Art to end mass incarceration

Art for Justice Fund

Ava DuVernay’s film “13th” was a tipping point in Agnes Gund’s social justice efforts. She sold her Roy Lichtenstein painting – Masterpiece – to establish the Art for Justice Fund with $100 million of the proceeds. The Fund invests in artists and advocates working together to end mass incarceration, recognizing that for change to be lasting there must be a cultural and political shift. 

The time is right to address criminal justice reform. Multiple grassroots organizations were expanding; the artistic expression calling out the injustices of mass incarceration was becoming mainstream; and more and more politicians in both parties felt the pressure to make a change. The Art for Justice Fund had all the tools to bring these worlds together, and Spitfire developed a plan to make sure everyone knew it.

Over the course of the last two years, through creative collaboration with the client, stakeholder interviews and research, Spitfire created a communication plan for the Fund to increase the Fund’s visibility. Much of our collective hard work is coming to fruition. The media strategy we helped create has already seen success with the founder’s piece in TIME, coverage of Mark Bradford’s donation to the Fund, a spotlight in the New Yorker, ARTNews and the Economist, and a series of grantee profiles in Essence Magazine’s online She, The People column. Additionally, we launched the Fund’s Instagram account and have increased the Fund’s reach on Twitter with increased creative and visual social media campaigns, engagement with grantees and the broader criminal justice community, and encouraging fidelity to a common hashtag.

We are looking forward to a lasting connection with the Art for Justice Fund.