUSSEL CRAIG — BOARD MEMBER
- STEPHANIE INGRASSIA — TREASURER
- TAMARA WHITE — BOARD MEMBER
relationships · 31
Who they work with
- AHL Foundation Partner — Partner organization where the fellow's art has been exhibited.
- After Violence Project Partner — Organization hosting Starr Davis as a Visions After Violence Fellow.
- Artistic Noise Partner — Partner organization through which the fellow participated in the Art & Entrepreneurship program.
- Beverly Price Partner — Featured as a 2023 Center Fellow in the exhibition "A Language We Share."
- Brooklyn Poets Partner — Organization with which Starr Davis teaches.
- California Lawyers for the Arts Partner — Collaborated on the development and implementation of the Designing Creative Futures reentry initiative.
- Center for Art & Advocacy Network — David J Wilson is a 2026 Fellow of the Center for Art & Advocacy, indicating affiliation with the organization's artist-advocate network.
- Crossroads Juvenile Center Partner — Collaborates on the Youth Art Space exhibition, contributing artworks created by youth in pre-trial detention through arts programming led by teaching artists.
- Crossroads Juvenile Center Partner — Collaborates on youth art programming through workshops led by teaching artists, featuring artworks created by youth.
- Ford Foundation Government — Managed the Art for Justice Fund, which supports the Center for Art and Advocacy.
- Freer Records Partner — Curates the Listening Room as part of the "Keeping Community" exhibition.
- Freer Records Partner — Curates the Listening Room for the Keeping Community exhibition, featuring music by prison-impacted artists, and hosts DJ sets for the opening and closing events.
- Garrett Bradley Partner — Collaborated on the creation of the Oscar-nominated film TIME.
- Grady Health System Partner — Integrated food prescriptions into primary care
- Jesse Krimes Partner — Co-founder of the Center Fellowship program
- Marlon Peterson Partner — Fellow at the Center for Art and Advocacy developing a multidisciplinary performance on incarceration and family memory.
- Mellon Foundation Funder — Provides foundational support to develop and sustain The Center for Art and Advocacy.
- Midtown Community Justice Center Partner — Partner organization where the fellow's art has been exhibited.
- Netflix Partner — Distributed the documentary visual album "Songs From The Hole" as a Netflix Original.
- One Love Community Fridge Partner — Partners to install and maintain a community fridge stocked daily with fresh produce for residents of the adjacent affordable housing building, social services center, and local community.
- Pace Gallery Partner — Partner organization where the fellow's art has been exhibited.
- Question Culture Partner — Artist-owned co-op that represents JJ'88.
- Right of Return Fellowship Partner — Fellowship program supporting artists, many of whom are formerly incarcerated, whose work is featured in the Center's exhibitions.
- Right of Return Fellowship Partner — Predecessor program and foundational initiative upon which the Center for Art and Advocacy was built.
- Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors Government — Co-managed the Art for Justice Fund, which supports the Center for Art and Advocacy.
- Russell Craig Partner — Co-founder of the Center Fellowship program
- SXSW Partner — Hosted the premiere of "Songs From The Hole" and awarded it the Visions Audience Award.
- Simon Miccio Gallery Partner — Hosted an exhibition of work by nine justice-impacted artists in Aspen, CO.
- Sojourners for Justice Press Partner — Curates the Reading Room as part of the "Keeping Community" exhibition.
- Sojourners for Justice Press Partner — Curates the Reading Room for the Keeping Community exhibition, providing books, zines, and archival media centered on abolitionist and Black feminist philosophies.
+ 1 more
strategies · 4
How they approach the work
Named approaches extracted from this org’s sources. Where others share an approach, follow it to see the full set of orgs running it.
- Art as Testimony and Trauma Processingmethodology: art-as-testimonyBy using art—particularly music, documentary, and personal narrative—as testimony, the organization enables justice-impacted individuals to process trauma, assert identity, and communicate lived experience, because authentic storytelling fosters emotional reckoning and humanizes systemic injustice.
- Art for Narrative Shift and Systemic Advocacymethodology: art-for-justiceBy empowering justice-impacted artists through mentorship, professional development, and interdisciplinary platforms, the organization advances racial and gender justice, because art-based organizing shifts public discourse, challenges punitive systems, and strengthens social movements.
- Collective Liberation Through Participatory Art Spacesmethodology: collective_liberation_practiceBy transforming gallery and reading room spaces into adaptive, participatory environments through pop-ups, partnerships, and multi-format media engagement, the organization advances collective liberation, because creative, community-driven spaces foster intergenerational dialogue, mutual care, and embodied resistance to carceral systems.
- Transformative Justice Through Artist-Led Networksmethodology: transformative_justice_in_the_artsBy supporting unrestricted funding and peer-centered professional development led by formerly incarcerated artists, the organization builds transformative justice in the arts, because financial autonomy and community-led networks enable sustainable artistic careers that challenge systemic inequity from within.