Courtesy of ACA Galleries and Ford Foundation Gallery.
A4J has funded at least a dozen shows over the years. But the bulk of A4J’s work has been concerned with policy. One of its grantees played a key role in restoring voting rights to previously incarcerated Floridians; another abolished cash bail and post-conviction fees in New Orleans, Houston, and St. Louis.
Helena Huang, Darren Walker, Agnes Gund and Daisy Desrosiers at the opening celebration of “No Justice Without Love.”Why sunset A4J when it’s managed to accomplish so much amid such fraught years? For one, A4J is out of money; in fact, the end was supposed to come a year ago, before the philanthropist MacKenzie Scott and the artistcame through . But A4J’s relatively short lifespan is also directly tied to its success.
Disheartening as it is to see what may be the most effective art-world philanthropy efforts go, the future—including Gund’s next chapter—gives Huang hope. “There are absolutely individuals and organizations that have been leaning in, being curious about what we call the ‘A4J secret sauce,’” she says.