Making Justice is a community-based learning program for at-risk and court-involved teens that includes weekly workshops and an artist-in-residence opportunity. Offered in collaboration with a diverse spectrum of artists, educators and activists, Making Justice fosters community engagement and self-expression via graphic and 3D art, photography, spoken word, performance, video and life skills projects.
While teen participants are focused on creating a FINAL PRODUCT, workshop leaders are more concerned with relationship building, basic skill development and connection to the community. Learn more about our approach with the Making Justice Facilitators Guide.
Making Justice partners include community advisors who review program design and suggest resources; guest facilitators who help design and lead program sessions; juvenile justice agencies that review program design and supervise program participants; media art consultants who provide design and technical support; secondary-school educators who facilitate curriculum development; and UW programs that support faculty and student engagement. Learn more about the making of this operation and how the program was developed through this behind-the-scenes deep dive with core community partners.
*Making Justice is currently funded by Tim & Sharon Thousand, Epic Software, Madison Arts Commission, Dane Arts, Public Health Violence Prevention, and the Madison Public Library Foundation.
A weekly rotation of Making Justice workshops and resources target at-risk and court-involved teenagers connected to the Dane County Juvenile Court Detention Center, the Dane County Juvenile Court Shelter Home, and the RESTORE expulsion abeyance program, along with several other strategic classrooms within Madison Metropolitan School District.
The project-based workshops foster hands-on, peer-supported learning and digital literacy that connect students with diverse community and campus partners, including faculty and students from University of Wisconsin-Madison and MATC. Workshop participants create graphic and 3D art, photographic, spoken word, storytelling, performance and video projects documenting themselves, their communities and the justice system. Collaborative projects accommodate a variety of interests, skills and learning styles, and are contextualized to connect with current teenage experiences and community resources.
Check out the CREATIONS page for examples of the projects brought to teens on a weekly rotation.
Making Justice project residencies bring local teaching artists to GROW Academy, Dane County Juvenile Detention Center, Dane County Juvenile Court Shelter Home, Dane County Jail, and Dane County Youth Justice & Prevention in order to offer intensive exploration and development of a skill or project. When possible, we aim to align the residencies with public school vacations to provide more in-depth learning experiences for teen residents while the on-site teachers are out of the office during Winter Break, Spring Break and Summer Break.
Most Recent Residencies
- MARIA SCHIRMER DEVITT - Juvenile Detention Center - Winter 2023/2024
The We Wish You Knew mural project took place over winter break when teachers are out of the classroom. Maria focused on the deep and truthful wishes shared by student participants, reflecting the inner range of their desires and dreams, and how the gaze of the world can be harsh and unforgiving. May their wishes open your eyes and your heart. \r\n\r\n- View the full WE WISH YOU KNEW mural project!
- ROB DZ, SHAH EVANS, MARIA SCHIRMER DEVITT, TYLER BRUNSELL & CARLOS GACHARNA - Grow Academy - Spring 2023
Piloting the new Rebranding Self project, the super team of mentors used printmaking, hip-hop and fashion design to guide participants through the creation of their own unique brand that reflects their inner brilliance.- Check out the individual REBRANDING SELF projects!
Previous Residencies
See all Residencies from 2013-2023
Radio Interviews
Listen to the local WORT radio station interview teaching artists after their Making Justice residency.
Making Justice builds on the knowledge and energy of many people and organizations, and continues to change as new partners join the effort in different roles and capacities. The current program solidly stands upon the foundation built by many partnerships, a series of pilot programs and financial support from outside of the library. The program was first conceived to address the nation's widest black/white educational opportunity gap and highest per capita black juvenile arrest and incarceration rate [Wisconsin Council on Children & Families, Race to Equity (2013)].
uCreate [2010]
Madison Public Library began developing workshops for youth in the justice system with the uCreate project at Dane County Jail. uCreate was organized by Global Kids (NY) as their first Edge Project and was run in collaboration with Madison Metropolitan School District, Dane County Library Service, Charlotte Mecklenburg Library (NC) and Mecklenburg County Jail (NC). Edge Projects are interested in helping civic and cultural institutions to bring cutting edge digital media into their youth educational programs, and the uCreate pilot project linked jails with community libraries in two cities, to work specifically with incarcerated youth and new learning technologies.
ArtSpeak [2012]
Community Partnerships Inc.'s ArtSpeak Director, Kay DeWaide, collaborated with UW-Madison faculty member Nancy Buenger to develop an expressive art program for court-involved Dane County teens, which incorporated UW student peer learners enrolled in the course Looking Beyond the Law's Letter.
Animation [2012]
Madison Public Library received a grant from the local Irwin A. & Robert D. Goodman Foundation to develop a portable stop-motion animation program for teens based out of the Goodman South Madison Library. The grant allowed the library to purchase equipment, contract with an animation instructor and build the program with teen input. The library was able to reach target populations by working with key community outreach partners already serving court-involved teens that included Dane County Juvenile Detention Center, Dane County Juvenile Shelter Home, Community Partnerships Inc., and Centro Hispano. It was during this time that library staff began working with community partners to build and share the Bubber concept.
Making Justice [2013]
Madison Public Library and ArtSpeak staff met in 2013 and began participating in each other's workshops, sharing practices, sharing community partners, and generating ideas. In 2014, Making Justice was launched with the generous support of the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Baldwin Wisconsin Idea Endowment and Morgridge Center for Public Service, along with a National Leadership Grant from the Institute for Museum and Library Services. A broad spectrum of campus and community partners joined the initiative, including UW Madison students opting to take our community-based learning course.
Learn more about the development of this resource and programming operation with a BEHIND THE SCENES deep dive!