States of Incarceration: A National Dialogue of Local Histories will bring together the national community of over 500 people in 20 cities who together created a traveling exhibition on the past, present, and future of mass incarceration.

Teams of students and people directly affected by incarceration from 20 cities each explores a history of incarceration in their own community, from Angola’s slave plantation-turned-prison in Louisiana, to the legacies of the Dakota Wars for Native American incarceration in Minnesota, to immigration detention at Ellis Island and Elizabeth, New Jersey. For its staging in New York City, the exhibit includes a focus on Rikers Island, developed by New School students in collaboration with The Fortune Society. The exhibition launches at the Sheila C. Johnson Design Center, Arnold and Sheila Aronson Galleries, at The New School April 3-21, 2016, before traveling to partner sites across the country.

The national exhibition launch events will bring together people who worked on the project from around the country to share local stories and open dialogue on national criminal justice reform.

6-7:30pm: The Auditorium, Alvin Johnson/J.M. Kaplan Hall, 66 West 12th Street

Join us for a conversation on remembering Rikers Island between:

• Glenn E. Martin, founder and president of JustLeadershipUSA, (JLUSA), a national advocacy organization that empowers people most affected by incarceration to drive policy reform.
• Venida Browder, mother of Kalief Browder, whose son’s arrest for the alleged crime of stealing a backpack, and his subsequent suicide, sparked national conversation on Rikers’ Island.

Participate in Legislative Theater led by Theatre of the Oppressed NYC (TONYC) with formerly incarcerated people from The Fortune Society. Jump in and make change on stage!

7:30-8:30pm: Arnold and Sheila Aronson Galleries, 66 Fifth Avenue at 13th Street. Exhibit launch and reception: Tour the exhibition with people who created it from around the country.