Welcome to Art Portal
We are a community of artists who participate in the Creative Arts Program at The Fortune Society, in New York City.
We are currently updating our website. Thank you for your patience and apologies for broken links and non-functional pages as we work on the updates! If you need specific information about the program, please visit our About page.
The Creative Arts at Fortune is more than a program — we are a community.
We align with radical hope and believe in the healing and transformative powers of imagination and creativity.
Since the organization’s inception more than half a century ago, Fortune has been committed to using the restorative capacities of art and art making to call for an end to mass incarceration in the United States, promote alternatives to incarceration, support successful reentry and help to realize possibilities for more just collective futures.
Workshops are offered five days a week in Music, Creative Writing, Acting, Drawing and more. All levels of experience are embraced. We share opportunities to perform and amplify work - on screen, canvas, the page or in direct collaboration with other artists and community partners throughout New York City and across the country.
Acting
The Acting workshop is an opportunity for community members to build/sharpen performance fundamentals while discovering and understanding more about themselves and others, and to develop empathy.
Creative Writing
The feelings of acceptance, affirmation and joy are central to our creative expression writing workshop that meets twice a week.
Music
In a weekly songwriting and recording workshop, participants craft and record songs at the on-site music studio at our Long Island City service center.
Visual Art
Through our weekly Visual Art workshops, community members refine their talents and creativity and explore self-expression through a variety of artistic techniques.
Community Partnerships
We collaborate with diverse Arts partners who bring new avenues for creative expression.
Success Stories V2, In Case of Emergency, Write a Poem, and The Basics video
We are thrilled to announce the release two incredible albums and a music video created in collaboration with our talented staff and participants! Click and listen to the music album Success Stories Vol. 2, the the spoken word album In Case of Emergency, Write a Poem, and the must-see video The Basics.
Film We Choose to Bloom
Twenty-four artists from The Fortune Society activate Rashid Johnson, Stage (2020) at MoMA PS1 on April 6 & 7, 2021. Video and Editing by Eva Cruz. Film courtesy MoMA PS1 and The Fortune Society.
We Are More Than a Label
We Are More Than a Label, is a language matters zine. It is an appeal for people to learn more about the use of humanizing - person-first - language and suggests word choices when communicating about people affected by the (in)justice system.
Voices of Fortune
Voices of Fortune is our annual print publication of art and writing for freedom. Shared nationwide, it amplifies the creative vision of the Fortune community, including participants, people currently incarcerated, staff members, and arts partners.
Help us stock our Liberation Library!
We are excited and honored to be in partnership with Astoria Bookshop, a queer woman-owned, general-interest bookstore in the heart of Western Queens. As an extension of their mission to serve their diverse, vibrant community with books and through hosting events, our collaboration will the help Fortune's Creative Arts program fill the shelves of our Liberation Library. We believe that books are tools of liberation. We have curated a wishlist of titles that Fortune community members have requested. Please purchase a book as donation and help support our mission to inspire readers, one book at a time.
The Fortune Society
Founded in 1967, The Fortune Society’s vision is to foster a world where all who are incarcerated or formerly incarcerated will thrive as positive, contributing members of society. We do this through a holistic, one-stop model of service provision.
Our continuum of care, informed and implemented by professionals with cultural backgrounds and life experiences similar to those of our participants, helps ensure their success. Fortune serves over 10,000 individuals in a typical year via five New York City locations: our service center in Long Island City, Queens and our housing facilities: the Fortune Academy (“the Castle”) and Castle Gardens in West Harlem, Freedom House in East Harlem and BronxPro in the South Bronx. Our program models are recognized both nationally and internationally for their quality and innovation.
What Participants Say
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"Writing was my hobby, now is my ritual. This is my sacred space."
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"The community and the safe space created within allows me to go deeper into myself and my writing."
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"I feel safe and encouraged to explore new ways of expressing myself."
Photo credit: More Art/Manuel Molina Martagon.
The Creative Arts program at The Fortune Society is made possible thanks to the generosity and support of:
Anonymous
Creatives Rebuild New York
David and Catherine Eaton Skinner
Dedalus Foundation
Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice
Nancy Friday Foundation
New York State Council on the Arts
Seedlings Foundation
SHS Foundation