Impact Arts is a nonprofit organization dedicated to generating arts classes, programs, and exhibitions in and around the criminal-legal system in Colorado. We bring visibility to the work and stories of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated artists, foster artistic community, and advocate for the importance of the arts as a healing and transformative tool in carceral spaces.

Founded in April of 2024, Impact Arts is approved as a volunteer program within the Colorado Department of Corrections. Since our inception, we've offered arts and creativity classes at Sterling Correctional Facility, Territorial Correctional Facility, The Beacon at Skyline, and Arkansas Valley Correctional Facility. In addition to our volunteer-led classes, we empower incarcerated artists who wish to serve as artist mentors in their facilities by providing them with art supplies and curriculum support. We are currently running a "Train the Trainers" monthly workshop with the leaders of the Creative Wellness Team at Fremont Correctional Facility.

In 2025, we helped produce two exciting public art exhibitions: a three-man show at East Window Gallery in Boulder featuring three artists at Arkansas Valley (Hector Castillo, Sonny Lee, and Mario Rios), and a major group show, High Walls, at RedLine Contemporary Art Center in Denver.

We hope you'll join us in our mission to transform lives and systems through creative expression. Every donation we receive will directly fund arts programming that reduces recidivism, empowers individuals to reclaim their lives, and builds public awareness of issues relating to incarceration and its collateral consequences.

Hector Castillo, Living Beyond These Walls, 2022, acrylic on canvas panel, 14 x 18

painting by Hector Castillo: Living Beyond These Walls, 2022

Suggested Giving Levels:

$50 = the cost of gas to and from Sterling Correctional for a single class
$120 = one month of "rent" for our mailing address, where artists write to us and ship their work
$250 = books and course packets for a semester-long class
$500 = art supplies for a cohort of 12 students

We appreciate gifts of any amount. Your support matters!

Impact Arts Fundraiser

By Impact Arts

Impact Arts Fundraiser

Please support our work with incarcerated artists!

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