BAC is an arts-based advocacy organization.

Through our work, we use the arts and storytelling to change systems and policies – and build the capacity of individuals, organizations, and coalitions to do the same.

We believe the arts and storytelling can uniquely help to:

  1. Envision and communicate a world without systemic racism and the carceral state

  2. Move people in all positions of power and influence (from community-based power to political power) to take tangible action towards creating that world

  3. Reframe, counter, and replace dominant narratives that uphold and contribute to systemic racism

We believe arts-based advocacy is a critical and rigorous practice that complements long-term organizing to ensure long-lasting systemic change.

BAC is working to build an equitable world that is free of racist systems. 

We strive for a world that replaces prisons, jails, policing, and all measures of punitive “justice” with models of community sovereignty, restorative justice, and harm prevention / reduction where everyone’s needs are met. We recognize that our goals may not be reached in our lifetimes but strive to create a better world for the next generation.

We also recognize that our work is inherently intersectional and in working to eradicate racist systems we must also grapple with sexism, ableism, xenophobia, transphobia, homophobia, and so much more.

As an organization based in New York City, we currently focus most of our work within this city and state but recognize that our practices and processes often intersect with work happening beyond those borders and support arts-based advocacy practices used across the world.

BAC does its work through three core strategies:

  1. WE MAKE ART AND TELL STORIES: We are an organization founded by artists. We have built on that foundation to expand how arts and storytelling can be a force for motivating system and cultural change. Art and storytelling continue to be essential to how we move. Our work may lead us to participate in other types of advocacy but we consider art and storytelling our home base and first tool of choice.

  2. WE BUILD AND SUPPORT COMMUNITIES OF CHANGE: We strive to form coalitions and foster collaboration between groups that otherwise might not understand each other, much less work together, to create new communities of change. We believe that arts and storytelling serve a unique role in building bridges and communicating with a wide range of audiences. We particularly focus on bringing together storytellers (from Broadway and beyond), law and policy students, and advocates with direct experience of the carceral system. We believe that no single person has the answers to how we will reach our visions and that there is no one right way to get there. We recognize that means that some folks in our coalition (and even us at times) must work within the system to minimize the harm caused by the system presently. We look to our partners and participants to bring their varying experiences and expertises to each collaboration and work to integrate practices to our work including abolitionist organizers, restorative and transformative justice practitioners, and communities that have historically practiced alternate methods of safety, restoration, and harm reduction.

  3. WE CENTER THE LEADERSHIP OF THOSE DIRECTLY AFFECTED BY MASS INCARCERATION AND INTERSECTIONAL SYSTEMS OF RACISM: We believe that those closest to the problem are closest to the solution but often furthest from the resources and decisions. These leaders shape our decisions on how to strategically employ our work. We understand that their voices do not have all of the answers alone but are too often sidelined from the conversation on how to build a just system. We recognize that sometimes even when our values may align our solutions may differ - and yet we choose to give extra weight to their perspective given their proximity to the issues.