Film Forum

The Center for Art and Advocacy is a nonprofit organization that provides catalytic support, professional development, and exhibition opportunities to directly justice-impacted artists throughout the United States via its flagship Right of Return Fellowship, Academy, and Residency programs.

Mary Enoch Elizabeth Baxter is an award-winning multidisciplinary artist, writer, pedagogue, and cultural worker based in Philadelphia, PA. As a visionary thought leader creating socially conscious music, film, performance, and visual art, her practice embodies resilience, care, and community-centeredness while working at the intersections of reproductive justice, black feminist thought, and transformative change. Her work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally at venues including MoMA PS1, the African American Museum of Philadelphia, Frieze LA, Eastern State Penitentiary, and the Brooklyn Museum, among many others. Baxter has received numerous prestigious awards, including being an inaugural Right of Return fellow, Mural Arts Philadelphia Reimagining Reentry fellow, Leeway Foundation Transformation awardee, and a Soros Justice fellow. On February 2, 2024, Baxter received a Governors' Pardon from Josh Shapiro and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, honoring her transformative work in the arts and culture sector and her 17-year commitment to communal healing, advocacy, and repair.

Jesse Krimes is a Philadelphia based artist, curator, and advocate whose work explores how contemporary media shapes and reinforces societal mechanisms of power and control, with a particular focus on criminal and racial justice. Shortly after graduating from Millersville University, he was indicted by the U.S. government on drug charges. While serving a six-year prison sentence he produced and smuggled out numerous bodies of work, established prison art programs, and co-created multi-racial artist collectives. After his release, he founded and currently serves as Executive Director of the Center for Art & Advocacy, the first and only national fellowship dedicated to supporting formerly incarcerated artists. Krimes’ work has been exhibited at venues including MoMA PS1, Palais de Tokyo, Philadelphia Museum of Art, International Red Cross Museum, Zimmerli Museum, Newport Art Museum, and Aperture Gallery. His curatorial practice is focused on elevating other system impacted artists, and he also successfully led a class-action lawsuit against JPMorgan Chase for charging formerly incarcerated people predatory fees after their release from federal prison. Krimes won an Emmy Award for his documentary ART AND KRIMES BY KRIMES. He was also awarded fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, Pew Center for Arts and Heritage, Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, Creative Capitol, Art for Justice Fund, Independence Foundation, and Vermont Studio Center. His work is in the permanent collections of the Brooklyn Museum, Newport Art Museum, OZ Art NWA, Kadist Art Foundation, The Bunker Artspace, and the Agnes Gund Collection. He is represented by Jack Shainman Gallery in New York.

Founder and Director of Aubin Pictures, Catherine Gund is an Emmy-nominated and Academy-shortlisted producer, director, writer and activist. Her media work focuses on strategic and sustainable social transformation, arts and culture, HIV/AIDS and racial, reproductive and environmental justice. Her films have screened around the world in festivals, theaters, museums and schools; on PBS, HBO, Paramount+, the Discovery Channel, Sundance Channel, Free Speech TV, Netflix, and Amazon Prime. In 2023, Gund won the Gracie Award for Documentary Producer. Her films include MEANWHILE, ANGOLA DO YOU HEAR US? VOICES FROM A PLANTATION PRISON (Academy shortlist), PRIMERA (HBO), AGGIE (Strand Releasing) and BORN TO FLY (Emmy nominated). She has served on several arts, media and justice nonprofit boards and has been a creative advisor on numerous documentary films. Gund is an alumnus of Brown University and the Whitney Independent Study Program. She has four children and lives in New York City.

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