Art Portal
A platform co-created with and for artists impacted by the criminal legal histories that seeks to (a) elevate their voices and artwork, (b) raise awareness about the vital role of art and community in the reentry and criminal legal systems, and (c) help reduce the social stigma against people with justice histories.
Client: The Creative Arts Program at The Fortune Society
Year: 2021
Team: Jamie Maleszka & members of the Creative Arts Program
Background
Art Portal is the culmination of my MFA thesis, developed in collaboration with the Creative Arts Program (CAP) at the Fortune Society (Fortune).
Fortune is a leading reentry organization whose mission is “to support successful reentry from incarceration and promote alternatives to incarceration, thus strengthening the fabric of our communities." Each year, Fortune serves more than 10,000 New Yorkers.
Notably, Fortune is one of the few reentry organizations with a dedicated Arts Program, offering workshops in music, creative writing, acting, drawing, and more.
While I engaged with various stakeholders within Fortune and CAP, Art Portal was primarily developed in collaboration with the program’s Director and members of the Creative Writing workshop.
*A note on the language used in this case study:
Reentry is the process of transitioning from prisons or jails back into community. It is also a vast and complex system of institutions dedicated to facilitating the reentry process. There are Reentry Organizations dedicated to supporting people who are in their reentry process.
Person with Justice History, System-impacted refers to people or individuals who have been arrested, convicted, and/or incarcerated. The term also includes those who have been negatively affected— legally, economically, or through family ties—by the incarceration of a close relative.
Tools & Methods
Process
I began this project in early 2020 by studying the criminal justice and legal systems, focusing on their impact on individuals who come into contact with them. Specifically, I examined how the system intersects with—and disproportionately harms—those who have been detained, convicted, incarcerated, and those reentering society after their release. This required an in-depth exploration of mass incarceration, the carceral state, the prison system, and reentry.
During this initial phase, I conducted extensive secondary research, which included reading books and online literature, listening to podcasts, watching documentaries, and engaging in ecosystem and stakeholder mapping. Additionally, I conducted interviews and other research activities to gain a comprehensive understanding of the subject matter.
Insights
My research revealed that while the most common reentry services are essential for survival, there is a significant gap in addressing social-emotional needs. These needs are crucial for healing, personal growth, and a sense of fulfillment. To better understand this gap, I mapped these unattended needs against Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. I found that the top three levels—belonging, esteem, and self-actualization—are key to fostering healing and post-traumatic growth. These elements are what enable individuals to build meaningful lives beyond mere survival.
Additionally, my research showed that self-expression through creativity and community-building is rarely prioritized or intentionally integrated into reentry services. Often dismissed as nonessential, these aspects are seen as luxuries rather than necessities. However, both my research and personal experience have demonstrated that when individuals are given the tools for creative self-expression within a community, they can effectively address these higher-level needs.
Working The Fortune Society's Creative Arts Program
To address this issue, I had the privilege of collaborating with the Fortune Society and its Creative Arts Program. My introduction to the organization came through Jamie, who was then the creative writing instructor and is now the program’s Director. She welcomed me into her workshop, providing an opportunity to engage with the community firsthand.
My goal was to learn about the organization, the workshop, and, most importantly, the community members—their needs, aspirations, and how I could support them. The creative writing workshop consisted of approximately 15 participants from diverse backgrounds, all of whom had been impacted by the criminal legal system and were actively developing their writing skills. Over several months, I attended sessions, participated in discussions, and actively listened, gradually building trust within the community.
To gain a deeper understanding of the organization’s structure, systems, and dynamics, I conducted additional research, including audits, stakeholder mapping, interviews, surveys, and presentations to validate insights and assumptions.
Key Learnings
Through my research, I gained valuable insights, with three key takeaways emerging as the most significant:
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The workshop serves as both a healing and brave space, where art-making is a life-affirming practice for participants.
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Community members seek to expand their connections, both within and beyond their immediate network. More broadly, they aspire to reach mainstream audiences to foster empathy and reduce social stigma.
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Sharing their work is deeply important, with many participants expressing a strong desire to be published.
Based on the research, learnings, and insights I asked myself, how can we build upon what's working in this workshop and create a structure that supports the group's desires while also addressing the gap in the reentry system?
How Might We build a structure that provides individuals with justice histories with access to a community of peers and opportunities to develop artistic and personal practices that can help them in building long-term stable and meaningful lives?
After presenting several potential projects aimed at addressing this question, the group, with the organization’s approval, reached a consensus to co-create an online platform.
Building Art Portal
To co-create the platform, we established an Advisory Board consisting of myself, Jamie, and five volunteer artists from the workshop.
I held individual meetings with each board member and facilitated co-design workshops where we collaboratively shaped the platform. Our discussions covered a range of topics, including the website’s goals, logotype, target audience, calls to action, and color palette. Through a process of proposing ideas, discussing options, voting, and reaching consensus, we determined the best path forward.
At the core of our collaboration was a commitment to mutual learning and skill development. While I gained valuable insights from their expertise and lived experiences, I also introduced them to key design principles, fostering a sense of agency, confidence, responsibility, and leadership. My goal was for them to take pride in the platform, feel a sense of ownership, and become advocates for its rollout.
Art Portal is an art-centered platform co-created with and for people with justice histories that seeks to
(a) elevate their voices and artwork, (b) raise awareness about the important role of art and community in the reentry and criminal legal systems, and (c) help reduce the social stigma against people with justice histories.
Art Portal was collectively envisioned as a comprehensive system comprising seven key components: Publishing, About the CAP, Resources, Advocacy, Financial Support, Tech Help, and Documentation.
By designing the platform through a collaborative process, the creation itself became an integral part of the final outcome. The intervention extends beyond the tangible outputs to include the process of their development, forming a cohesive and dynamic system—the Art Portal System.
The Longer-Term Vision, The Dream
The vision for Art Portal is to be a small but powerful catalyst within the reentry system—one that creates lasting ripples of change. We begin within the Creative Arts Program at Fortune, working diligently to expand our impact to other organizations, the broader reentry system, and ultimately, the general public.
The change we seek starts with humanizing and valuing individuals who have been impacted by the criminal legal system. Art Portal serves as a tool to advocate for holistic reentry services that go beyond survival, fostering growth and healing. It champions programs, organizations, and systems that prioritize mutuality, opportunity, justice, and love.
Above all, my long-term aspiration is for this platform to become a vehicle for both individual and collective healing. In the creative writing workshop, we often say, “Hurt people hurt people, and healed people heal people.” I hope Art Portal helps extend the transformative power of art and community to many more individuals affected by the prison system—so that those who have found healing, like the artists in the workshop, can become healers in their own communities.
After graduating and completing the project, I remained closely connected to the Creative Arts Program.
In late 2021, we collaborated again to co-create We Are More Than a Label, a zine aimed at promoting the use of humanizing, person-first language when discussing individuals affected by the criminal legal system.
In 2022, the CAP, along with myself and two other artists, was awarded the Artist Employment Program grant by Creatives Rebuild New York. Through this grant, I joined Fortune full-time for two years, deepening my engagement with the program.
Meanwhile, Art Portal has remained active, continuously evolving to meet the needs of the community. It has since become the official website and primary public-facing platform for the Creative Arts Program.