The Youth Art Space similarly asks audiences to reconsider the assumptions they may bring with them when encountering young people involved in the justice system. Rather than presenting youth through statistics, court records\u00a0or institutional narratives, the exhibition places their own voices and creative decisions at the forefront.<\/p>\n
For Sienna Fekete, co-director of programs at the Center for Art and Advocacy, the exhibition is ultimately about who gets to tell a story and how. \u201cThe biggest thing that we think\u00a0about is the power of autonomy and people being able to author their own stories,\u201d Fekete said.<\/p>\n
The Youth Art Space was curated by\u00a0Immanuel <\/a>Oni<\/a>, growing from his work\u00a0with Department of Cultural Affairs\u2019 Public Artists in Residence program. Oni’s workshops at the Crossroads Juvenile Center invited participants to think about architecture not simply as the buildings that surround them but as something they could redesign.<\/p>\n The resulting work offers something that can be difficult to find within conversations about juvenile detention: a view of young people through their own imagination.<\/p>\n Oni’s pieces include architectural drawings and models framed as windows, as well as prototypes for a mobile gallery pop-up.<\/p>\n “This residency deeply moved me to see art as a tool for narrative change, highlighting an immense citywide need for dedicated teaching artists and programs\u00a0like Crossroads Art Club<\/a> and Brooklyn Combine<\/a>,” Oni said. “Moving forward, we hope to inspire bringing this gallery experience and its elements back into the facility to continue fostering growth, imagination and healing.\u201d<\/p>\n For the Center for Art and Advocacy, that distinction is central to its mission.\u00a0Its gallery provides a physical home for exhibitions and programs across disciplines, from visual art and filmmaking to writing and performance. Fekete describes the center\u2019s mission simply: \u201cWe\u2019re empowering creativity that challenges the limits of incarceration.\u201d<\/p>\n “Keeping Community” extends that work beyond a traditional gallery exhibition. The space is divided into three distinct environments: a Reading Room curated by Sojourners for Justice Press<\/a>, the Youth Art Space\u00a0and a Listening Room curated by Freer Records,<\/a> a label working with formerly and currently incarcerated musicians. Visitors can encounter archival texts, independent zines, music, videos\u00a0and correspondence alongside the youth artwork.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were really thinking about the active \u2014 the verb \u2014 of how do you keep that?” said Fekete. “How do you maintain that? And sustain it really powerfully?\u201d<\/p>\n The significance of that approach was also recognized by NYC Cultural Affairs Commissioner Diya Vij, who noted in the exhibition\u2019s press release <\/a>that Oni\u2019s work demonstrates how art can give young people room to imagine themselves beyond their present circumstances and expand their sense of what is possible.<\/p>\n For Fekete, that possibility begins with access to art education and mentorship. \u201cArt education and mentorship is so crucial for folks to be able to see themselves in positions of creativity and power and leadership,\u201d she\u00a0said. For many, art is a\u00a0means of creating stronger connections across generations, and\u00a0mentorship is a\u00a0reciprocal exchange rather than a one-way relationship.<\/p>\n For the center, community is not simply something to gather around.\u00a0It\u00a0is a form of infrastructure that sustains people and creative practice.\u00a0\u201cCommunity is the thing that is going to propel us forward,” Fekete said.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"keeping-community_itzel-alejandra-martinez-52\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/keeping-community_itzel-alejandra-martinez-52.jpg;w=960.jpeg\"\/)
\nPhoto: Supplied\/Itzel Alejandra Martinez and the Center for Art and Advocacy,
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