The Brooklyn Museum

Using art to drive community conversations for a more empathetic world

Grantee Cohort Fall 2019

Location New York

The Brooklyn Museum promotes art as a catalyst to engage communities in conversations that create a more connected, civic, and empathetic world. The organization values art as playing a central role in society, framing ideas around social and policy change, and has revamped a public agenda that calls for increased community representation and inclusion.

With support from Art for Justice and a newly dedicated commitment to promoting criminal justice reform, the Brooklyn Museum opened its spaces to communities that are directly affected, allowing them to participate and collaborate in the creation of an exhibit and related programming focused on promoting policy and advocacy efforts for criminal justice reform. The resulting exhibition used art to amplify underrepresented voices and educate a wider audience about the harmful, pervasive effects of our nation’s current penal system.