Illinois Humanities Announces Envisioning Justice Community Grants — Illinois Humanities – Envisioning Justice

www.EnvisioningJustice.org

CHICAGO – July 19, 2018 – PRLog — Illinois Humanities today announced Envisioning Justice community grants totalling nearly $160,000 for arts and humanities programs in jails, prisons and detention centers. Sixteen groups and individuals from throughout Chicagoland with diverse backgrounds and creative expertise will receive funding for unique projects and communications efforts to better tell stories about policies and data that impact those both inside and outside the criminal justice system.

The grants and projects are part of Envisioning Justice, a two-year initiative by Illinois Humanities that seeks to strengthen efforts to reimagine our criminal legal system by fostering citywide conversations on incarceration from all perspectives.

“A main goal of the Envisioning Justice initiative is to establish collaborative partnerships with a diverse network of organizations throughout the Chicago-area to better amplify the work being done on many facets of criminal justice system reform,” said Angel Ysaguirre, Executive Director of Illinois Humanities. “By expanding the universe of groups working in this space to include many who will explore criminal justice issues for the first time, Envisioning Justice is adding fresh perspectives and innovative approaches that will enhance the larger conversation.”

The grants are divided into two categories: Arts & Incarceration Projects and Stories & Public Opinion Programs.  Arts & Incarceration projects will use the arts and humanities to creatively explore critical issues with people who are currently themselves involved in the criminal justice system. Stories & Public Opinion programs will put narratives and information explaining aspects of the criminal justice system in front of the public, through visual arts, performance, and digital storytelling.

Envisioning Justice (https://envisioningjustice.org/) community grants were made possible thanks to initial support of the initiative overall from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation’s Safety and Justice Challenge (http://www.safetyandjusticechallenge.org/) in the amount of $1.5 million.  Following are theorganizations and individuals selected to receive this first round of community grants:

Arts & Incarceration Grantees

Piven Theatre Workshop is creating an ensemble play involving women in the EPIC program at Cook County Jail. ($6,994)

Reading Between the Lines will put funds toward an evaluation project at St. Leonard’s Ministries. ($7,500)

Young Chicago Authors plans to establish a Poetry Residency at the Juvenile Temporary Detention Center. ($8,000)

Fifth House Ensemble will invest in deep listening and graphic score composition activities at the Juvenile Temporary Detention Center. ($10,000)

ConTextos works almost exclusively with court-involved individuals at Cook County Jail, CPS alternative schools, workforce development and juvenile probation and will fund the “I’m an Author and I’m Incarcerated” program at the Cook County Jail. ($10,000)

Prison Neighborhood Arts Project will study and create works for the “What Makes a Citizen” project at Stateville prison. ($10,000)

Red Clay Dance Company will expand their Making the Artist program, designed to empower youth at the Cook County Temporary Juvenile Detention Center to create positive change in systems and communities that aren’t equitable. ($10,000)

Literature for All of Us will grow their New Juvenile Justice Book Groups which invites participants to explore the transformative power of their own voices, helping to build resilience. ($7,500)

Free Write Arts & Literacy will utilize support toexpand FWAL’s “Careers in the Arts Program” in the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center. ($10,000)

Stories & Public Opinion Grantees

Adler University will develop an interactive website to promote public dialogue for the “Prison Communities: From urban to rural and back” project involving the Austin neighborhood and Pontiac Correctional Center. ($10,000)

Rachel Wallis (individual), Wallis’ project “Inheritance: Quilting Across Prison Walls” will tell the story of incarcerated mothers and the impact on their families. ($5,000)

Chicago Votes, through their CCJ Votes project, will tell the story of grassroots and advocacy efforts in Cook County Jail and in the Illinois State Assembly through video content creation and promotion.  ($10,000)

StoryCorps will partner with four community organizations to create a Chicago Justice Project to record and preserve stories of individuals impacted by the system, organize a large scale community listening event and provide training to help partner organizations continue to use stories to enrich their work. ($15,000)

Mikva Challenge will expand work being done by young members of their Juvenile Justice Council to provide audio-visual content chronicling their city-wide advocacy and policy-making efforts and connecting it to their personal stories. ($5,000)

Jessica Pupovac (individual), an award-winning freelance reporter, plans a “Women in Prison” series of data-driven, human stories that illustrate how sexism in the Illinois Department of Corrections is harming incarcerated women and forcing them to serve longer, harder time. ($5,000)

Public Health Institute of Metropolitan Chicago will put the grant toward their Chicago Torture Justice Memorial (CTJM) which supports artists and torture-survivors engaged in creating public memorials embodying the experiences of the individuals while also incorporating feedback from the respective communities impacted. ($10,000)

Envisioning Justice is fortunate to count among their grant selection committee members individuals who could contribute dual perspectives as both well-regarded professionals currently working in the arts and humanities disciplines, and individuals who have past experience with incarceration and the criminal justice system.

“These projects play an essential role in the Envisioning Justice initiative, in terms of its fulfilling its promise as a true city-wide discussion on the state of mass incarceration,” said Mark Hallett, program manager for grants and evaluation at Illinois Humanities. “We are thrilled with the quality of the projects we received in this first round and how they complement our other community-based explorations into the criminal justice system. These projects harness the creative power of theater, spoken word, literature, dance, and other art forms – along with basic democratic rights such as voting and dialogue, to engage us in better understanding the impact of over incarceration.”

There will be a second round of grants with an October 15 deadline for projects in the Stories and Public Opinion category. In addition, there will be additional opportunities for groups to apply to host dialogues around the criminal justice system. These microgrants, called Illinois Speaks “Justice Dialogues (https://envisioningjustice.org/2018/07/16/illinois-humani…),” have deadlines of September 15, 2018 and February 15, 2019. For more information, reach out to Mark Hallett at mark.hallett@ilhumanities.org.

About Illinois Humanities (https://www.ilhumanities.org/): Our mission is to strengthen the social, political and economic fabric of Illinois through constructive conversation and community engagement.

AboutEnvisioning Justice (https://envisioningjustice.org/): Created and facilitated by Illinois Humanities, Envisioning Justice will engage Chicagoans, of all neighborhoods, races, socio-economic backgrounds, and with a diversity of perspectives, in a citywide conversation about the impact of incarceration in local communities and will invite residents to use the arts and humanities to devise strategies for lessening this impact. Envisioning Justice seeks to strengthen efforts to reimagine our criminal legal system and is inspired by the goals of justice, accountability, safety, support, and restoration for all people.  www.EnvisioningJustice.org  Follow #Envisioning Justice at @EnvisioningJustice onFacebook (https://www.facebook.com/EnvisioningJustice) and @envisionjustice onTwitter (https://twitter.com/EnvisionJustice).