Team:

• Clare Nolan

• Pilar Mendoza

• Meghan Hunt

Within philanthropy, critical questions exist about what movements need to make progress and how funders can best support them. Between 2017-2023, the Art for Justice (A4J) Fund aligned artists, advocates, and allied donors to transform the criminal legal system, envisioning a future where shared safety is available to all. Through the work of its grantees, the Fund sought to end mass incarceration and shift the narrative around criminal justice reform through art. The Fund partnered with Engage R+D to document the Fund’s impact and share lessons with the field through a series of evaluation and learning products.

Transforming Criminal Justice Through Art, Advocacy, and Philanthropy

Starting in 2018, the Fund partnered with Engage R+D and the Center for Evaluation Innovation to conduct a developmental evaluation of A4J. The overall goal of the evaluation was to understand what it takes to bring together arts, advocacy, and philanthropy to disrupt mass incarceration. Developmental evaluation is a responsive learning approach well suited for initiatives like A4J that are highly innovative and evolving within dynamic and emergent contexts. This culminating report by Engage R+D offers a retrospective summary of A4J’s wide-ranging contributions to change and distills lessons for funders, donors, and movement actors. It synthesizes findings from numerous evaluative efforts conducted from 2018 through 2023.

What Movements Need to Advance Social Change

In Fall 2023, Engage R+D created a series of case studies focused on where A4J supported movement-related change efforts across distinctive socio-political landscapes. The series is based on lessons learned from A4J grantees and partners across three states—Ohio, Illinois, and New York. The series also presents insights and recommendations from directly impacted artists including takeaway lessons for funders and others involved in the movement to end mass incarceration.

Case Studies:

• Embracing Art in the Movement: Lessons from Ohio

• Centering Directly Impacted People: Lessons from Illinois

• Practicing Movement Allyship: Lessons from New York

• Supporting Directly Impacted Artists: Recommendations for Funders

Forging Connections Between Artists & Advocates

In Spring 2023, the Fund partnered with Engage R+D to better understand how grantees built and strengthened their relationships with one another through a grantee survey and social network analysis. This report synthesizes findings that show how relationships have formed among grantees and served to integrate arts and advocacy work to end mass incarceration. The report also includes grantee perspectives on how A4J has supported progress in narrative change and criminal justice policy.