RIGHT OF RETURN

ABOUT US

The Right of Return Fellowship was co-founded in 2017 by justice-impacted artists Russell Craig and Jesse Krimes. It was established by artists, for artists as the first and only national initiative dedicated to supporting and mentoring formerly incarcerated creatives. Right of Return Fellows produces work that advances criminal and racial justice.

The annual, open-call Fellowship is intended for people working in all disciplines, including visual art, performance, poetry, sound, media, and design.  Each year, six fellows are given awards of $20,000 to support projects and new works that reflect the humanity of criminalized and incarcerated people and build public will for ambitious and visionary change. Additionally, Right of Return fellows and alumni convene annually to foster community, build advocacy skills, and work toward practice sustainability.

Our strategy is to change the narrative through art; this is the thread that connects all Fellows’ work. Recognizing the potential of art to communicate where facts often fail, Right of Return believes that justice-impacted artists can advance the cultural narrative around inhumane systems that they have been subjected to, ultimately influencing policy decisions and the public narrative. Positioning artists as changemakers, we prioritize projects that focus on an issue or policy that the Fellow wants to address, challenge, transform, or reimagine. 

Past projects have encompassed issues ranging from challenging the money bail system and wealth-based detention in states including Texas, Georgia, Mississippi and Alabama; ending solitary confinement in New York State; opposing jail incarceration and advancing ethical facility closure in New York City; addressing the intersection of the criminal justice and immigration systems in Texas and New Mexico; ending life without parole and other draconian sentences in Pennsylvania; and prohibiting the shackling of pregnant women in Philadelphia and across the country.

“Our goal is to create a multiracial, national cultural movement that is foundational and lasts”

Jesse Krimes, co-founder and president

Right of Return exemplifies how integrating artists into the reform movement can cultivate nimble, resonant, and engaging campaigns to end mass incarceration and advance racial equity. In just five-year, Right of Return has already had a transformative impact:

• 25 fellows have been supported in creating new works in partnership with advocacy organizations and leaders in the justice reform movement

• 30 new relationships have been fostered between artists and advocates working on policies and practices to end mass incarceration

• Alumni have gone on to receive the MacArthur Genius grant, the Pulitzer Prize, Guggenheim Fellowships, Creative Capital awards, Creatives Rebuild New York awards, and Art for Justice grants.

• Right of Return Alumni are included in many nationally celebrated projects, such as the groundbreaking publication and traveling exhibition Marking Time: Art in the Age of Mass Incarceration, by Dr. Nicole R. Fleetwood. 

WHY RIGHT OF RETURN USA?

The Right of Return Fellowship is responding to one of the biggest moral and human rights crises of our time: the creation of a carceral system in which approximately 2 million people are behind bars, and nearly 4 million more are on some form of state supervision. 

Mass incarceration in the United States tears families and communities apart. It is unmatched in the world and historically unprecedented. For decades, this system has had a disparate and devastating impact on communities of color. In fact, there are more Black men under correctional control today than were enslaved in the mid-1800s. 

The perpetuation of such pervasive human suffering depends on our ability to ignore and erase the stories of people impacted by the system. Right of Return is part of the movement to change narratives and foster conversations around policing, punishment, and the systemic racial and class inequalities that permeate the American criminal legal system. 

We know that it is vital to support artists with lived experience of incarceration. When resourced, artists working at the vanguard of social movements can use their creativity to build collective cultural momentum in pursuit of equity. In a moment of deepening social crisis, Right of Return Fellows are emergent organizers and advocates who create space to articulate a new vision of freedom.

Since the inaugural class of Right of Return Fellows, we’ve been working to create a self-sustaining community that can leverage and share the relationships, skills and knowledge that enable formerly incarcerated artists to build independent artistic practices. 

THE FUTURE

We are building on the success of the Right of Return Fellowship with the goal of scaling it into The Center for Art and Advocacy.  By late 2023, The Center for Art and Advocacy will entail:

• Annual artist fellowships

• A training and mentorship program for formerly incarcerated artists at different stages of their careers, the first iteration of which was piloted at MoMA PS1 in 2022

• A national residency for artists and advocates at which reflection, relationships, discovery, creativity, and strategy can flourish.

The Center for Art and Advocacy will work under five key assumptions:

1. Justice-impacted artists are uniquely equipped to advance criminal and racial justice. Through building, organizing, and supporting movements, they can reframe the narrative through art. 

2. There is a vast wealth of untapped talent across the country who share the lived experience of incarceration.

3. Providing financial support and community to formerly incarcerated artists will create space for new leaders and affirm the value of directly impacted artists in the fight to end mass incarceration.

4. The network between justice-impacted artists is generative. They rally around one other to offer support and future opportunities. 

5. With support of leading art and advocacy professionals, the work of the artists will transcend its current reach and publicly affirm the value of directly impacted artists.

The Right of Return Fellowship was created with the visionary support of The Open Philanthropy Project, the Art for Justice Fund, and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

SUPPORT

In November 2022, Right of Return will collaborate with Christie’s auction house on a charity auction meant to support the expansion of The Center for Art and Advocacy. Artists including Dwayne Betts, Rashid Johnson, Titus Kaphar, Sterling Ruby, Mickalene Thomas, Hank Willis Thomas and Right of Return Co-Founders Russel Craig and Jesse Krimes have donated work. This ambitious initiative is steered by a host committee that includes: Sarah Arison (chair), Beth DeWoody, Kate Fowle, Claude Grunitzky, Stephanie Ingrassia, Michi Jigarjian, Barbara and Jon Lee, Thor Shannon, Franklin Sirmans, Graham Steele, and Olivia Walton.

Congratulations to the Year 5 Fellows

We are so excited to announce the 2023 Right of Return USA Fellows, our fifth class of formerly incarcerated artists. And a giant thank you to everyone who applied. During the application period, we received over 150 applications from some of the most gifted artists across the country. The following six artists have been selected as Right of Return USA Fellows, and we’re thrilled to see what they have in store:

• Adamu Chan

• Jaiquan Fayson

• Michael Fischer

• Beverly Price

• Gary Harrell

• Jeremy Lee MacKenzie